Dairy R&D in SA

Discipline: feeding; Keywords: PUFA, pregnancy, culling, BCS, digestibility, microbial protein

Discipline: environment; Keywords: methane mitigation, SF6, temperate pasture, urea.

Discipline: stress; Keywords: antioxidant herbs, anti-oxidative status, immunity, Jersey cows, milk yield.

Discipline: competitiveness; Key words: efficiency, market access, productivity, people, planet, management, education, commercialisation, environmental stewardship.

Discipline: infection; Keywords: fasciolosis, Fasciola hepatica, lymnaied snail host, environment, molecular techniques, eDNA.

Discipline: calf rearing; Keywords: dry cow, dry period, nutrition, IgG, weight loss.

Discipline: mastitis; Keywords: pathogens, intra-udder infection, TMR and PBS systems, Streptococcus uberis, coagulase negative Staphylococci.

Discipline: mastitis; Key words: bulk tank testing, bacteria counts, SCC, psychrotropic bacteria, cleanliness.

Discipline: consumption; Keywords: communal areas, survey milk production, consumption, species, sour milk.

The Dairy Genomics Program (DGP) was initiated in 2016 with the primary aim to establish a reference population for dairy breeds which can be used to develop genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) which according to principle and function should improve the EBV’s , as calculated in the conventional way. The reference population (RP) was established in Phase 1 of the DGP which ended in March 2019 and the question was how did it benefit us.