PROGRAM WHAT WE SAID WE’D DO WHY WE DID IT WHAT DID WE ACHIEVE? Future Forage Provide a targeted approach to lifting the productivity of southern dryland dairy farmers through significant changes in forage production and utilisation Reduce on-farm feed unit input costs via increased home grown forage and improved system management Increased industry standard for forage growth, consumption and learning from 30/30 program partner farms Established on-farm change in pastures grown and consumed on a minimum of 100 dairy farms (20/12) Increased knowledge of N cycling on dairy pastures (Greener Pastures) Future Feeding Systems Address the considerable amount of confusion among producers and mixed messages from different advisors about how much grain and concentrates to feed profitably to cows at pasture Grains2Milk program - developed an agreed industry-wide program of work in the areas of pasture and grain integration on farms in place. Field work to commence in spring 2007 Completed desk research to delineate the issues and parameters surrounding the integration of grain and pasture in dairy management systems Appointed a program leader to guide, develop and integrate programs across the business group Future Decision Support Bring existing knowledge into the most useful and accessible forms for Dairy Australia, the R&D community and service providers to aid in making better decisions Modelling future farming systems and complex relationships between, for example, a fodder crop yield and the nutrients and water available to it, are important for determining the potential gains in the future, and where Dairy Australia should invest. Dairy Australia significantly improved industry modelling capability in 2006/07: • Established ownership of key data code and modelling capability • Adapted modelling tools to integrate with on-farm decision making • Produced improved overall modelling capability in key areas of production (grass growth and pasture nutrition) • Technology confirmed, data collected and interpreted across the key dairy regions in Victoria and defined a commercial path to market for modelling technology • Established a protocol for testing (autumn 2008) the ability of satellite technology to improve farmer management of pastures in temperate Australia Plant Breeding Develop information and tools to apply marker-assisted selection in the genetic improvement of forage species Genetic marker techniques provides the potential to identify superior grasses and clovers and fast track their development Confirmed dairy industry commitment to genetic marker research in plants (ryegrass and white clover) and established a clear path to market with strong commercial partners PROGRAM WHAT WE SAID WE’D DO WHY WE DID IT WHAT DID WE ACHIEVE? Genetics Drive productivity via the identification of genetic lines that are superior in Australian dairy farming systems Increase the productivity of dairy cattle, better management of their lifecycle, and improved daily management onfarm Genetic evaluation completed by ADHIS and published in August 2006 and February and May 2007 DPIV has investigated the options for producing a breeding value for extended lactation length and is mid-way through a review of fertility and herd life Reproduction and Biomarkers Better understand the causes and treatments for infertility through the identification of biomarkers that indicate suitability for different production systems, and use the current knowledge base to improve the management of fertility Farmers need decision tools that allow the early identification of those cows most suited to their farming systems, whether they be, for example, extended lactation systems, batch calving systems, or very high producing total mixed ration systems. Understanding how farmers make decisions regarding bull selection provides a foundation for strategic planning towards an improved extension system in herd improvement Built a library of 6000 cows on commercial dairy farms, which contains a DNA sample, blood RNA and blood plasma sample and a milk sample for each cow. This library will be used to validate genetic markers and to search for a wide variety of markers that could be used to predict production, fertility and body condition Twenty-four farmer learning groups established for the InCalf program Milk Harvesting Provide research to improve labour productivity as well as learning packages for milk quality and labour productivity CowTime: more than 1000 participants in 43 field days attended the ‘Shorter Milking Secrets’ workshop, which describes how to manage milking with minimum delays from slow milking cows A new multimedia presentation on making dairy decisions (such as building or upgrading a dairy) was launched in June 2007 Enrolled 74 chronic high cell count herds from six dairy processing companies in the Countdown Downunder Cell Count Solutions program Six dairy advisory businesses in four dairy regions have co-developed and piloted Countdown MAX with 40 farmers - MAX is a pro-active milk quality advisory service that is the forerunner of a new method of providing a pro-active advisory service to farmers Fifty-three farmers attended Countdown Cups On Cups Off courses run to pilot both the course and the relationship with NCDEA
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