Anne Saeman of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, was recently awarded the National Mastitis Council Award of Excellence for Contribution to Mastitis Prevention and Control. The award, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI), was presented at the 2016 National Mastitis Council (NMC) annual meeting in Glendale, Arizona.

With education from both the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Cornell University, Saeman has had a lifelong commitment to and interest in dairy cow health. From 1986 until recently, Saeman led the NMC as its executive director, helping the organization grow from a regional entity to an international source of information for milk quality and mammary health.

“Few individuals have had the significant impact on a single organization and a large segment of the dairy industry that Anne has had,” said K. Larry Smith, professor emeritus, department of animal sciences at The Ohio State University. “She is recognized as a true leader in the dairy industry, and has devoted her professional career to the promotion of the goals of NMC.”

Under Saeman’s leadership, the NMC has continually worked with dairy producers and veterinarians around the world to provide information on udder health, milking management, milk quality and milk safety. Her positive impact on milk quality includes the improvement in U.S. somatic cell counts in raw milk, which dropped from 304,000 cells per mL in 1995 to 200,000 cells per mL in 2014, as measured by Dairy Herd Improvement.  PD

—From Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. news release