By Maude Blouin, Knowledge Transfer Officer at Novalait
On October 29, Novalait hosted a research session at a major dairy production event, the Dairy Cattle Symposium (SBL) organized by the Centre de référence en agriculture et agroalimentaire du Québec (CRAAQ). During the event, Novalait also presented three awards recognizing excellence in student poster presentations. Here are the details of the Novalait session.
A research session focused on applied research
Véronique Ouellet, a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Université Laval, presented the results of her research project on the quality of drinking water for dairy cows. In partnership with 46 farms in Quebec, this unique research highlighted factors that can affect water quality and proposed solutions to improve it. Véronique emphasized the importance of identifying the source of water quality issues in order to invest in solutions. Thank you to Véronique and her team for their interest in a research topic that has been little studied in Quebec but is very important in the day-to-day operations of farms.
Following this, a short video presented the innovation approach of Norvue Farm, which is participating in the Carbon-Neutral Milk – Living Laboratory initiative. Its approach aims to optimize the use of protein in cows’ rations. A great example of co-development between a dairy producer, researchers, and production advisors!
To conclude, Jacques LeBlanc, Director of the Carbon-Neutral Milk – Living Laboratory, officially launched the website, which brings together all the information on the initiative.
Student posters that stand out
The event also provides an opportunity to engage with the next generation of researchers through the student poster competition. Once again this year, Novalait awarded three prizes totaling $1,000 to recognize the excellence of the student presentations.
To award the Novalait prizes, 12 evaluators—professionals from the dairy industry—had the difficult task of assessing the outstanding posters according to rigorous criteria.
We would like to congratulate Emma Nouhaud from the Université de Montréal, Johann Palacios from IRDA, and Lotfi Bouzeraa from Université Laval for the remarkable quality of your presentations!
Novalait would like to thank the CRAAQ and the Dairy Cattle Committee for organizing and hosting the event, as well as the members of the student poster evaluation jury. Thank you also to Véronique Ouellet and Jacques LeBlanc for their contribution to our research session. Once again, congratulations to the students on their poster presentations!
The Dairy Cattle Symposium is a day dedicated to highlighting scientific advances that benefit dairy producers and their advisory teams. Novalait is proud to contribute to this event by presenting concrete results from research supported by our organization.
