Acceptability of New Zealand imported semen to the Japanese dairy farmers

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeyuki Ozawa ◽  
Satomi Tamagawa
Author(s):  
J.P. Wilson

Present economics dictate New Zealand dairy farmers either increase producton or reduce expenditure to maintain net farm income. Costs associated with present feed conservation practices,are high and so cheaper alternatives for bridging a winter feed deficit are considered. Making no conservation would mean generating additional feed energy by foregoing some milkfat production. Lower cow conversion ratios of milkfat from pasture in late lactation means it is more economic to create additional feed at the end of the season by drying-off earlier rather than calving later. Utilising additional cow liveweight as a store of energy has high metabolic inefficiencies. At today's prices, grazing cows off to overcome the deficit is the most economic and practical solution. Economically, alternatives to traditional supplement systems requre a massive reduction of capital farm machinery to be viable. Management strategies, both to control the spring feed surplus and to increase average farm herbage masses in early winter without loss of growth or quality, need to be developed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (175) ◽  
pp. 20200964
Author(s):  
Jackie Benschop ◽  
Shahista Nisa ◽  
Simon E. F. Spencer

Routinely collected public health surveillance data are often partially complete, yet remain a useful source by which to monitor incidence and track progress during disease intervention. In the 1970s, leptospirosis in New Zealand (NZ) was known as ‘dairy farm fever’ and the disease was frequently associated with serovars Hardjo and Pomona. To reduce infection, interventions such as vaccination of dairy cattle with these two serovars was implemented. These interventions have been associated with significant reduction in leptospirosis incidence, however, livestock-based occupations continue to predominate notifications. In recent years, diagnosis is increasingly made by nucleic acid detection which currently does not provide serovar information. Serovar information can assist in linking the recognized maintenance host, such as livestock and wildlife, to infecting serovars in human cases which can feed back into the design of intervention strategies. In this study, confirmed and probable leptospirosis notification data from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2016 were used to build a model to impute the number of cases from different occupational groups based on serovar and month of occurrence. We imputed missing occupation and serovar data within a Bayesian framework assuming a Poisson process for the occurrence of notified cases. The dataset contained 1430 notified cases, of which 927 had a specific occupation (181 dairy farmers, 45 dry stock farmers, 454 meatworkers, 247 other) while the remaining 503 had non-specified occupations. Of the 1430 cases, 1036 had specified serovars (231 Ballum, 460 Hardjo, 249 Pomona, 96 Tarassovi) while the remaining 394 had an unknown serovar. Thus, 47% (674/1430) of observations had both a serovar and a specific occupation. The results show that although all occupations have some degree of under-reporting, dry stock farmers were most strongly affected and were inferred to contribute as many cases as dairy farmers to the burden of disease, despite dairy farmer being recorded much more frequently. Rather than discard records with some missingness, we have illustrated how mathematical modelling can be used to leverage information from these partially complete cases. Our finding provides important evidence for reassessing the current minimal use of animal vaccinations in dry stock. Improving the capture of specific farming type in case report forms is an important next step.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. T. Dela Rue ◽  
C. R. Eastwood ◽  
J. P. Edwards ◽  
S. Cuthbert

Dairy farmers are adopting precision technologies to assist with milking and managing their cows due to increased herd sizes and a desire to improve labour efficiency, productivity and sustainability. In the present study, we evaluated the adoption of technologies installed at or near the dairy, and milking practices, on New Zealand dairy farms. These data quantify current use of technology for milking and labour efficiency, and decision-making, and provide insight into future technology adoption. A telephone survey of 500 farmers, randomly selected from a database of New Zealand dairy farms, was conducted in 2018. Adoption for all farms is indicated for six automation technologies, including automatic cup removers (39%), automatic drafting (24%), automatic teat spraying (29%), computer-controlled in-shed feeding (29%), automatic plant wash (18%) and automatic yard wash systems (27%). Five data-capture technologies also included in the survey were electronic milk meters (8%), automatic animal weighing (7%), in-line mastitis detection (7%), automatic heat detection (3%) and electronic animal-identification readers (23%). Analysis by dairy type indicated an adoption level for the automation technologies in rotary dairies of 36–77%, and 7–49% for data-capture technologies, with 10% having none of these 11 technologies installed. This compares with herringbone dairies at 4–21% and 2–11% for automation and data-capture technologies respectively, with 56% having none of these technologies. Rotary dairies, with a combination of automatic cup removers, automatic teat spraying, and automatic drafting, were associated with 43% higher labour efficiency (cows milked/h.person) and 14% higher milking efficiency (cows milked/h) than were rotary dairies without all three technologies. Dairy farmers will increasingly use technologies that deliver value, and the present study has provided information to guide investment decisions, product development and research in areas such as applying technology in new workplaces.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Clark ◽  
Bill Malcolm ◽  
Joe Jacobs

