
The Moos Room™
Hosted by members of the University of Minnesota Extension Beef and Dairy Teams, The Moos Room discusses relevant topics to help beef and dairy producers be more successful. The information is evidence-based and presented as an informal conversation between the hosts and guests.
Show episodes

Episode 314 -The Future of Grazing? Brad Tests Virtual Fencing - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
In this episode, Brad shares his firsthand experience with virtual fencing on the University of Minnesota’s Morris dairy herd. After a long grazing season, he dives into the reasons he began experimenting with NoFence collars, the training process for heifers, and what he learned about costs, labor savings, and animal

Episode 313 -Robots, Rotaries, or Both? Jim Salfer on Where Dairy Automation’s Headed - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
Today, Brad brings on University of Minnesota Extension colleague Jim Salfer to talk through the state of dairy automation. Robots are still going in across the Upper Midwest, but they’re also coming out—and the “why” depends on farm goals, labor, barn design, and cash flow. HighlightsAdoption reality: Robots are sprea

Episode 312 - Managing the Stress of Weaning: Research Insights for Farmers - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
This week on The Moos Room, Brad shares updates from the University of Minnesota’s dairy research center, where staff have been on strike and he’s been back in the barn doing chores, milking, feeding, and even pulling calves late at night. With calving season underway, Brad shifts the focus to a new review article on w

Episode 311 - Milk Fatty Acids: The Next Frontier in Dairy Nutrition - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
In this episode, Brad dives into the growing interest in milk fatty acid profiles and what they can tell us about cow health, nutrition, and management. Brad explains the three main groups of milk fatty acids—de novo, mixed, and preformed—and how they are shaped by diet, stage of lactation, seasonality, and even geneti

Episode 310 -Faster Cows, Faster Parlors: New Genetic Evaluations for Milking Speed - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
In this Labor Day episode, Brad highlights the history of the holiday in the U.S. and Canada before diving into a brand-new genetic evaluation for Holstein dairy cattle: milking speed. Released in August 2025, this trait provides an objective way to measure how quickly cows milk—expressed in pounds of milk per minute—w

Episode 309 - From the Fair to the Farm: Dairy Research Updates with Brad - UMN Extension's The Moos Room
In this episode of The Moos Room, Brad shares updates from a busy summer and fall kickoff at the Minnesota State Fair, where his kids showed cows and he helped with 4-H dairy programming. After reflecting on the fair, he dives into the latest research and extension projects happening at the University of Minnesota’s We