Dairy R&D in SA

For dairy farms to be economically sustainable, herd managers should continuously monitor specific key performance indicators (KPIs). Indicators must be based on quantitative or performance goals which are specific, measurable, attainable and relevant. These may include the average daily milk yield of the cows, their daily feed costs and specific reproduction parameters. These to a large extent are farm specific as each farm is unique in terms of natural resources, infrastructure and management style which will affect milk yield, production costs and breakeven milk yield.

The dairy industry is characterized by a dual production system, comprising of a high input commercial production system and low input smallholder and emerging systems. Performance data from both systems are included in the official national genetic evaluation database, with models which assume homogeneous variances. If variances are heterogeneous, above average animals in more variable herds will be favoured over high performing animals in the less variable herds. This may result in biased selection and inaccurate estimation of breeding values.

Longevity in dairy cows is an important trait affecting the genetic progress, lifetime (birth to cull) performance and lifetime efficiency. An early age at first calving increases productive life (total number of days in milk) while also reducing rearing costs, and financial sustainability of a dairy herd. However, calving problems may increase when age at first calving is too early. For this reason most farmers rear heifers to reach first calving at an older age although not necessarily at a higher live weight.

The purpose of the study by the authors cited below was to characterize Lactobacillus isolates from bovine and dairy origin for their probiotic attributes, with the aim of assessing their safety for human use. The probiotic properties evaluated were acid and bile resistance, bile salt hydrolase activity, antimicrobial activity, antibiotic sensitivity, gelatinase and lipase production, and hemolytic activity.

The impact of mastitis is significant and costly. Mastitis leads to economic losses to both the farmer and processor, welfare implications for the cow and antimicrobial resistance concerns. Describing and analyzing the measures used to prevent this disease and to minimize the losses is important from an economic perspective. In evaluating the economics of managing mastitis, farmers need to take into account losses incurred subsequent to the disease (failure cost, FC) and those invested to prevent the disease (preventive cost, PC).

Laboratory diagnosis of mastitis can be costly and time consuming, therefore cow-side tests such as the California Milk Cell Test (CMCT) and Milk Electrical Resistance (MER) need to be utilised to full potential. It has been estimated that financial benefit of correct diagnosis of mastitis per cow for the CMCT, MER and the tests done in parallel was R899, R519 and R1065 respectively. The CMCT was shown to be 11% more beneficial than the MER test, whilst using the tests in parallel was shown to be the most beneficial method for evaluating the mastitis-control programme.

The overemphasis on economic challenges to small-scale farmers often overshadows the debate about potentiality of artisanal cheeses, which can be processed using local resources, with low input of ingredients and machinery. There is a need to evaluate the processing of artisanal cheeses in rural areas with appropriate economic approaches that consider the local people’s social-economic status, culture, and region. Strategies that could improve farmers’ productivity include technical training, indigenous knowledge development, mentorship, financial support and working as cooperatives.