Dairy R&D in SA

by Heinz Meissner

Click on any of the publications below to read more about the specific topic:


  • DO WE PAY SUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO FERTILITY?

    Selection in dairy cattle primarily emphasizes increasing milk yield and solids. This however may be negative to overall fitness, particularly fertility because of the antagonistic association between fertility and milk yield. Thus, although benefiting from yield, profitability may not improve because of deteriorating reproductive parameters such as increased inter-calf period, more AI services per conception, more days open and increased veterinary costs.

  • TOOLS TO CALCULATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF DAIRY FARMS.

    With the support from Milk SA, ASSET Research developed three tools aimed at measuring the economic, social and environmental impact of dairy farming.  These are:

  • WHICH BREED IS MORE SUITABLE FOR PASTURE SYSTEMS – HOLSTEIN OR JERSEY?

    Feed efficiency is highly correlated with economic sustainability on a dairy farm. Cows with higher feed-use efficiency are usually characterized by a higher feed intake per unit live weight, have lower maintenance requirements, partition more metabolizable energy to milk than body tissue, and lose less energy in waste and body weight. Further factors to bear in mind when considering economic sustainability are, (1) cows’ weight loss during the high production phase should be short-term as long-term weight loss may predispose them to metabolic disorders and poor reproductive performance, and (2) milk price is largely determined by milk protein and fat production in South Africa.

  • MODEL TO CALCULATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL, NUTRITIONAL AND ECONOMIC STATUS OF MILK AND PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES.

    Because of increased awareness of environmental impacts, the dairy industry has come under scrutiny, resulting in alternative plant-based products being developed; the assumption being that these products have a lesser environmental impact. However, when consulting the literature, the environmental and nutritional attributes of these products are poorly understood. Also, despite the critical role of bovine milk in diets worldwide, the environmental, nutritional and economic constituents of sustainability have not been comprehensively compared to the plant-based beverages of these products.

  • TRACE MINERAL STATUS OF DAIRY COWS IN THE TSITSIKAMMA

    Aim of investigation: To determine whether seasonal stressors affect the cow trace mineral status of dairy cows in the Tsitsikamma region of the Eastern Cape.


    Experimental design: Trace mineral status was evaluated with 20 cows per farm on three farms over two years in spring (defined as Oct to Des), summer (Jan to March), autumn (April to June) and winter (July to Sept). The samples were taken at the end of each season.

  • REGULATION AND AUDIT ASSOCIATED RESEARCH – PROGRESS IN THIRD QUARTER.

    PRJ-0339: The significance of Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and E. Coli in milk in the SA market with the aim of updating microbial specifications in R1555 of 1997 (Act 54 of 1972)

  • ANIMAL HEALTH ASSOCIATED RESEARCH – PROGRESS IN THIRD QUARTER.

    PRJ-0336: Diagnostic investigation of sporidesmin toxicity: Histological study


    Progress:

  • IMPROVING CALF WELFARE

    The practice of rearing, transport and slaughter of excess dairy calves, in particular bobby calves, is often negatively perceived by the public. From the farmers’ perspective, there is very little use for bull calves and therefore they want to dispose of them as quickly as possible. This should be done as humanely as possible and therefore the project of the Dairy Standard Agency (DSA) as cited below has the intention to improve humane handling of dairy calves over the next five years in a way that is measurable.

  • DAIRY WASTEWATER COMPOSITION IN RELATION TO ACT REGULATIONS

    Environmental regulations and waste management in SA are governed by the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and other related legislation. Waste management, including dairy waste, falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries (DEFF) (Government Gazette, 2013). According to the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA) authorization enables the disposal of wastewater from dairy farming activities into on-site or off-site slurry ponds, as well as irrigation with wastewater from slurry ponds if certain conditions are met, such as the slurry pond must be at least 100 meters away from a stream and 500 meters away from a wetland, and irrigation must be at least 500 meters away from a wetland.

  • AUTOMATED BODY CONDITION SCORING

    Body condition scoring (BCS) is a subjective manual method based on experience of individuals to assess fat reserves in the cow, of value to milk production, re-conception, regaining reserves and feeding. This is normally done at intervals to assist in monitoring loss and gain in body condition to ensure expected milk production, optimal health, conception and ease of calving. With increasing herd size the manual method is laborious which suggests that if an automated method can be developed which is quick, consistent and accurate, the method would benefit management in time, labour and genetic assessment. Such automated methods based on regression and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approaches have been reported in the literature.