About

Brad Heins is a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, earned in 2010, along with a Master's degree in Animal Science with a Minor in Statistics obtained in 2006, and a Bachelor's degree in Animal and Plant Systems from the same university in 1998. His research focuses on organic dairy production, crossbreeding in dairy cattle, renewable energy systems for dairies, and the application of precision technologies to improve dairy grazing systems. He has contributed to understanding the microbiota of dairy cows, the effects of herbal therapies on calves, and genetic parameters related to health and production traits in dairy cattle. He is involved in teaching applied statistical models and dairy nutrition, and his work includes investigating animal health, welfare, and environmental sustainability within organic dairy systems.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Veterinary medicine
• Biology
• Animal science
• Biotechnology
• Genetics
• Geography
• Food science
• Psychology
• Toxicology
• Gerontology
• Microbiology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Agrivoltaic arrays and effects of forage biomass and nutritive value of grasses and legumes for grazing dairy cattle

  JDS Communications · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Forage crops for grazing dairy cattle grown underneath ground-mounted photovoltaic systems (PV) may provide a feed source for livestock production.The objective was to evaluate forage biomass and nutritive value of grasses and legumes grown under different PV conditions.Forages were planted underneath a 30-kW PV site (30kW), a 50-kW PV site (50kW) and one control pasture site without PV (CON) in 2022 and 2023 with 4 replicates per site.Solar sites were all located on the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center grazing dairy farm and were not located next to each other but were 700m apart.Forage crops included alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), field peas (Pisum sativum L.), meadow fescue (Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.)P. Beauv), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), brown midrib sorghum-sudan grass (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench ssp.Drummondii [Steud.]),white clover (Trifolium repens L.), and 3 grass and legume mixes with either alfalfa, red clover, or white clover.Forage samples were clipped (3 clippings per year) when forages reached approximately 25 to 35 cm in height, which corresponded to recommended pregrazing height for lactating dairy cows.Samples were analyzed for forage nutritive value.Forage biomass, dry matter and nutritive values were analyzed with PROC Mixed of SAS with the fixed effects of site (30kW, 50kW, or pasture), forage nested within site, year (2022 and 2023) and cutting (1,2 or 3) and the random effect of replicate nested within site.Forages produced less biomass at the 50kW (3,223 kg/ha) solar sites compared with 30kW solar site (8,968 kg/ha) and the control pasture (9,987 kg/ha).The 50kW forages had greater crude protein on a dry matter basis (23.8%) than the 30kW (20.1%) and control pasture (18.2%).The 50kW (54.4%) forages also had greater total-tract neutral detergent fiber digestibility than the 30kW (52.3%) and control pasture (49.1%).Forage biomass and nutrient nutritive values varied based on the solar array design and amount of sun exposure.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• An Economic Analysis of Inter-seeding of Pasture and Feeding Legume Forages to Dairy Cows in an Organic System

  JDS Communications · 2026-05-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study assessed the economic viability of inter-seeding a legume grass mixture in an existing organic pasture system, focusing on the implications for milk yield, milk composition, and profitability.Using net present value analysis, financial and production data were analyzed from the University of Minnesota Farm Financial FINBIN database and university feeding trials (University of Minnesota and University of New Hampshire).The analysis modeled a baseline 88-cow organic dairy herd with an average milk yield of 7,185 kg.A 10-year net present value analysis was used to account for the time value of money at a discount rate of 7% and fluctuating pasture productivity, with inter-seeding occurring in years 1, 5, and 10.The analysis found a positive net present value of $394,274, which indicated that the investment was financially feasible for organic dairy farms.Sensitivity testing found that while the modeled farm was resilient to increased seed costs, profitability was more dependent on milk price and production.Specifically, an 18.7% decrease in milk price or a reduction in annual milk yield to 5,844 kg per cow would be required to reduce the net present value to zero.In conclusion, integrating legume-grass mixtures into organic rotational grazing systems was economically feasible and could support long-term profitability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of Willow Bark (Salix Extract) on Pain and Stress Following Disbudding of Organic Dairy Calves

