Matt Lucy, professor of Animal Science at the University of Missouri, won the Midwest Innovation in Dairy Research Award presented by the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Animal Science.

The award recognizes individuals for their original and innovative ideas that improve the dairy industry.

The title of the research paper was “Receiver Operator Curve Characteristics for a Pregnancy Test Based on Milk Progesterone Concentration Before or One Week After Timed Artificial Insemination.” Co-authors on the paper were Laura Wilsdorf (graduate research assistant, Division of Animal Sciences) and Scott Poock (DVM, College of Veterinary Medicine). The paper will be present at the Midwest ASAS/ADSA meetings to be held in Des Moines, March 16-18.

Farmers breed their cows within 2 months after calving so that their cows calve once every year. “We are trying to increase efficiency by developing on-farm chemical pregnancy tests for dairy cows.” Lucy said. “By one week after breeding we can identify a subset of cows that are not pregnant by using the milk progesterone test. These cows can be treated so that they come back into heat. This saves time for the farmer so that he can get his cows pregnant sooner after calving.”

Lucy’s research focus is factors affect the establishment of pregnancy in dairy cows and pigs. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida’s Institute for food and Agricultural Sciences. He joined MU in 1993.

In 2008 he earned CAFNR’s Golden Apple Teaching Award, and in 2010 was named the Outstanding Graduate Advisor. Also in 2010 he was presented the ASAS Animal Physiology and Endocrinology Award. In 2010-2011 Lucy is past president of the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council.  From 2013 to 2014 he served as a Fulbright Specialist while on Research Leave in the Republic of Ireland. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dairy Science. In the last five years Lucy has published 30 scientific papers.