Alberta is the place for dairy research.

"Dairy farmers here are very aware of the need to do research and they want to be involved in the research," explains Dr. Herman Barkema, the head of the department of production animal health at the University of Calgary, faculty of veterinary medicine.

He says Alberta has a lot of projects on the go with the dairy farmers.

"We're doing a lot of research on the Johne's Disease in cattle and how prevalent it is in Alberta and what the best way to detect it is," he says.

He says they are also researching early detection of disease in feedlots in general, as well as cattle vaccination strategies and the transfer of antibodies.

Barkema says farmers determine what research needs to be done one.

"All our research is done with the farmers and for the farmers," he says. "They find that lameness, Johne's disease and mastitis are three of the most important causes of disease in dairy farms and they have an effect on economic returns in the dairy farms."

Barkema says most of the research is actually done on the farms and then the results are given to the farmers. "We present them at the Western Canadian Dairy Seminar, the annual meeting of Alberta Milk and other meetings that are organized."