Marcus Hollmann has been around cows his entire life.
Growing up on a dairy farm in Germany, Hollmann, 31, said he has been working with animals since he could walk - from taking care of them to taking them to cattle shows.
Though he originally thought he might want to do something with electronics, Hollmann, a doctoral student in animal sciences, decided what he liked doing was working on the farm. After high school, he participated in an exchange program and came to the United States, where he began working on a farm.
Now, Hollmann is beginning his doctoral research at MSU, researching ways to reduce methane emissions from cows. With an undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a master's degree from Virginia Tech University, East Lansing is the biggest city Hollmann has ever lived in. Hollmann described the atmosphere at MSU as neat - different from other Big Ten schools.
"It's a pretty nice campus for as big as it is - compared to other Big Ten schools," Hollmann said. "I like the research farms that are basically south of campus."
After arriving in America, Hollmann said everything here is bigger, and there are always positives and negatives to everything, so he does not know where he is going to go after finishing his doctorate.
"I mean, everything is bigger and larger and the distances are further. For the most part, I like it," he said, adding that he may travel to Germany or Eastern Europe.
"There are pluses and minuses and everything. I try to look at the advantages, and don't worry about the negatives," he said.
While he realizes everyone has good and bad days at their job, Hollmann said the best days are when he is out on the farm - as opposed to days where he is sitting in front of a computer all day.
"It can be very rewarding if you do some good research. … Or you find some new stuff - just to get ahead and to get those rewards," he said.
MEET … MARCUS HOLLMANN
Department: Animal Science
Type of research: Dairy nutrition
Date of research: Began this month
Funding for research: $4,000 National Dairy Leadership Scholarship from the National Milk Producers Federation
Basics of research: After working with his advisor, Dave Beede, Meadows Chair professor in animal science, Hollmann decided to look at ways to cut methane emissions from cows and their manure. One way in particular stood out - to add coconut oil to their diets.
• "The way the coconut oil works is it has a very unique make up of fatty acid, which is very unique to coconut oil," Hollmann said. "Those fatty acids will shift the population of the micro-organisms in the rumen, and hopefully it reduces the number of micro-organisms that are responsible for methane emissions or producing methane."
• The rumen is the first organ in a cow's digestive track, or the "pre-stomach," Hollmann said.
• Though Hollmann wants to reduce methane emissions from cows - worldwide, cows emit 25 percent of the methane in the air - he does not want to lower the amount of milk they produce. With more cows producing less milk, that would not cut methane emissions at all, he said.
Social impact of research: Since methane is a greenhouse gas, lowering the emissions from cows could potentially reduce global warming.
