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OSU's research in animal production and health is focused on production methods geared toward the health and well-being of livestock to create healthier meat products and improve the economic vitality of producers.

Animal and Food Sciences

In finishing and digestibility experiments, cattle were fed a finishing diet of whole cottonseed and cotton gin residue (roughage source that includes burrs, stems and leaves left over after harvesting cotton). The experiment suggested cotton byproducts can be effectively used as a source of fiber, fat and protein in feedlot rations without adverse effects on performance or carcass characteristics. 

 

OSU dairy cow research has looked at how feed supplements and water additives increase milk production, and in graduate research, pregnant female pigs and their offspring were studied during different stages of pregnancy to determine what creates more robust offspring.

 

Agricultural Economics

Faculty in animal and food sciences are studying the success rate and cost-effectiveness of using GPS-enabled collars as a means to manage grazing cattle. In other research, beef cattle were crossbred with dairy cattle, and when placed into feedlots, they gained almost 4 pounds per day, with 94% of the steers graded as choice meat and 47% graded as upper choice.
Others have looked at what factors influence the efficiency of production and profit in the meat goat industry.

In other research

Molecular biologists have been working with nucleic acids to understand how a cellular pathway works in calves infected with bovine respiratory disease, while animal and food science researchers try to identify specific microbes and metabolites associated with resistance to the chicken disease necrotic enteritis.
Animal science researchers have even used their findings to help cure human diseases.

Want to learn more?

Animal and Food Sciences Research

 

Animal and Food Sciences Facilities

 

Livestock Entomology

 

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