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New Mexico State University

Hot Stuff, Spring 1999

Acres of alfalfa support dairy industry


There's no shortage of fuel to feed New Mexico's growing dairy industry.

Even if the number of dairy cows in the state increased by 50 percent, there would be enough alfalfa hay to feed them, says Rhonda Skaggs, an agricultural economist with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station.

New Mexico's top milk-producing counties are Chaves, Doña Ana and Roosevelt. The state ranks 12th nationwide in the number of milk cows and second in milk production per cow. The state ranks 11th in total milk production, up from 33rd in 1983.

"New Mexico's dairy industry is growing very rapidly," Skaggs says. "U.S. Department of Agriculture indicators have shown over the last several years that New Mexico's dairy industry has high growth potential. So we are anticipating that we'll be growing and increasing in milk production and cow numbers in the next few years."

The growth is a result of many factors. "We have a mild climate relative to states that have harsh winters. We also have relatively low land, labor and water costs," she explains. "The industry's regulatory environment is considered more hospitable here than in other states like California."

Skaggs recently evaluated the availability of alfalfa in light of New Mexico's rapidly growing dairy industry. Her study was sponsored by the livestock branch of the USDA's Economic Research Service.

"The Economic Research Service has a long-term interest in the overall U.S. dairy industry," Skaggs says. "They look at how the industry is changing and shifting regionally. They're also concerned about what will happen to regional dairy industries given changes in feed supplies and forage availability."

Skaggs did a random telephone survey of 35 dairy producers and 100 New Mexico growers who produce more than 100 acres of alfalfa.

"We were evaluating the quality of alfalfa produced in the state, both from the alfalfa producers' perspective and the dairy producers' perspective," she says.

Skaggs found that alfalfa growers appear to have a long-term commitment to alfalfa production. "We don't see any signs that alfalfa production is going to decrease in this state," she says. "We see our dairy producers growing some of their own hay, accessing hay produced in the state and also having extensive ties to out-of-state producers."

Colorado, Kansas and Texas were frequently mentioned as out-of-state sources for alfalfa hay fed to New Mexico dairy cows.

Skaggs also notes that the cost of trucking hay does not appear to be a barrier to dairy industry growth. "Fuel is very cheap at the current time," she says. "There's no indication that the cost of fuel is going to increase and provide an impediment to moving hay."

Leaping lizards

Esther Nelson, an NMSU wildlife graduate student, is becoming an expert on lizard behavior.

Whiptail lizards bolt in straight lines across the desert floor. Side-blotched lizards start and stop in zigzag routes. To defend their territory, many lizards do push-ups.

Nelson's knowledge of lizards comes from more than just reading a pile of wildlife textbooks. She's spent hours watching them as part of her work with Mark Andersen, a wildlife scientist with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station. The researchers are studying how human disturbance affects lizard populations.

The Las Cruces area is a good place to study lizards, because the surrounding desert has a rich fauna of lizards.

Lizards are important contributors to ecosystems, especially in arid lands. They can occur in high densities and are predators of spiders and other arthropods, and prey for larger vertebrates such as roadrunners, snakes and small mammals.

The researchers are looking at the number and type of lizards in three different geographical areas found near Las Cruces. They have seven study plots in areas that are surrounded by human development within the city and seven that are adjacent to development at the city's edges. They also have 14 plots with no development located on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Jornada Experimental Range, about 25 miles northeast of NMSU's main campus. The researchers are trying to relate richness and abundance of lizard species to the three kinds of plots.

During the summer, each morning from about 7 to noon, Nelson visited the research plots. With a big hat on her head, lots of sunscreen and some good binoculars, she quietly and slowly walked 100-meter paths (about 328 feet). Looking about 15 feet ahead and to her left and right, she recorded in a small notebook all the lizards she saw during each 10-minute walk. "You develop an eye for observing the lizards," Nelson said. "You have to watch for anything that moves."

With just one year's worth of data, Nelson is confirming what the researchers expected. In the undeveloped areas, she observed more lizards as well as a greater diversity of lizards. In the plots adjacent to development, she saw an intermediate number of species. In vacant lots surrounded by the city, she saw fewer lizards and only identified five species-the side-blotched lizard and four species of whiptail lizards.

She plans to gather another summer's worth of data in 1999. "Our goal is to better understand the effects of human activities on wildlife habitats and areas where urban and wild lands meet," Andersen says. "If we have a better understanding, maybe we can counteract some of the effects."

A second part of the study is being conducted by research colleagues in the Negev Desert in Israel. That work focuses on lizards living in areas that have been planted with trees to control erosion.

It's in their genes!

In the past, when cattle ranchers wanted larger, better-producing animals in their herds, they had to spend years selecting bulls with good growth and cows with good calving histories to continue their breeding programs.

In the future, ranchers may be able to choose the best animals quicker by using genetic information about growth and reproduction. Milton Thomas, animal scientist with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station, is using his knowledge of genetics and animal physiology to build a gene bank of cattle DNA that coincides with each animal's performance records.

"Until recently, large resource populations of beef cattle with DNA information and performance records have been limited," Thomas says. "Now we're collecting DNA samples from animals we have a lifetime of information on-our own herd."

NMSU's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences owns Angus and Brangus cattle and recently purchased a herd of Brahmans from Texas A&M University. The Brahman, Brangus and some of the Angus cattle are located north of Las Cruces at the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center, formerly the College Ranch. The majority of the Angus herd is pastured at the Corona Range and Livestock Research Center.

"The benefit of using our own herd is that we can bring the weaned animals to campus to draw blood samples," Thomas says. "From the white blood cells, we can extract the animal's DNA and then store it for years in a freezer, so we have our own DNA repository for genetic study."  Thomas and his graduate students are gathering data on as many animals as possible. "We need to know the genetics of desirable traits so we can explain the variation in performance among animals."

Besides the college livestock, NMSU researchers also are studying the DNA of herds at the University of Arizona and the Noble Foundation in Oklahoma, as well as cattle located in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Thomas plans to continue taking blood samples from spring calves each year and entering the DNA data into the gene bank. "We collected samples from 323 animals during the first year," Thomas says. "After we've cataloged data from several thousand animals, then we may have enough information to determine which genetic combinations will yield optimal growth and reproduction in a selection program."

The researchers also track each animal's performance over time. The college's bull calves are tested for growth. They are given identical feed rations for 112 days and weighed throughout the test and at the end to measure gain. Female reproduction records begin with each heifer's first calf.

"As we learn about new genes that may be important to our research, we can go back and compare the stored DNA to the production trait data we've collected," Thomas says.

The researchers are starting from ground zero, he says. "There could be hundreds to millions of genes that regulate growth and reproduction, so it will take time to discover the optimal combination."