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Kent A. Weigel, Madison, Wis., will receive the 2017 Award for Meritorious Service from the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey Inc. on June 23 in Gettysburg, Penna.

This award is given annually to a living individual who, in the joint opinion of the Boards of Directors of the national Jersey organizations, has made a notable contribution to the advancement of the Jersey breed and the livelihood of Jersey owners in the United States through research, education, development, marketing, or other significant activities of the allied dairy industry.

The presentation will be made at the Breeders’ Banquet during the AJCA-NAJ Annual Meetings which run June 21 through 24 at the Wyndham Gateway Hotel in Gettysburg.

Dr. Weigel is professor and chair of the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, a position he has held since 2010. He also serves as extension dairy genetics specialist for the state of Wisconsin.

“Kent is a remarkable scientist whose leadership is accelerating Jersey progress for the 21st Century,” said Brian Barlass, president of the Wisconsin Jersey Breeders Association.

Since 2000, Dr. Weigel has been awarded 11 research grants from the AJCC Research Foundation—more than any other scientist. His first foundation-funded study, to control inbreeding in commercial Jersey herds using individual mating programs, became the framework for JerseyMate™. His ground-breaking study on the relationship between linear traits and culling risk, first published in 2003, guided the American Jersey Cattle Association in refining multiple projects, including the linear type appraisal program and the formula for its breed-specific Jersey Performance Index™ (JPI). He conducted the data analysis leading to the December 2014 update of JPI, and consults with AJCA staff on a range of genetic evaluation topics.

Weigel has served the dairy industry on several key national committees. He was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Dairy Science for five years and the animal genome panel for USDA’s National Research Initiative in 2004. He currently serves on the dairy sire evaluation and sire fertility committees of the National Association of Animal Breeders and as a consultant for the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding. He is also a member of the research team for the National Program for Improvement of Feed Efficiency in Dairy Cattle funded by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as the scientific advisory committee for Neogen Corporation.

Dr. Weigel earned his M.S. in animal science from Iowa State University, then received his M.S. degree in biometry and a Ph.D. in dairy science from UW—Madison. His first position was as senior research associate for Holstein Association USA. He later became genetic director for World-Wide Sires Inc., then joined the UW-Madison faculty as a research scientist.

The American Dairy Science Association presented Dr. Weigel with the Young Scientist Award and the Foundation Scholar Award in 2003 and the Lush Award for Animal Breeding and Genetics in 2010. He also received the J.S. Donald Farm and Industry Short Course Teaching Award from UW-Madison in 2009.

The American Jersey Cattle Association, organized in 1868, compiles and maintains animal identification and performance data on Jersey cattle and provides services that support genetic improvement and greater profitability through increasing the value of and demand for Registered Jersey™ cattle and genetics, and Jersey milk and milk products. For more information on the association’s complete line of services for dairy business owners, visit the website at www.USJersey.com or connect at Facebook.com/USJersey.