  Animals · 2025-02-17 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Cautery disbudding is a painful procedure and major welfare concern in organic dairy production, which lacks effective and easily implemented methods of pain control. Willow bark (WB) has been used to treat chronic pain in humans, but there is no scientific evidence that WB has an analgesic effect in dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of an oral WB bolus on heart rate, salivary cortisol concentration, ocular temperature, and lying behavior (time, bouts, and bout duration) of 42 Holstein and crossbred calves. Heifer calves were born at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, MN organic dairy. Calves were disbudded from 4 to 7 weeks of age (42 ± 3 d) and randomly assigned to one of three treatments (n = 14 calves/treatment): hot iron disbudding with lidocaine (LID; 5 mL per horn bud), hot iron disbudding with oral WB (200 mg/kg), or sham disbudding (SD). Saliva samples and thermal images were collected 1 h before disbudding, at disbudding, and 5 min, 10 min, and every 30 min until 240 min after disbudding. Cardiac monitors recorded heart rates continuously throughout the 5 h study period. HOBO loggers recorded lying behavior during the 72 h following disbudding. The variables included in the statistical model for analyses were fixed effects of treatment, time, and the interaction between treatment and time, and calf was a random effect. The mean heart rate of LID calves (123.3 ± 2.8 beats/minute) and WB calves (124.5 ± 3.2 beats/minute) were higher than SD calves (110.8 ± 2.3 beats/minute). Salivary cortisol concentrations were higher for the LID calves (103.8 pg/mL) and for the WB calves (103.4 pg/mL) than for the SD calves (85.5 pg/mL). The ocular temperature was not affected by treatment group. There were fewer lying bouts 24 to 48 h after disbudding compared to the first 24 h after disbudding in both the LID and WB treatment groups. Treatment group did not affect lying time or lying bout duration. Neither LID nor WB alleviated the pain of calves throughout the post-disbudding period. The results highlighted the need to discover suitable options for pain mitigation of calves in organic livestock production.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 110. Precision technologies for greenhouse gas emission monitoring in grazing dairy cattle

  Animal - science proceedings · 2025-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Effects of an herbal tincture therapy and willow bark (Salix extract) on the physiological and behavioral response to disbudding in dairy calves under organic management

  Journal of Dairy Science · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Disbudding is a standard procedure on most US dairy farms, but organic options to alleviate pain are limited. The objective of this study was to assess the post-disbudding analgesic effects of 2 organic pain relief methods (Dull It, Dr. Paul's Lab, Mazomanie, WI; willow bark, Nature's Way, Green Bay, WI) on the heart rate, ocular temperature, salivary cortisol concentration, and lying behavior (time, bouts, and bout duration) of 53 preweaning Holstein and crossbred dairy calves born at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, Minnesota. Calves were disbudded with a cautery iron between 5 and 7 wk of age (44 ± 4 d) and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: lidocaine only (LA; 5 mL per horn bud; n = 18), lidocaine and Dull It (DI; 5 mL under the tongue immediately after and 1 h after disbudding; n = 18), and lidocaine and willow bark (WB; 200 mg/kg; n = 17). Polar H10 heart rate monitors recorded heart rates for all calves continuously throughout the 5-h study period and data were analyzed in 5-min intervals. The HOBO loggers recorded lying behavior for 95-h following disbudding in 1-min intervals. Thermal images of the eye were captured approximately every 20 s beginning 5 min before and ending 5 min after disbudding for all calves. Saliva samples were collected from 30 randomly selected "minimally invasive" calves 1 h before disbudding, at the time of disbudding, and at 5 min, 10 min, and every 30 min until 240 min after disbudding. The remaining 23 calves served as a "noninvasive" group to control for stress caused by repeated sampling. The mean heart rate of DI calves (132.9 ± 2.2 beats/min) was lower than that of calves in the WB treatment (141.9 ± 2.5 beats/min) during the 4 h following disbudding. The LA calves (136.2 ± 2.4 beats/min) had similar heart rates to both the DI calves and WB calves. Treatment group did not affect ocular temperature, salivary cortisol concentration, and lying behavior. These findings indicate that DI and WB offer little to no analgesic effect. This research highlights the urgent need to find effective alternative options for pain mitigation in organic dairy production.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Organic calf growth associations with sire breed and with milk and component yield in later life

