Professor’s research beefs up animal and dairy science teamwork

By Theresa Miller

The UGA program in the genetic evaluation of beef cattle is the largest of its kind in the world, and the opportunity to confront “interesting problems” as part of a top-notch team led Ignacy Misztal to the department of animal and dairy science. Another drawing card was the new animal and dairy science complex--then in the works, now a reality. He came to UGA after nine years at the University of Illinois.
Misztal is largely responsible for the methodology of the department’s breeding and genetics group, which works in three species: dairy cattle, beef cattle and swine.
“It’s much more than one person can carry,” Misztal explains, “so it’s important to assemble a team of good people, including post-docs and graduate students, who combine to form a critical mass. Faculty by themselves are unable to do everything, so we need a very good team of scientists.” The students working with him and enrolling in his classes benefit from collaborating on important research with an international team.
A current project examines dairy cows’ reaction to heat stress, which causes milk production and fertility to plunge during the South’s steamy summers. Misztal has devised a program to identify Holsteins that can withstand heat stress in order to improve the genetic traits of dairy cows in the South. He is betting that it can be done, adding dollars to Georgia dairy producers’ coffers. The breeding and genetics group “delivers,” Misztal declares.
Misztal’s only childhood connection with agriculture was growing up next to his grandfather’s farm in his native Poland. When he later studied computer engineering in Warsaw, a visiting professor from Germany piqued his interest in animal agriculture. “He presented me with some interesting problems in genetics which required computers,” Misztal recalls.
He works in “computing methodologies in very large linear and nonlinear models.” His programs analyze not only linear quantifiable traits (such as milk yield) but also discrete traits (such as calving ease in cows) that are measured in terms like “easy, difficult or very difficult.”
“I write computer programs and make them available to people in many countries. Our purpose is--first--to have collaboration with other people and also to get ideas on how to improve those programs,” he says. Misztal’s programs attract researchers in over 30 nations.
What’s the payback for Georgians? “We would like to have so much interest in the research here that international people and their funding can benefit the Georgia economy,” Misztal says. The breeding and genetics group receives much support from breed associations and commercial companies. Misztal notes that one student from Uruguay is funded by a scholarship from a Japanese bank, an example of the worldwide interest in the group’s work.
One of his hobbies, like his research, has a collaborative flavor--he’s a ham radio buff with call sign NO9E. Does this avocation benefit his research? “Well,” he says, smiling, “it helps when traveling in other countries. One can find a ham radio antenna on the roof, then just knock and be invited in as a friend anywhere in the world.”