Opened in November 2001 as a focus of education, research and industry practice, the South Island Dairying Development Centre (http://www.siddc.org.nz) at Lincoln University has gone from strength to strength in its collaborative mission of supporting the dairy industry in the southern half of New Zealand.
Confirmation of the value farmers place on the Centre’s activities was clear at the latest in the regular series of “Focus Days” that are part of the Centre’s extension programme.
Held at Willsden Dairy Farm, Te Pirita, just over a fortnight ago, the day drew a “massive turnout”, in the words of host Leo Donkers of the Camden Group of companies. Four hundred and seventy attended the Focus Day which examined the application of the principles and practices of the Lincoln University Dairy Farm as applied to another large scale dairy operation.
In an age when for reasons of pared back labour making it harder to get away from the farm, increased travel costs and the advent of new hi-tech forms of communication, field days do not always attract the numbers of past eras, the turnout at Te Pirita proved the confidence dairy farmers are showing in the Centre’s ability to deliver sound, research based information and advice.
As Dr Andy West, then Chairman of the Transition Tertiary Education Commission and now chief executive of AgResearch, said at the opening of the Centre back in 2001, “If the New Zealand economy has an engine room, then surely it is the stomach of a cow.
New Zealand operates a biological economy. Some of our most central economic processes are photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and rumen digestion.”
All three are receiving considerable research attention at the Lincoln University Dairy Farm. The rumen theme, for example, is led by the University’s Professor of Dairy Production, Richard Dewhurst, who specialty area is dairy cow nutrition including rumen processes.
Through nutrition, Professor Dewhurst’s research interests connect with fertility, health, water use and product quality.
He says that through nutrition it is possible to have an impact on dairy cow fertility (which in the UK is declining by 1 percent per year), health (including the three perennial problems in dairy farming, mastitis, lameness and infertility), and on product quality (which includes the development of new products such as nutriceuticals and functional foods).
One of the connecting pathways, he says, is through the components of forage - the sugars, proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins.
The issue of fertility/reproduction forms the basis of the Dairy Centre’s next Focus Day on 11 May, at the Lincoln University Dairy Farm, when the topic is “Reproduction and the use of key resources, water and energy”.
All interested farmers, service industry personnel and others are invited. The day runs from 10.15am with lunch at 1.00pm.
In presenting the latest batch of New Zealand Dairy Industry Undergraduate Scholarships at Lincoln University this week (8 March), Professor Dewhurst told the 29 scholars that they were part of a “real desire” in Canterbury to take dairying forward.
“We have a big role in Canterbury in taking forward the productivity targets the dairy industry has,” he said.
Professor Dewhurst, who hails from the United Kingdom and has experience of many other university-related farms, described the Lincoln University Dairy Farm as a “real beacon” for South Island dairy farmers.
The South Island Dairying Development Centre is located diagonally across Ellesmere Junction Road from the Dairy Farm and it has had more than 7000 visitors since its opening. The principal partners in the Centre are Lincoln University, SIDE (the South Island Dairy Event organisation), Dexcel, Crop & Food Research and Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Ian Collins, Journalist
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8549
Email: Ian Collins