Virginia Tech is set to launch a new $14m Dairy Science Complex located at Kentland Farm in Montgomery County, Virginia, US.
The new facility has been designed to further Virginia Tech's dairy science program.
Featuring latest technology required for dairy research, the new facility comprises almost 11,900ft2 milking parlor with a double-12 parallel milking system and a 46,000ft2 freestall barn, which can accommodate more than 200 milking cows.
Other features of the new facility include a waste management system, a special needs heifer barn, and a pre-weaned calf facility.
Virginia Tech Agriculture and Life Sciences dean Alan Grant said: "The new facilities provide great opportunities for students desiring a hands-on, experiential education, and they will also allow the faculty to conduct innovative research that is important for the dairy industry."
The move from the former dairy science complex on Southgate Drive follows the expansion of the Virginia Tech/Montgomery Executive Airport, the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, and a new US 460 interchange.
The first phase of construction was a Virginia Tech-funded $14m project while the construction of the second phase of the dairy relocation is scheduled to commence in 2016.
The second phase of the dairy complex includes a demonstration facility located near Plantation Road, an applied reproductive physiology facility adjacent to the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, and an intensive metabolism research facility at the Kentland Farm complex.
Virginia Tech dairy science department head Mike Akers said "The new facilities reflect the evolution of dairy science, where the emphasis is on science and how researchers can help increase yields and boost animal health while also working with our interdisciplinary partners to investigate ways in which the research we do here translates into any number of different purposes that can benefit society."
