College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Animal Science

Biography

Mike VandeHaar has been a professor of dairy nutrition at Michigan State University since 1988. He grew up on a dairy farm in Iowa and completed his Ph.D. at Iowa State University. His appointment is 60% research, 30% teaching, and 10% service. His research area is dairy cattle nutrition, and he is internationally known as an expert in the feed efficiency of dairy cattle. He teaches nutrition and mammary physiology. He also is active in leadership of the American Dairy Science Association and is currently serving as its President. Research Dr. VandeHaar’s research centers on finding new ways to feed, breed, and manage dairy cows to improve feed efficiency and sustainably feed people. He is part of a multistate project to develop genomic tools to improve feed efficiency and reduce methane emissions in the dairy industry. He led the group from 2010 to 2023 and that work culminated in the addition of the FeedSaved trait to the US Net Merit Index. Net Merit is used to select genetically superior animals for breeding the next generation so the cows of the future will be even more efficient than the cow of today. Dr. VandeHaar also studies how to feed calves and heifers for improved growth, health, and mammary development, how to feed for decreased methane emissions, and how to feed cows in later lactation for optimal nutrient partitioning. Because of his expertise in energy metabolism and growth, he was selected to be a member of the committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to revise the Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle; that work was published in 2021.

Research

Dr. VandeHaar’s research centers on finding new ways to feed, breed, and manage dairy cows to improve feed efficiency and sustainably feed people.   He is part of a multistate project to develop genomic tools to improve feed efficiency and reduce methane emissions in the dairy industry.  He led the group from 2010 to 2023 and that work culminated in the addition of the FeedSaved trait to the US Net Merit Index.  Net Merit is used to select genetically superior animals for breeding the next generation so the cows of the future will be even more efficient than the cow of today.  Dr. VandeHaar also studies how to feed calves and heifers for improved growth, health, and mammary development, how to feed for decreased methane emissions, and how to feed cows in later lactation for optimal nutrient partitioning.  Because of his expertise in energy metabolism and growth, he was selected to be a member of the committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to revise the Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle; that work was published in 2021.

Teaching

Dr. VandeHaar has taught basic and applied nutrition, metabolism, and lactation for 35 years to undergraduate, graduate, and veterinary students. He currently teaches the general undergraduate course on nutrition for ANS majors. That course has a lab that incorporates a hands-on project with broiler chickens to demonstrate the impact of nutrition on growth and help students learn the importance of monitoring animals to meet feeding goals. He also teaches part of the mammary physiology class with a focus on how milk synthesized.

• ANS 313, Animal Feeding and Nutrition
• ANS 435, Mammary Physiology (co-taught)