Record profit for Victorian farmers
Dairy farmers in the Australian state of Victoria had a record profitable 2022-23 season, thanks to high milk prices and carefully managed high costs.
Building on its popular Good Bulls Guide, Dairy Australia's new Good Bulls app makes it easier for dairy farmers to identify bulls that meet their breeding priorities.
Drawing on a database of local and international dairy bulls, the Good Bulls app allows bulls to be sorted on Australia's three breeding indices: balanced performance index (BPI), health weighted index (HWI) and type weighted index (TWI).
Up to 50 filters can be used to find bulls that match a farmers breeding objectives. Bulls can be filtered by any trait (e.g. protein, cell count, fertility or mammary system) or by semen company, pedigree, genetic characteristics and other factors.
The app provides detailed ABVs on each bull, making it easy to compare between bulls and shortlist bulls of interest. Shortlisted bulls can be exported to a trusted advisor to facilitate semen purchasing decisions.
Dan Knee, who milks 400 cows at Toora, Vic was one of the test users in the app development.
"The app is great," he says. "It makes it quicker and easier to identify bulls with the traits that are important to me. It has turned a job that once took hours into a simple, fun task."
Sarah Saxton, from the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme (ADHIS), says the app would be updated twice a year with the April and August release of Australian breeding values (ABVs).
The app is available for iPhone and Android phones and can be used on tablets.
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
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