  Organic Agriculture · 2025-07-04

  articleOpen access

  Abstract A relationship has been established between calf growth rate and milk production in conventional dairy herds, but not in organic herds. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of sire breed on body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) of organic calves and to evaluate the effect of calf BW and ADG on first lactation production. Records from 114 calves with 944 BW from 1 to 9 weeks of age were retained for determination of BW in week 1 (BW1), BW in week 8 (BW8), and average daily gain (ADG). First lactation production records (305-d mature equivalent milk (M-305), 305-d fat (F-305), 305-d protein (P-305), average 305-d somatic cell score (SCS), fat %, protein %, and energy corrected milk (ECM)) were available from 83 animals. Calves were of 5 different sire breeds: Holstein (HO, N = 52), Jersey (JE, N = 11), Montbeliarde (MO, N = 9), Viking Red (VR, N = 7), and others (O, N = 4). MO, VR and HO sired calves were heavier and had higher ADG (0.76 kg/d, 0.73 kg/d and 0.71 kg/d, respectively) than JE sired (0.65 kg/d) calves. Regression on BW1 and BW8 were associated with increased M-305 (34.36 kg and 23.12 kg, respectively), F-305 yield (1.07 kg and 0.63 kg, respectively),P-305 (0.93 kg and 0.63 kg, respectively), and ECM (31.53 kg and 20.01 kg, respectively). Moreover, we found that each kg increase in ADG was associated with a 1580.39 kg M-305 increase during first lactation. These results indicate that the sire breed was associated with pre-weaning growth of dairy calves and higher growth was associated with increased production in the first lactation in organic herds.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• PSII-12 Carcass characteristics and revenue of beef x dairy crossbred calves sired by Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental.

  Journal of Animal Science · 2025-10-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract The objective of this study was to compare carcass characteristics and revenue of beef x dairy crossbred steers sired by Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental bulls. Bull calves (n = 50) were born at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center (Morris) from September 2023 to December 2023. Calves were from Holstein dams and crossbred dams of Montbéliarde, Viking Red, and Holstein, and crossbred dams of Jersey, Normande, and Viking Red. Breed groups were Angus (n = 11), Charolais (n = 11), Hereford (n = 11), Limousin (n = 10) and Simmental (n = 7) crossbred calves. Variables included in the statistical model for analyses were fixed effects of birthweight, hot carcass weight (HCW), sire breed and dam breed. Sire breed groups were not different (P > 0.05) for HCW. Limousin-sired steers had larger (P < 0.05) ribeye area (34.7 cm2) than Charolais-(31.2 cm2), Simmental-(32.8 cm2), and Angus-sired (31.3 cm2) steers. Angus-sired steers had higher (P < 0.05) marbling (616.9) than Charolais-(521.3), Simmental-(547.1), and Limousin-sired (426.9) steers. Hereford-sired steers had higher (P < 0.05) backfat (0.6) than Charolais (0.5), Angus (0.4), and Limousin-sired (0.4) steers. Hereford-sired steers had a higher yield grade (3.1) than Limousin-sired steers (2.4), and were similar to Charolais (2.8), Simmental (2.9), and Angus-sired (2.9) steers. Charolais and Simmental- sired steers had more (P < 0.05) kidney, pelvic, and heart fat (1.8 and 1.9, respectively) than Limousin-sired steers (1.7), but were similar to Angus and Hereford- sired steers (1.82 and 1.81, respectively). Overall, Angus-, Charolais, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental- sired steers were similar (P < 0.05) in total revenue made ($2,721.60, $2,767.80, $2,778.92, $2,650.79, and $2,739.25, respectively). The results from this study found that some breeds groups differed carcass characteristics; however, the differences were subtle and numerous beef sire breeds may be used to breed dairy cattle to bring in similar revenue.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 207 Diversifying dairy farm income through agrivoltaics.

