Archives: Experts

Michigan Milk

Brearley Farms

Michigan State University

Miguel Chirivi is a Research Associate at the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University specializing in adipose tissue biology, with a focus on inflammation in dairy cows. Miguel earned their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 2018 and completed their PhD in 2023 at Michigan State University.

Michigan State University

Madison Sokacz is a fifth year PhD candidate at Michigan State University. For the past five years, her research work has focused on bovine leukemia virus (BLV) prevalence and incidence within commercial dairies with an additional focus in youngstock. Madison is committed to providing help by supporting animal health as well as herd sustainability and profitability through her research. 

Alltech

Jorge Delgado belongs to a family of dairy farmers, and he is originally from Ecuador, South America.  He received his B.S. in Agriculture and Dairy Science from E.A.R.T.H University in Costa Rica, then he returned to Ecuador where he worked with the Dairy Industry representing a genetic company doing consulting, sales and training until moving to the U.S. in 2002. 

Jorge then worked on multiply dairy farms as a herd manager for 10 years and joined Alltech as a Dairy Specialist in 2010 as part of the Alltech On Farm Program.  In 2014 Jorge moved to Elanco to lead the Dairy Training Program focusing on empowering dairy workers. 

In 2018 Jorge moved back to Alltech and created the Alltech T2R Program (Training, Talent development and retention program) bringing his expertise to help Dairy producers with people management practices, herd health, milk quality, calf management, protocol’s  

Jorge lives with his family in Minneapolis, MN

Sunrise Veterinary Service, PLLC.

Dr. Barb Petersen owns and operates Sunrise Veterinary Service PLLC, serving the Texas Panhandle since 2011.  Her passion is supporting humans in agriculture that care for dairy and beef calves, heifers, and cattle.  She grew up on an 80-cow Holstein dairy farm cropping corn, alfalfa, soybeans, and wheat in Eastern Iowa.  Barb puts the Animal Science (2005) and DVM (2009) degrees she earned at Iowa State to good use by focusing on the basics of animal husbandry.  She earned additional business and marketing skills via an MBA degree in 2020 at West Texas A+M.  Her professional experience includes industry, marketing, diagnostics, technology, and nutrition.   

Michigan State University

Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez is a dairy veterinarian and Assistant Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University. 

He worked in the dairy industry and completed a PhD in veterinary epidemiology at the University of Minnesota before joining MSU. 

Dr. Rodriguez has an integrated research and extension program, dedicated to developing effective management strategies to improve overall profitability and sustainability of dairy farms by optimizing milk quality, antimicrobial usage, and disease control. He teaches veterinary and graduate students on the the application of quantitative epidemiological tools to prevent animal diseases. 

Through his work he delivers science-based solutions to stakeholders in the dairy industry. He enjoys collaborative research, and his contributions can be found in peer-reviewed literature and through extension efforts, underscoring his commitment to bridging the gap between research and practical application in the dairy industry. 

University of Guelph

Dr. Michael Steele completed his Ph.D. at the University of Guelph and worked for Nutreco Canada Agresearch for two years before returning to academia at the University of Alberta and the University of Guelph as an NSERC Industrial Research Chair. He has recently been awarded several prestigious honors, including the CSAS Young Scientist Award, the Cargill Young Animal Nutritionist Award, the Lallemand Award for Excellence in Dairy Nutrition Research, the American Society of Animal Science Early Researcher Award, and the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award. His current research focuses on the mechanisms that control gastrointestinal health and development in cattle, and he has published over 150 manuscripts throughout his career. 

Colorado State University

Dr. Jason Lombard grew up in Colorado and spent his early years on his family’s cattle ranch. After obtaining his DVM from Colorado State University, he practiced primarily dairy cattle medicine in Wisconsin for almost 10 years. He returned to CSU and completed a master’s degree in epidemiology while working for USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System. He coordinated multiple national studies, primarily focused on the dairy industry. While with USDA, he also participated on an Incident Management Team and was deployed for multiple cattle and poultry diseases during his 20-year federal career. Jason’s research interests include infectious disease epidemiology and population health, with a focus on cattle diseases. His most recent work has involved investigating bovine tuberculosis outbreaks and bovine leukemia virus-associated lymphosarcoma in beef and dairy cattle. These disease investigations and research have taken a One Health approach with collaboration with public health officials and infectious disease physicians. He has spent most of 2024 learning about and researching HPAI in dairy cattle.