TheDairySite Newsletter - 5 November 2010

TheDairySite Weekly Newsletter

Friday 5th November 2010

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Helping Dairy Farms Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

Researchers from the University of Guelph, University of Manitoba (Canada) and Wageningen University & Research centre (the Netherlands) have shown that current equations to predict methane production of cows are inaccurate.

The study says that sound mitigation options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of dairy farms requires a significant improvement of the current methane equations.

The team concluded that the low prediction accuracy and poor prediction of variation in observed values may introduce substantial error into inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and lead to incorrect mitigation recommendations.

The researchers are actively developing more detailed and accurate models that predict methane production, based on the fermentation processes in the gastro-intestinal tract of cows.

In the UK, funding of £12.6 million has been announced to improve the understanding how UK agriculture contributes to climate change.

The £12.6m will be invested over four and half years in a series of projects that aim to strengthen the understanding of emissions produced on farms. Knowing when and where actions make the most difference will improve the positive actions that farmers are already taking.

Sixteen research organisations from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will contribute to the project, managed by Defra.

Finally, Fonterra has set a new record for the most milk processed in a single day. The record was set on 27 October, when the co-operative’s 26 sites throughout New Zealand processed 76.8 million litres of milk.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Prevalence And Control Of BVDV
A study conducted by the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System looks at the prevalence and control of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) on US cow-calf operations between 2007-2008.

Dairy Development Programmes In Andhra Pradesh
The aim of this study from the FAO was to rank potential dairy development programmes in Andhra Pradesh, India, with a view to facilitating decision-making on the part of both farmers and policy-makers. This study was conducted by O. Garcia, A. Saha, K. Mahmood and T. Hemme of dairy sector. IFCN Dairy Research Center and published as ‘Benchmarking 45 dairy development activities in Andhra Pradesh, India’ in the IFCN Dairy Report 2007.

Natural Service Vs. Timed AI
Recently, a field study conducted by Fabio Lima, Carlos Risco, Albert De Vries, Jose Santos, and William Thatcher, from the University of Florida, compared reproductive performance of lactating dairy cows in a commercial dairy farm with cows bred by natural service (NS) or timed artificial insemination (TAI). A second study using the data from this field trial was performed to compare the cost of these two breeding programmes.

EU-27 Dairy and Products Annual Report 2010
In 2010, EU-27 raw milk production is stimulated by stronger domestic and international markets for dairy products, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Company News

BRD Forum Discusses Latest Respiratory Research
EU - The Merial Ruminants team successfully organised the first Merial Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Forum in Lisbon, on 30th September and 1st October. The event was attended by veterinary practitioners and researchers from 15 European countries.

Act Now To Ensure Good Herd Health
UK - Housing is a critical time of the year to consider herd health according to Merial Animal Health Limited. Treatment for internal and external parasites and steps to prevent or minimise the risks from calf pneumonia are just some of the issues that should be taken into consideration.

EuroTier: Bringing Science to the Farm
GERMANY - The International Animal Health Event will be held during the EuroTier during the evening of 18 November 2010.

Global Dairy Cattle Industry News