Ashlynn Kirk
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Email: aakirk@ucdavis.edu
Education M.S., Animal Biology, University of California, Davis, California, 2022. B.S., Animal Science, Minor: Food Processing Technology; University of Wisconsin - River Falls, Wisconsin, 2020 Research For my M.S. research, I explored the weaning period in beef calves. This is a challenging time for beef calves because they must quickly gain nutritional and social independence from their dam. I investigated one method of gradual weaning, when the calf is fitted with a nose flap to prevent suckling. I identified that a plastic nose flap worn for 7 d caused nasal injuries, factors like calf body weight or septum size could not predict injuries or flap loss, and created a novel scoring system that could reliably score wound characteristics. I am currently the Project Manager for the Humane Handling Institute at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. For more information, please visit Humane Handling Institute | University of Wisconsin River Falls |