The majority of dairy farmers and processors in Australia and New Zealand are considered world class due to their ability to produce dairy products at a cost that is competitive on the world market without requirement for subsidy. International and domestic forces beyond the farm influence the international competitiveness of Antipodean dairy systems, as much or more than, the within-farm characteristics of the systems. Critical external forces include: world population growth, protein demand from increasingly wealthy developing countries, dairy supply from domestic and international producers, international dairy prices and exchange rate volatility. Within farm, the keys to persistent profitability, business survival, and growth will continue to be management ability and labour skill as well as the relationship between milksolids (milk fat + milk protein) produced per system and total production costs. Domestic forces will include competition for resources such as land, water, quality labour and capital, and public expectation that farms will meet the costs of community environmental and welfare objectives. Public and industry investment in research, development and extension in innovations that increase productivity is essential if dairying is to remain competitive. The operation of the comparative advantage principle determines which industries thrive, or decline, in an economy. New Zealand dairying has a strong comparative advantage over alternative pastoral industries which will continue. In Australia, the comparative advantage of dairy farming over alternative activities is less clear-cut. History shows that the best farmers and processors handle risks such as market and climate volatility and other challenges better than others, and their prospects are positive. However, world class performers in the future dairy industry will certainly not be all, or even the majority, of the current population of dairy farmers.


2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Bewsell ◽  
Ross M. Monaghan ◽  
Geoff Kaine
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kelly Koon

<p>This thesis explores the relationship between Christianity and sustainability within the context of rural New Zealand meat and dairy farmers. Looking at the various definitions of sustainability that were given through my fieldwork in the Waikato and Nelson/Golden Bay areas, I describe the contested, ambiguous, and diverse understandings of sustainability that farmers employ. Within this contestation, I explain how Christianity plays a vital role in farming practices and beliefs. Using in-depth case study analysis, I explore the textured and nuanced ways that farmers engage, critique and support sustainability on their farms. Questions of sustainability are explored through farmers’ descriptions of their relationships with both their land and surrounding communities.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 283-283
Author(s):  
P.J. Gerard ◽  
D.J. Wilson ◽  
T.M. Eden

The Irish wasp Microctonus aethiopoides was released in 2006 as a biocontrol agent for the clover root weevil Sitona lepidus a serious pest of white clover in New Zealand Following the successful and very rapid establishment of the Irish wasp there was high demand by farmers for the biocontrol Around 2000 minirelease samples were distributed directly to farmers through pastoral industry networks and field days These consisted of ten fieldcollected weevils exposed to the wasp in the laboratory at parasitism rates such that over 99 of samples contained parasitoids A random subsample of 100 recipient dairy farmers was surveyed subsequently by post with 59 responses The minireleases were well received most going to farmers that had previously experienced losses due to the weevil The mini releases were very effective in terms of getting the biocontrol to farms with 92 of insects arriving in good condition and 96 being released on the same day The farmers appeared receptive of the information provided with the samples indicating the project was successful in terms of technology transfer There was good recognition of DairyNZ with 79 showing awareness of the organisations funding enabling the biocontrol research


Author(s):  
R. Pinochet-Chateau ◽  
N.M. Shadbolt ◽  
C.W. Holmes ◽  
N. Lopez-Villalobos

New Zealand has had many changes in the dairy industry during the last twenty years. As NZ dairy farming has particular characteristics (e.g. differing ownership structures, geographic areas) risk perception and management strategies may differ significantly between them. No studies have been undertaken regarding the differences in perception of risk and risk management strategies used by different gr oups of dairy farmer s. A survey of 1000 NZ dairy farmers was conducted in 2004 and further analysed to address this need. In the survey the dairy farmers were asked to assess their perception of risk sources and the importance they attached to risk management strategies. Using a 1 to 5 scale, mean scores of both risk sources and management strategies were compared (Z-test) by ownership structure and geographic location. The differences in the perception of risk between sharemilkers and owner-operators were mainly in the sources categorised as "market" and "human". "Changes in land prices" was highly important for sharemilkers. Differences of risk management strategies were noted in the "financial" and "production" categories. The main sources of risk perceived differently by farmers in the North and South Islands were in the production side of the business. Although farmer s from both islands were similarly focused on controlling risk through production management strategies, those from the South Island were keener to use financial responses. In conclusion, sharemilkers were more concerned with the changes of prices of both inputs and outputs than owner-operators. Sharemilkers were more production-orientated to manage risk than farm owners, and they also were more focused on off-farm income and debt management. Differences in both the risk perception and the risk management strategies used in each island are related to differences in farm sizes and the developmental stage of the dairy sector in each island. Keywords: risk perception, risk management strategies, sharemilkers


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