  Journal of Animal Science · 2025-10-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The dairy industry consumes an immense amount of fossil-fuel in the production of food, feed, fiber, and energy. From the electricity that cools milk, to the fuel that is burned in tractors in fields, to the trucks that bring goods to market, and to the nitrogen fertilizer that nourishes plants; the agricultural industry is captive to large and constant supplies of a wide range of fossil energy. Using an agrivoltaic system in a pasture, which is the integration of solar photovoltaics and agriculture, could boost land efficiency up to 75%. Potential on-site renewable electric generation could also supply some or the entire electric load allowing dairy farms to approach net-zero. Agrivoltaics is one-way producers might be able to become less dependent on fossil fuels, lower production costs, increase land efficiency, improve forages and crops for use by dairy cattle, and increase milk production and health in dairy cows. The University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center dairy herd in Morris, MN has evaluated agrivoltaics as a method to reduce heat stress, as well as evaluate forage biomass and nutritive value of crops, grasses and legumes grown under different agrivoltaic conditions. Crossbred cows were assigned to one of two treatments: shade from solar PV or no shade. Respiration rates for shade and no shade cows were similar during the morning hours, but during the afternoon, shade cows had lower respiration rates (66 breaths/min) than no shade cows (78 breaths/min). Milk, fat, and protein production were not different for cows whether they had shade or no shade. Hourly body temperature results show that no shade cows had greater internal body temperatures (+0.6°C) than shade cows from 13:00 h to 24:00 h. Forage biomass and nutrient values varied based on the solar array design and amount of sun exposure. Based on the results of this study, cows may have sacrificed grazing time to stand in the protection of the shade. Future research with solar panels will investigate the reproductive performance of the cows, and long-term effects on milk, fat, and protein production, body weight, body condition, and animal health and well-being. Agrivoltaics in the form of forage production grown underneath ground-mounted photovoltaic systems may provide a suitable feed source for livestock production and a renewable energy source for farms and economic opportunity for farmers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• PSIV-25 Growth of beef x dairy crossbred calves sired by Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental.

  Journal of Animal Science · 2025-10-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The objective of this study was to compare beef x dairy crossbred calves sired by Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental in an experimental research herd. Sire breed groups were compared for growth during the pre-weaning and growing stage until harvest. Calves were from Holstein dams, and crossbred dams of Montbéliarde, Viking Red, and Holstein, and crossbred dams of Jersey, Normande, and Viking Red. Breed groups were Angus (n = 11), Charolais (n = 11), Hereford (n = 11), Limousin (n = 10) and Simmental (n = 7) crossbred calves. Calves were born from September 2023 to December 2023 at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, MN. During the pre-weaned phase, calves were fed 10 L/d, and calves were introduced to the automated feeder at day 5 and were weaned at 63 d. Milk feeding behaviors (drinking speeds) were collected from the automatic feeding system and analyzed by breed groups. Body weights were recorded at birth and weekly through weaning, as well as monthly through harvest. Variables included in the statistical model for analyses were fixed effects of birthweight, sire breed group and dam group. Angus-sired (37.6 kg) calves had lower (P < 0.05) birth weight compared to Limousin (42.3 kg) and Simmental (43.2 kg) calves. Hereford calves (107.5 kg) had the highest weaning weight and was higher (P < 0.05) than Limousin (97.3 kg) and Charolais (96.2 kg) calves. Furthermore, Hereford calves (1.06 kg/d) had higher (P < 0.05) average daily gain compared to Limousin (0.89 kg/d) and Charolais (0.88 kg/d) calves. Angus and Simmental calves had average daily gains of 0.98 kg/d and 0.97 kg/d, respectively. Days to harvest (P < 0.04) was 452 for Angus, 474 for Charolais, 448 for Hereford, 458 for Limousin, and 451 for Simmental calves. Overall, sire breed groups were not different (P < 0.05) for final weight at harvest (646 kg for Angus, 653 kg for Charolais, 651 kg for Hereford, 618 kg for Limousin, and 635 kg for Simmental). The results from this study found that some breeds groups differ in growth rate from birth to harvest; however, the differences were subtle and numerous beef sire breeds may be used to breed dairy cattle.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The teat skin microbiota of organic primiparous dairy cows is dynamic during the transition period

  Preventive Veterinary Medicine · 2024-12-07

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Emily Krekelberg

  60 shared

• Joe Armstrong

  55 shared

• G.M. Pereira

  University of Maine

  27 shared

• L.B. Hansen

  University of Minnesota

  25 shared

• Hannah N. Phillips

  23 shared

• Kirsten Sharpe

  Colorado State University

  20 shared

• A.R. Hazel

  University of Minnesota

  18 shared

• A.J. Seykora

  University of Minnesota

  15 shared

Labs

• Department of Animal SciencePI