Erin Horst, Animal Science PhD student under the direction of Dr. Lance Baumgard is being awarded the John Brandt Memorial $25,000 scholarship from Land O'Lakes foundation to support her studies in dairy cattle immuno logy. The $25,000 memorial scholarship honoring the late John Brandt is awarded annually to graduate or PhD students who have shown exceptional aptitude in dairy, food science or agribusiness-related research.
Erin is studying quantifying the energetic costs of the immune system in dairy cows. She looks at the energetic costs of immune activation and how dietary strategies may help to improve the host response to infection. These strategies may help provide nutritionists and producers with a cost effective approach to improve animal welfare and economic profitability. Specifically, the research strives to look at a healthier approach to treating cows with minerals and without the use of antibiotics and to decrease sickness in cows during the vital transition period of 3 weeks before calving to 3 weeks after. This decrease will allow cows to be able to produce milk continuously without having to take time out for sickness and have less of an economic impact on milk production.
Erin grew up on a swine farm near Van Horne, Iowa and even though was brought up around pigs, enjoys working with ruminants. Erin attended ISU for her undergraduate studies.