A network of ruminant nutritionists - enabling exchange of ideas and experience among professionals, to understand and improve health and productivity of ruminant livestock.
A network of ruminant nutritionists - enabling exchange of ideas and experience among professionals, to understand and improve health and productivity of ruminant livestock.
Knowledge base...
Members

The Real Cost of Inflammation. Dr. Megan Abeyta
Dr Megan Abeyta recently completed her PhD under the supervision of Lance Baumgard focused on the impact of inflammation. To set the scene, Dr. Abeyta outlines the importance of the GIT in every animal. With 70% of the immune system

Energy Prediction from Feed Supplements. Dr. Bill Weiss
Dr. Bill Weiss is a Professor emeritus of dairy cattle nutrition at The Ohio State University. He worked extensively in the areas of minerals and vitamins on cow health, forage, feed evaluation and methods to incorporate variability into ration formulation

Mineral Updates – the latest NRC update explained. Dr. Bill Weiss
Dr. Bill Weiss is a Professor emeritus of dairy cattle nutrition at The Ohio State University. He worked extensively in the areas of minerals and vitamins on cow health, forage, feed evaluation and methods to incorporate variability into ration formulation

Transition Cow NRC 2021 Update, Prof. Bill Weiss
Dr. Bill Weiss is a Professor emeritus of dairy cattle nutrition at The Ohio State University. He worked extensively in the areas of minerals and vitamins on cow health, forage, feed evaluation and methods to incorporate variability into ration formulation

GHG, Nutrients and Economics, A Modelling Exercise. Offering Alternative Strategies, Helwi Tacoma
Helwi presented a piece of work he has been a part of that used modelling to look into environmental impact of grazing dairy systems and their profitability across a number of different scenarios. The same farm parameters were used for

Fonterra’s Co-Operative Difference Overview (animal aspects), Michael Shallcrass
This presentation by Michael Shallcrass gives a comprehensive yet succinct explanation of the Co-Operative Difference, a framework on which producers are incentivised to manage environmental, social and governance standards in line with Co-operative expectations. Of interest to members of the

Lamb rearing in dairy sheep systems. Sue McCoard
Sue talks about the importance of good lamb rearing and its effects on lifetime performance of the lamb. This is a multi-factorial approach involving genetics, environment and people and discusses the year-round feeding program in a range of farming systems.

The sheep dairy industry and nutrition and management of dairy ewes, Sam Peterson
Sam Peterson has been involved in the NZ milking sheep industry for many years and through his involvement at Massey University. Sam provides some history as to where the industry has come from and the rapid growth we have seen

Can we have our cake and eat it too? – Designing systems that meet multiple bottom lines. Ian Williams
Nutrition is just one component of the wider farm system. Ian Williams provided a ‘big picture’ view of on-farm requirements around environmental requirements. The importance of profit remains central to all farm businesses when systems change to address future legislative

Management for improved fertility and lifetime productivity in grazing dairy cows: latest NZ research – Claire Phyn, Dairy NZ
Claire Phyn, senior scientist at DairyNZ presented about an 8 year research programme funded by MBIE and NZ dairy farmers through DairyNZ Inc. It aimed to provide management and genetic solutions to improve cow health, fertility and longevity. Claire reported about 1. Effect of
NZARN news...

OverseerFM – What is new, and the path ahead Alastair Taylor, Overseer Ltd.
OverseerFM is an online software that connects farmers to science to support sustainable farm businesses that protect the environment. OverseerFM is built on 30 years of science. The OverseerFM model has been updated to make nutrient budgeting more user friendly,

Nitrogen and Feeds – David Pacheco, AgResearch
Farmers use Nitrogen (N) to increase forage yields and increase profitability, however, there has been increasing requirements to minimise environmental impact and for this reason N use on farms is under scrutiny. N that is not used in an animal

Enteric Methane and Feeds – Arjan Jonker, AgResearch
Methane (CH4) is mainly formed in the rumen (87-92%) by methanogens which utilise microbially hydrogen produced in the rumen during fermentation of ingested feed. CH4 from animals is measured via gas exchange using flux methods like respiration chambers and marker methods