How Might Dairy Science Progress During the Next Forty Years: My Best Guess?
The scientific method has been applied to the study of dairy cattle for more than 200 years and has led to remarkable improvements in production, efficiency and health of dairy cows. Over the next 40 years we will continue advancing our knowledge but because of new techniques and instruments the rate at which new knowledge is generated may increase. The April, 2006 edition of the Journal of Dairy Science celebrated the 100th anniversary of the American Dairy Science Association and contains articles outlining advances in all aspects of dairy science made during the previous 25 years. Advances in molecular biology and increases in computing power and improved statistical techniques were cited as the major changes impacting many of the core disciplines of dairy science. Advanced molecular techniques allows researchers to take a broader systems approach to the study of metabolism and physiology. Rather than studying how a diet manipulation affects a handful of hormones, new techniques allows researchers to study how a diet manipulation affects the expression of hundreds of genes. This will give us a greater understanding of how cells convert nutrients into milk and what is involved in establishing and maintaining pregnancy. These techniques should also lead to better disease diagnosis and treatment. The newer areas of epigenetics and the microbiome will become major research topics with potentially large impacts. Increases in computing power along with new statistical methodologies will expand the use of 'big data' in dairy science. We will develop improved methods of data sharing so that data from multiple studies can be combined to answer questions that could not be done economically at a single site. Data sharing and analysis will lead to better computer models of cows and dairy farm systems. Better models will improve our ability to predict what will happen when something is manipulated which should reduce the amount of cow and farm research needed. In the applied science area, more emphasis will be placed on integrative and systems research (e.g., soil impacts forage quality which impacts cow productivity which impacts excretion of nutrients which impact soil). Environmental impacts, effects on animal welfare, and nutritional quality (for humans) of milk will become important response measurements when evaluating dietary or management treatments. Tremendous advances are in store for dairy science, but as in the past, society, via funding decisions will ultimately decide which areas progress more rapidly.