June 25, 2025
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded funding to six faculty members across three teams to support the development of innovative curricula through the college's Harbaugh Faculty Scholars program.
June 22, 2025
A team of Penn State students, accompanied by faculty from the College of Agricultural Sciences and educators from Penn State Extension, earned honors for their research at the 2025 Equine Science Society Symposium, which was held in Fort Collins, Colorado, in early June.
May 9, 2025
Forty members of the Dairy Science Club in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences traveled to the Netherlands during spring break to learn more about global agriculture and explore a new culture.
May 7, 2025
What do chickens and people with a common reproductive disorder have in common? More than one might think — and a widely-used diabetes medication might just be the surprising link.
May 2, 2025
Siddharth Ratan, a fourth-year animal science major, didn’t always imagine himself guiding future Penn Staters. But after overcoming a difficult first-year transition, Ratan now serves as an Agricultural Advocate.
April 22, 2025
The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology selected six projects to receive funding from the college’s seed grant program, which provides funding to support research activities and generate preliminary results that will eventually lead to bigger projects involving external funding.
April 22, 2025
Daniel Baum, Elizabethtown, has been selected as the 2025 Animal Science Distinguished Alumni by Penn State's Department of Animal Science. Dr. Lisa Holden, Interim Head of the Department of Animal Science, presented the award to him at Penn State on Friday, April 11, at the Stockman's Club banquet and at the Little International Livestock Exposition at the Snider Ag Arena on Saturday, April 12.
April 22, 2025
Six Penn State students traveled to Florida for the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, (NAIDC) held April 6-8 hosted by the Southern Region in Gainesville, FL. Five students also participated in the Dairy Challenge Academy.
April 11, 2025
Penn State's Block and Bridle Club received recognition at the 104th National Block and Bridle Convention held in Ames, Iowa, April 3-5, hosted by Iowa State University.
April 8, 2025
Despite U.S. per capita-milk consumption falling significantly in recent decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultural, Americans are consuming a record amount of dairy in butter and cheese — products made from milk fat. In a new study, a team led by researchers at Penn State demonstrated that supplementing dairy cattle feed with 15% whole cottonseed, a byproduct of processing cotton for fiber, can increase milk fat concentration and yield.
April 4, 2025
Congratulations to Recent Award Winners in Animal Science!
March 14, 2025
Erika Ganda, an assistant professor in Penn State’s Department of Animal Science, will shed light on the essential role microbes play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and ensuring food safety in the next Virtual Speaker Series from the Penn State Alumni Association on March 25.
March 5, 2025
As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 17 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.
February 7, 2025
The Patterson family of State College, PA have donated their multiple time AQHA World and Congress Champion mare Glo InTheDark (RL Best Of Sudden X Onlyafraid Inthedark) to Penn State's Quarter Horse Breeding herd.
January 31, 2025
Many modern dairy farm operations have developed an additional revenue stream by breeding dairy cows with Black Angus beef bulls using artificial insemination to produce crossbred calves, which typically have improved meat quality and higher market value compared to purebred dairy calves. But these valuable hybrid calves often are beset with pneumonia, which was thought to limit their growth performance after they recover.
December 23, 2024
A team of researchers from Penn State have found that household dogs are an overlooked transmission point for Salmonella, a pathogen that can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, with some infections potentially having life-threatening complications. However, they said, better awareness of the risk and proper hygiene could potentially help mitigate cross-species infections.
December 10, 2024
The Extension Foundation’s AgriProspects Workforce Development Network recently awarded Penn State Extension a competitive mini-grant to support its “Success Skills in Spanish 4 Ag” project, which focuses on workforce development for Spanish-speaking tree-fruit growers and poultry farmers.
December 10, 2024
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences celebrated another year of outstanding success and accomplishments in research during the 2024 Research Awards Ceremony, held Nov. 19 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.
October 10, 2024
By combining the genetic sequencing and analysis of the microbes in a milk sample with artificial intelligence (AI), researchers were able to detect anomalies in milk production, such as contamination or unauthorized additives. The new approach could help improve dairy safety, according to the study authors from Penn State, Cornell University and IBM Research.
September 16, 2024
Thomas Pantano has been recognized as the 2024 Poultry Science Distinguished Almunus by the Department of Animal Science in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
August 23, 2024
Lisa Holden, associate professor of dairy science, has been appointed interim head of the Department of Animal Science in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
August 23, 2024
After three weeks of testing as required under a voluntary state monitoring program for bird flu in dairy cattle, animal health experts in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences announced that the University’s dairy herd has been certified as free of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.
August 1, 2024
More than 60% of dairy cows in the United States are bred via artificial insemination. While significant advances have been made in understanding cattle genetics, particularly in relation to milk production and other economic traits, there is still much to learn about the genetics underlying the reproductive organs and cells in cattle, according to a team of researchers in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a grant to the team to study the genetic mechanisms underlying the development of the testis, the male organ that produces reproductive cells, in cattle and its role in sperm production.
July 25, 2024
The Equine Experience at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days returns this year with crowd-favorite demonstrations for everyone from casual spectators to avid horse enthusiasts.
July 23, 2024
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, through its departments of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences and Animal Science, collaborated with VCA Metzger Animal Hospital and Mars Inc. to establish the Penn State-Mars preveterinary student internship.
July 22, 2024
Animal health experts in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have announced that — out of an abundance of caution — they will test the University’s dairy herd for highly pathogenic avian influenza, under a voluntary state testing program.
June 24, 2024
Nine undergraduate students represented Penn State at the 2024 American Dairy Science Association—Undergraduate Student Division (ADSA-USD) meetings held in West Palm Beach, Florida, from June 15-18.
June 11, 2024
Facing economic challenges, dairy farmers are increasingly crossbreeding some of their Holstein cows with beef breed bulls to add value to surplus calves born in their herds. In an analysis of almost 40,000 cows, a team of Penn State researchers found that carrying and birthing the larger crossbred beef calves generally does not negatively affect dairy cow health.
June 7, 2024
Multiple states since March 2024 have reported dairy herds displaying symptoms caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza, raising questions about how the virus spreads, how producers can protect their animals, the risk of infection in people, and the safety of milk and meat supplies. Extension veterinarian Ernest Hovingh, clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences, answers these and other questions related to the this avian flu outbreak in dairy cattle.
June 4, 2024
Feed costs for producing broiler chickens accounts for 60% to 70% of total production costs, and stump waste from the production of button mushrooms comprises nearly 30% of total mushroom weight. Marrying the two has the potential to reduce both cost and waste, especially in Pennsylvania, which is a national leader in the production of broiler chickens and button mushrooms. To learn whether the two are compatible, a team of Penn State researchers conducted a new study to determine how supplementing the feed of broilers with mushroom stump waste affected the growth and health of the chickens.
