STAKEHOLDERS in the Australian dairy industry can be more confident about their future.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And that they are getting a “bang for their buck” when it comes to the investment of the levies they pay.
That was the message from David Nation, chief of Dairy Futures CRC, at the annual Rivalea Farmer Insight in Wodonga on Wednesday.
“About six or seven years ago Dairy Australia and the Victorian government made a decision to make genetics a focus in the dairy industry,” he said.
“A grant was obtained from the federal government and the Dairy Futures Cooperative Research Centre was founded.
“It is a cooperative of 18 different project partners in the dairy industry, including universities, government agencies, breed societies and others.
“The organisation invests over $20 million annually, 60 per cent to do with pasture and 40 per cent for dairy cattle.
“This is the largest on-farm research and development program in the dairy industry.”
Dr Nation made two presentations, one on pasture technology and the other in relation to dairy cattle technology.
“The bottom line was to inform the producers what is coming their way,” he said.
“Through the Victorian government site at La Trobe University in Melbourne we are starting to see varieties of pasture which have the potential to lift pasture yields by 20 per cent.
“We are also seeing pasture energy increasing by one third to one megajoule per kilogram of dry matter.
“This is also leading to extending the life of high performing pasture by one year.
“By the use of genomics and DNA entirely new breeding decisions can be made, including introducing hybrid vigour into existing varieties.”
Dr Nation said that although genomics had been in use for cattle breeding for a few years now, it was becoming a more powerful technology.