Jesse Goff worked at USDA Agricultural Research Service, West Central Farmers Cooperative, and Iowa State University. He studied milk fever and hypocalcemia and demonstrated that diet potassium interfered with parathyroid hormone action, causing milk fever. This work refined the use of calcium supplements and diets with low dietary cation-anion difference to reduce hypocalcemia. Goff and colleagues demonstrated that calcium and energy challenges caused periparturient immune suppression, characterized by the inability of neutrophils and lymphocytes to respond to infections, which predisposes cows to mastitis, retained placenta, and metritis. Goff served on National Research Council committees that produced Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle (2001) and Mineral Tolerances of Domestic Animals (2005). Goff has published 126 papers.