Kevin Dill Named an Honoree of the Michigan Dairy and Memorial Scholarship Foundation

Dec 17, 2025

By Miriam Weber

On Dec. 10, 2025, Kevin Dill was inducted as an honoree to the Michigan Dairy Memorial Scholarship Foundation at Michigan State University. The foundation supports one of the largest scholarship funds in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and provides over $100,000 each year to students pursuing careers in the dairy industry. Since its founding in 1957, almost 200 people have been recognized as honorees for both their contributions to Michigan’s dairy industry and commitment to dairy education.

Dill grew up on a Missouri 540-acre diversified crop and livestock farm in Linn County Missouri, which included a 100-cow dairy herd. His love for the dairy cow led him to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia where he completed both a bachelor’s and a master’s in dairy science. In addition to his degree research, graduate school found him teaching undergraduate students as part of his stipend responsibilities.

Dill then accepted an opportunity to coordinate the two-year Ag Tech Dairy program at Michigan State University. While in this role, his responsibilities included recruiting students, developing curriculum and supervising summer student placements on commercial dairies across the Great Lakes states and the northeast. Additional elements included teaching herd management, nutrition and farm management. Lastly, coaching dairy cattle judging teams at Michigan State provided yet additional, valuable industry engagement and experience.

While leading the Michigan State’s Ag Tech Dairy Program, Dill completed his PhD in animal science in 1991. His PhD dissertation focused on identifying and prioritizing management areas that impact milk production for commercial dairy operations. He gained farm-related producer experience while collecting both on-farm and analyzing DHIA data from the 44 Michigan participating dairies.

Source : msu.edu

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.