Virtual Scholarship Raffle Now Live

The NMPF’s annual scholarship fundraising raffle is now live! Our new online format allows for wide opportunity to support the NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship program, which is traditionally touted each year at NMPF’s in-person annual meeting but now expanded to ensure broader participation. The raffle can be accessed at go.rallyup.com/NMPFRaffle2021. Tickets may be purchased through Nov. 30 and the raffle drawing will occur Dec. 1. Prizes this year include $750 and $500 American Express gift cards, a $250 Target gift card, a Cabot Creamery Premium Gift Box, a $100 Kansas City Steak gift card, and more.

The scholarship program supports Master’s and Ph.D. students who are conducting research important to dairy farmers. The 2021 recipients are researching ways to predict metritis cure as a path to reducing antimicrobial use in dairy cattle; the stimulation of microbial protein synthesis by branched volatile fatty acids; and welfare implications of caustic paste disbudding and pain mitigation for dairy calves.

The scholarship program is largely funded through the raffle fundraiser, so your ticket purchases are immensely appreciated.

Sustaining this program means ensuring that critical research benefiting the entire dairy community can continue.

2021 Scholarship Winners Announced

The NMPF Scholarship Committee has selected three graduate students to receive scholarships as part of the 2021 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. These students are conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers. Scholarships were awarded to:

  • Alycia Drwencke, a Ph.D. candidate in Animal Behavior at the University of California – Davis, whose research focuses on the welfare implications of caustic paste disbudding and pain mitigation for dairy calves.
  • Paulo Menta, a Ph.D. candidate in Animal Science at Texas Tech University, whose research focuses on predicting metritis cure as a path to reducing antimicrobial use in dairy cattle.
  • Kelly Mitchell, a Ph.D. candidate in Nutrition at Ohio State University studying the stimulation of microbial protein synthesis by branched volatile fatty acids.