Dairy R&D in SA

Dairy has been targeted as a source of greenhouse gas emissions. However, research has shown that grazing livestock on pasture-based dairy farms restore carbon to the soil, enhancing its biodiversity and countering climate change. This poses the question: If farms can have a positive impact, but are also a source of negative impact, what is the net effect? This is an important consideration when assessing the negative contribution that dairy farming makes to climate change.

Heartwater is caused by the proteobacterium Ehrlichia ruminantium, which is transmitted by the tick Amblyomma hebraeum.

Fasciola species are liver flukes that infect cattle and reduce the productivity by 15-30%. The infection can affect general health and feed intake that leads amongst others to morbidity, reduction in milk production and weight gains.

Mastitis results in large economic loss to both farmer and processor. In addition it has welfare implications for the cow and antimicrobial resistance concerns. Therefore, describing and analysing the measures used to prevent the disease and to minimize the losses remain important. For example, somatic cell count (SCC) directly affects revenue from the sale of milk and in one of the investigations the revenue loss was studied.   

Conception and re-conception rates of high-producing dairy cows remain of concern in dairy production systems, especially in the subtropics. Apart from the major effects of nutrition and specific nutrients on reproduction, other risk factors such as negative energy balance, inflammation and impairment of the immune response have been shown to affect re-conception rates. Dietary energy levels interact with blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and may influence the pregnancy rates of dairy cows.

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;