Dairy R&D in SA

Among the problems experienced by pasture-based dairy farmers in the southern Cape are required high stocking rates, poor persistence of pastures, an increase in weed ingression in no-till pastures, and increasing input costs associated with irrigation and fertilisation. Research should thus focus on strategies that can improve the resilience and efficiency of pasture systems.

It is fundamental to identify and understand the complexity of the dairy production system and to account for all the different variables that contribute to such an integrated system.

Milk flocculation and gelation describe the phenomena relating to protein instability that could lead to the rejection of milk for processing or to defects in long-life milks such as UHT milk. The term flocculation which is the topic here, applies to the protein precipitate that is formed in the test tube when ethanol unstable milk is subjected to the Alizarol test.  The ethanol concentration in the test varies from 68% to 76% ethanol and milk that flocculates is then declared unfit for further heat processing and rejected.

Cattle have been the focus of an intense debate between those concerned about, among other things, the possible negative effects on global warming, land degradation, food competition and human health, and those who are positive toward the possible role of cattle in maintaining global socio-economic and environmental sustainability. This paper reviews the pros and cons in view of a projected increase in demand for animal-based foods and therefore in cattle numbers. Analyses of cattle numbers and foods from various literature sources suggest gross overestimation towards 2050.

Kikuyu-ryegrass may no longer be optimum in the south-eastern Cape because of a number of reasons:
•    Extended periods of lower than expected rainfall
•    Poor persistence of ryegrass, with a decline of as much as 44% reported in even the most productive ryegrass cultivars from year one to year two

Discipline: genetic evaluation; 

Discipline: Nutrition/feeding;

Discipline: contamination; 

Probably under activist pressure and uninformed public perceptions, certain milk processors and retailers began to make label claims describing specific production systems and management procedures on dairy farms, thereby confusing consumers by creating the impression that milk produced under specific conditions is healthier or safer than other milk. Claims include the practice of organic farming, the non-use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides and ionophore antibiotics and the marketing of recombinant bovine somatotropin (r-bST) free milk.

Discipline: management;