The benefits of a good winter feeding schedule that leads to ewes having better body conditions scores (BCS) at the start of lambing was highlighted at a field day last week reports The Southland Times. More than 200 farmers attended the Meat & Wool New Zealand Southern South Island sheep and beef council field day at the Woodlands research farm on Wednesday.

Dr David Stevens, of AgResearch, said it was clear poor winter feeding affected several aspects of production before, during and after lambing, and it was essential for good lamb growth, particularly multiples, to have ewes in good condition. “You’re no longer expecting one lamb and 5 kilograms of wool.”

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New Zealand’s traditional pasture-based farming system faces a conundrum, a leading scientist has warned. Pastoral Genomics scientist Michael Dunbier said we were no longer the world’s lowest-cost food producer, our pastoral system was a major contributor of greenhouse gases, and customers demanded proof that slogans such as clean and green had some validity reports The ODT.

The reality was the our farming systems were contributing methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and nitrate pollution of the soil and waterways. “They are not satisfied with slogans such as free-range or pasture-fed. We need to look carefully at our systems overall,” he said. In addition, resources such as phosphate were being depleted and questions were being asked about the efficiency and sustainability of fertiliser use in general.

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The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FOA) wants a global livestock tax to reduce the contribution their flatulence makes to greenhouse gas emissions reports Rural News.

The FAO says urgent investments, major agricultural research efforts and robust governance are required to ensure the world’s livestock sector responds to a growing demand for animal products and at the same time contributes to poverty reduction, food security, environmental sustainability and human health. “The sector is consuming a large share of the world’s resources and is contributing a significant portion of global greenhouse gases emissions,” the FAO’s State of Food and Agriculture report says.

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David Chapman, currently Professor of Pasture Science at the University of Melbourne, will join DairyNZ as a principal scientist midyear.  He will join DairyNZ as a principal scientist and lead the team responsible for developing more and better feed, and improving farm systems. David will be responsible for work nationwide and will be based on the Lincoln University campus, reflecting DairyNZ’s commitment to South Island dairy farming.

David, born in Geraldine, is a Lincoln graduate who started work with DSIR (now AgResearch), completing a PhD in the UK before moving to Australia in 1996. DairyNZ Chief Scientist Eric Hillerton said David’s return home brings key skills in pasture and grazing management, dairy forage production and development of pasture-based livestock systems to benefit all of New Zealand’s dairy farmers.

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Researchers planning on launching a genetically-engineered “super-grass” by 2013 claim cows grazing on it will produce up to 20 percent more milk. The GE ryegrass – being developed in Australia for NZ seed company PGG Wrightson – has potential to make a huge difference to agriculture, according to the chief executive of the Australia’s Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPBCRC), Glenn Tong.

Existing dairy farming pasture-grasses are mainly perennial ryegrass and tall fescue, but the perennial ryegrass grows best in temperate areas that are becoming warmer with climate change reports Stuff. Mr Tong told the ABC that the technology works to increase the carbohydrates or energy molecules in the grass, and the fodder will also be more digestible than existing ryegrass so the sheep and cows can access those energy molecules more easily.

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Outgoing AgResearch chief executive Andy West is not surprised by a survey which showed high levels of job dissatisfaction among agricultural and soil scientists. The survey, conducted by Professor Jack Sommer of the University of North Carolina for the New Zealand Association of Scientists, found more than 61 per cent of agricultural and soil scientists questioned were concerned with the direction funding of scientific research was heading.

More than half (51.6 per cent) felt secure in their jobs but 48 per cent said job satisfaction had decreased since the last survey five years before reports The Waikato Times. Only 42 per cent would recommend science as a career.Dr West, who leaves the job on June 30 after announcing his resignation this month, is looking at the private sector and offshore for his next role. “Presently, there is too much competition for funding. However, I am hopeful that a better balance between contest and stability will be introduced in the near future,” Dr West said.

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 Scientists in the US have developed an antibody-based test for bovine tuberculosis (bTb) reports The Beef Site. The new multiplex antibody test is able to detect antibody activity to 25 antigens at one time, something that was previously not possible. The new test may one day replace the current skin and gamma interferon tissue culture tests.

Currently there is no effective treatment for bTb, so early diagnosis is critical. This new test can detect the disease faster and with great accuracy. Dr William Davis, professor in Washington State University’s Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology department said: “Our test can provide results in a matter of hours rather than days with current methods. It also has increased specificity and is highly sensitive, so there are fewer false positives.”

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A potential breakthrough in livestock semen sex sorting may add hundreds of millions of dollars to NZ’s dairy exports reports Stuff. Androgenix, a new company based at Auckland University’s Institute of Biotechnology, has been developing for almost three years a cost-effective process for sexing semen.

Co-founder and part-time chief executive Brent Ogilvie said he’s hoping to  confirm Androgenix’s technology works this year. If successful, Androgenix will be able to offer semen sex-sorting technology to  livestock insemination companies that is relatively low cost but with high fertilisation rates  two problems that have plagued others attempting to control the sex of livestock born.

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After eight years searching, Kiwi scientists have finally made a discovery which will likely lead to a breakthrough in mitigating livestock gas emissions. One of the most vexing issues facing agriculture’s inclusion in an emissions trading scheme – and the cost to farmers – has been that to date few mitigation technologies are at hand reports Rural News.

However, the latest findings by a team of AgResearch scientists – funded by the Pastoral Greenhouse gas Research Consortium (PGgRSC) – are expected to lead to the development of tools that ease the emissions burden of farmed animals. They have successfully mapped the genetic information of one of the microbes found in the digestive tracts of ruminant animals responsible for methane production. This is expected to accelerate work altering methane generation through vaccinations or other pharmaceutical interventions.

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Alliance Group has no intention of altering its policy of accepting ram and cryptorchid lambs up to twelve months old. Results of the farmer owned co-operative’s study during the past year confirm there is no difference in the eating quality of the meat from 17kg-19.5 kg carcaseweight  entire, cryptorchid or wether (castrated males) lambs reports Country-wide.

As a result, Alliance will continue to make no distinction between carcases of different sexes or castration status in its lamb schedule or the contract supply options it offers its shareholder suppliers. Provided they are in the required and preferred weight ranges, payments to Alliance suppliers will remain the same regardless of whether their lambs are male, female, wethers (castrated males) or induced cryptorchids.

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