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.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.