U.S. Dairy Education & Training Consortium

10/24/2025

Apply now to attend the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium taking place May 18-June 26, 2026!

Find more information at usdetc.tamu.edu.

10/22/2025

Great shout-out by TAD's Executive Director, Darren Turley, for the Consortium. And he is right: over the years, many upcoming dairy owners and managers have attended the Dairy Consortium before returning home to their family's farms and taking on their own leadership roles.

In Texas, dairy isn’t just an industry, it’s a close-knit community and a family. As executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen, I’m fortunate to spend time with the people who make this community so special: dairy farmers, dairy families, and industry leaders. It’s by far my fa...

07/09/2025

Every day is cow appreciation day on a dairy farm - but we’re not passing up an extra excuse to celebrate our hardworking girls today!

Happy National Cow Appreciation Day!

07/05/2025

Happy 4th of July!

07/04/2025

The 2025 U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium came to a conclusion on June 19 with presentations on proposed solutions for a dairy.

Our class of 67 students celebrated the last six weeks with a graduation dinner and ceremony. We awarded the valedictorians from session one and two. The top three teams from each room were awarded from the Consortium Consulting Challenge.

We appreciate everyone who took time to come to celebrate with us.

Thank you to Dr. Michael Tomaszewski, Dr. Robert Hagevoort, Jason White, Dr. Jennifer Spencer and Shelly Morris for all of the work, time and energy they have poured into making a difference for students at the Consortium. Special thanks to our sponsors from this summer and all of the dairies who helped us grow in the dairy industry.

07/02/2025

Congratulations Dr. T on an award well deserved. Check out this article highlighting his award:

https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2025/06/27/texas-am-agrilife-dairy-leader-honored-for-lifetime-impact/

06/22/2025

Students explored a robotic dairy on Wednesday and learned about the advancements taking place in the dairy industry. We explored the data collected from the collars and how the milking machines use that information to milk each cow.

We heard from Lely about their advancing technologies within feeding and in the parlor. Merck shared about their emerging solutions for cattle health.

06/20/2025

On Tuesday, students continued learning about smart dairy farming practices. We visited a dairy with a worm manure processing system. Seeing these innovative practices help students see how the industry has recently changed and will continue to evolve.

Kenzie Amico and Matt Kerns with Elanco, presented on internship opportunities within their company.

06/18/2025

Monday began our week exploring smart dairy farming practices. This included everything from reproductive advancements to parlor robotic additions.

After learning in the classroom with Dr. Julio Giordano, we had the chance to see a dairy with an automatic pre-brush cleaning system and post dip sprayer in the parlor.

06/18/2025

Using all the lessons learned in the last five weeks, students spent their Saturday evaluating a dairy for opportunities to present at the conclusion of the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium.

We also visited Legacy Dairy where we received a generous sponsored lunch and explored their calf operation.

06/14/2025

A highlight from Thursday was Dr. T’s burgers and mac and cheese. What was your favorite meal while at the Dairy Consortium?

Session 1 had an early start with transition cow health evaluations. We used stethoscopes to listen to the lungs, rumen and heart. We also took temperatures and evaluated breathing to check for metritis, hypercalcemia, retained placentas, ketosis and pneumonia in fresh cows.

Jason White (‘14 & ‘15) continued his three day session on calf management with session 2. Jason’s calf knowledge based on his experience with a major calf nutrition company was well received by the students. The classroom experience was augmented with visits to several heifer raising facilities.

Carollann Romo, executive director at New Mexico Beef Council, shared the outreach programs the company is currently working on. She expressed the strong connection between the beef and dairy industries in New Mexico.

06/12/2025

On Wednesday, students visited a dairy to learn more about heifer calf raising management. we also explored the topic of beef on dairy crosses. Using a beef sire on a dairy female is a growing industry and income opportunity for dairy producers.

Session 1 focused on the genetic development of replacement females to achieve desired traits. This brought up the discussion of F1 cattle, the first generation offspring from a cross between two purebred breeds. These crossbreeding programs have the goal of advancing herd genetics.

Darren Turley, executive director of Texas Association of Dairymen, shared his experience with lobbying to legislation for agriculture.