David Farrell

1. Before plating, clean inside the hood (protective incubator) with Bac Down and wipe down. Spray with alcohol and wait to dry.
2. Place vortex, loop sticks and empty jar in the hood
3. Milk samples were thawed out and the tubes were placed on a vortex to shake up the contents .
4. Each plate was split into 4 sections which correlated with each teat.
5. Moving counter clockwise on the plate and using a separate loop stick for each milk sample, in a swift movement, swipe milk sample onto its identified section.
6. Plates are placed in incubators for 24 hours. When revisiting plates if there two types of growth (bacteria) it identifies infection.  

Bloods are collected from the tail of each cow on the trial. Once returned to the laboratory, tubes which contain the bloods are weighted evenly and placed into a sorting machine called Centrifuge. Here the blood and serum are separated. From this I can then remove the serum content, place in a new tube the place in the freezer until testing.

Each test plot was measured using a rising plate meter and quadrant/clippers. Rising plate meter records grass height while clipping the grass allows me to bring it back to the laboratory where i can complete research and evaluate mineral status

After a cow was milked into buckets, they were weighted to find out total weight. A sample was also taken from each bucket and examined for milk solids such as fat, protein and somatic cell count.

Sterile clothes were used to clean the top of each teat. Each teat was stripped and then milked into individual tubes labelled and corresponding to each teat (RE = Right Front). Tubes were placed in ice until returned to the laboratory where they were placed in the freezer. Later in the week milk samples will be plated to examine if there is any diseases such as mastitis in individual teats of individual cows.

Photos were taken from the back and under belly of cows. Flies were then caught from the back and under belly from the cows, as well as fly traps located around the farms. Once caught, flies are placed into secure bags and played in ice until returned to the laboratory freezer. Once in the laboratory, test are carried out to examine if flies contribute to the spread of diseases and what diseases it is.

Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th of July, I made trips to Amish and Mennonite farms in Kentucky. This was a great opportunity as I got to experience the cultures and how each performs with little equipment as we have in Ireland. On these farms duties carried out were
1- Catching flies from backs and under bellies of cows
2- Milk sampling cows
3- DHI testing
4- Forage sampling
5- Blooding cows

Tuesday the 25th of July I completed my first farm visit to a southeastern organic dairy farm in Tennessee. The objectives of the day were
1- Gather flies from the udder/under belly and backs of cows
2- Measure, and evaluate different forages.
All flies and grass collected were placed in plastic bags and placed in freezers once back at the laboratory.

The objective of my research is to evaluate forages and cattle mineral status on organic dairy farms in the southeast of America. Five research farms have been allocated, one in Tennessee and the remaining four in Kentucky.
Each pasture will be composed of
1- Cool season (CS) forages only (alfalfa, tall fescue, red clover)
2- Warm season (WS) species of crab grass & annual lespedeza mixed with cool season annual ryegrass and red clover (WRC)
3-WS species sorghum-X-sudan grass hybrid (sudex) and cowpea mixed with CS od annual ryegrass and crimsom clover (WCC)
4-WS species sudex and cowpea mixed with CS species oats and annual ryegrass and brassicas turnip and rape (WTR)

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After 8 hours on an American Airlines A330-200 and a 2 hour flight in a small American Eagle plane, one Irish man landed into Knoxville, TN. Had a great start as I was introduced to Dr’s, researcher’s and to other graduate students.
Dr Gina Pighetti gave me a trip around campus and finally we landed to the Animal Science building.