On the Web: This and all other Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences news releases and related photo are available at www.cals.iastate.edu/news/.

Milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt are a few of the samples that will be handed out at the Iowa State University Dairy Farm annual open house on Friday, June 6, from 6 to 11 a.m. The event is part of Iowa's celebration of June Dairy Month.

PUBLIC IS INVITED: ISU Dairy Farm at Ames will hold an open house June 6. Iowa dairy farmers have extra reason to celebrate June Dairy Month this year as they've been enjoying some of the best milk prices in years.

The sixth annual open house, which is open to the public, will include tours of the dairy farm every half hour beginning at 6:30 a.m. and ending at 10:30 a.m. The tour includes stops at the milking parlor, milk house and various farm buildings all located south of the ISU campus at Ames.

Visitors can learn about the dairy industry in the Ag Discovery Center, while sampling free dairy products. The discovery area will include demonstrations on current technologies and best practices in animal care, product quality, safety and environmental stewardship. The ISU Dairy Farm has more than 390 milking cows. Each cow produces about 78 pounds of milk per day, with a protein percentage of 3.1 and a fat content of 3.9%.

Visitors can see and learn how a modern dairy farm operates
The dairy farm, which opened in 2007, is a state-of-the-art facility that provides teaching, research and outreach opportunities for Iowa State students and the public. The ISU Dairy Farm is located on 887 acres at 52470 260th Street in Ames, three miles south of central campus.

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To get to the farm from Highway 30, take University Boulevard (exit 146) and go south one mile and turn right on 260th Street. Sponsors of the June Dairy Month Celebration include Iowa State University, Midwest Dairy Association, Hy-Vee, Iowa State Dairy Association, Western Iowa Dairy Alliance, Swiss Valley Farms, The Dairy Foundation, Land O'Lakes Milk and Robert's Dairy Foods.

Iowa Egg Industry Center looking to fund research
In other ISU animal science news, the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State at Ames is seeking pre-proposals for egg industry-oriented research to fund through its grant award program.

"The number of preproposals in response to the 2013 call created a highly competitive selection process," says Hongwei Xin, director of the Egg Industry Center and an ISU professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and animal science. "The 24 submissions highlighted even more the need for the research endowment the center has established to serve industry and those affected by it."

 Researchers can find submission information at the EIC website. The deadline for preproposals is June 16. After a review of the preproposals, finalists will be notified to submit a full proposal for further consideration.

The full proposals will be reviewed by a committee of area-specific experts for scientific merits. The committee submits evaluations to the EIC Board of Directors, which determines the winning proposals. The board consists of producers, industry and academic leaders from across the United States and Canada. This group annually identifies a list of targeted research topics included in the Request for Proposal and a broader list of research priorities, which are published on the EIC website.

The EIC research grant program is intended to focus research on the top concerns in the egg industry while providing a platform to explore other opportunities for the industry's future. The Egg Industry Center was established at ISU in 2008. Its mission is to add value to the egg industry by facilitating research and learning for egg producers, processors and consumers through national and international collaboration. To find more information on the center, visit the EIC website.