By Jim Massey
Freelance writer
Regardless of the field, an employer looks for consistent performance in an employee, someone who can be relied on to get the job done.
The same is true in the dairy industry, where producers look for cows that have steady milk production, few health issues and might be considered trouble-free. If a dairy farmer had a full herd of that type of animals, he or she would be a happy farmer.
Fiona Guinan, a Ph.D. Fellow in the UW-Madison Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, has been doing research for more than two years in an attempt to measure consistent performance in dairy animals. She has been under the tutelage of Kent Weigel, who recently left his role as a professor and chairman of the ADS Department, and Francisco Penagaricaño, an associate professor of quantitative genomics in the department.
Guinan is a native of Birr, Ireland, where she grew up on a small dairy farm and cultivated an interest in dairy statistics. That led her to University College in Dublin, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science before deciding to continue her studies in the U.S.
Guinan took a course on animal breeding and genetics during her graduate studies at the University College Dublin, in which her professor encouraged her and other students to pursue international studies. A course in animal breeding and genetics led her to pursue an internship at the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding in Maryland, where coincidentally an uncle lived. Since then, the U.S. has become her new home.
She earned a master’s degree in animal and dairy sciences from the University of Georgia before she made Madison home for her Ph.D. studies.
While in Georgia, colleagues at the CDCB convinced her to pursue a Ph.D., with the offer to fund her research cooperatively as a fellowship with the National Dairy Herd Information Association. With the DHIA headquartered in Fitchburg, working on her Ph.D. at UW-Madison just made sense.
Guinan’s research investigates resilience indicators in U.S. dairy cattle using daily milk weights routinely collected on farms. The daily information goes far beyond the somewhat dated monthly milk weights collected on farms by DHI milk testers across the country.
“Consistency and resiliency means high-frequency data,” Guinan says. “We have to start by pulling in the (milk weight) data and looking at lactation curves to help us understand what the data is telling us. With the new sensors that most farms have, the data is massive. It’s very exciting.”
Guinan says cows with consistent performance are not getting sick, are not getting moved around pens, and take less labor to manage.
“Especially here in the U.S. with big herds, it’s becoming more and more desirable from a producer standpoint to have animals that can cope with variable environments,” she says. “The idea is to eventually bring this information to producers for breeding values for consistency and resiliency so they can select these animals that are minimally affected by disturbances.”
Guinan has played the Irish sport of Gaelic football, which she describes as a cross between soccer and rugby. In an article she published in Hoard’s Dairyman, she recalled asking her team’s manager what she was looking for in her players.
“I prefer a player with predictable performance, regardless of the opponent or conditions, even if they score slightly fewer goals than the top performer,” she wrote. “It’s about predictability.”
She says the same can be said for cows – consistent performance is crucial for building a highly efficient herd. Using that analogy helps her explain in simple terms what her research is all about.
“It’s important to me as a scientist to make my research easy to understand,” she says. “If you can’t communicate it, it’s not as valuable as it could be.”
Weigel, who in January took on a new role as UW-Madison Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs, says he was delighted when he was contacted by officials from the CDCB and NDHIA and told they planned to fund a Ph.D. student, and that student was Guinan.
“That was a pretty nice gift,” Weigel says of the funding for Guinan. “It was like Christmas in October (of 2021). It worked out terrifically.”
Weigel describes Guinan as having “a perfect blend of practical skills.”
“She can do things in the data analysis/science world that are cutting edge,” he says. “She is a really good scientist who can go out and explain the information to a group of farmers or (artificial insemination) industry folks. That is a really nice combination that gives her a lot of opportunities for whatever she decides to do next.”
Weigel says Guinan has also demonstrated leadership skills within the ADS department.
“She tries to lift everybody else up,” he says. “She does what she has to do to get her degree, but she is always looking at how she can help other students and the program. She will volunteer for just about anything. She’s independent, she takes feedback, and she’s just a really good student.”
Guinan says Weigel and Penagaricaño have been “incredibly supportive” during her tenure as a Ph.D. student at the UW.
“They’ve been a great team to work with,” she says. “They pushed me in professional development as well as personal development. They built my confidence as a researcher and allowed me to spend time on the things I was interested in and develop my strength that way.”
Since shortly after she began her research project at the UW, Guinan has been involved in the Animal Science Graduate Student Association. She served as treasurer the first year and president the second year.
“One of my goals in that association was to increase the participation of international students,” she says. “We have a ton of international students in the graduate school. We have been able to attract more of those members, and it has been rewarding to be a part of making that happen.”
About 10 years removed from high school, Guinan is ready to put schooling behind her and move into the work world.
“I’m ready to step into the workforce fulltime and continue building my career,” she says.
Plans call for her to complete her Ph.D. work by September and then look for a position in industry.
“I would like to find a position at the intersection of quality control procedures for data and genetics,” she says. She plans to pursue that career in the U.S.