Travel Report
Jane Kay (Dexcel Limited)
New Zealand Society of Animal Production - Animal Science Award
Travel Report by Jane kay(Dexcel Limited)
Jane
Kay, a Masterate student at Dexcel and Waikato University attended the American
Dairy Science Association meeting in Quebec during July 2002. She presented
a paper entitled “Endogenous synthesis of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
in pasture-fed dairy cows.
The ADSA meeting represents the largest regular meeting dedicated to dairy
science in the world and attracted approximately 3000 delegates this year.
The data presented in Jane’s paper was unique to New Zealand’s
pasture based dairying system and was of great interest to international experts
in CLA research. There was a very interesting symposium on Biology of Lactation
in Farm Animals and numerous papers presented on CLA research, milk synthesis,
ruminant nutrition and physiology and production.
Following the ADSA conference Jane visited Cornell University and the University
of Arizona where she had been invited to present seminars on CLA research
and the New Zealand Dairy Industry. These visits allowed Jane to renew old,
and create new contacts with pre-eminent scientists and researchers in the
field of milk synthesis and nutrition. Visits to these universities also involved
tours of the laboratories and research farms and provided an opportunity to
form new theories to take back to New Zealand.
A highlight from Arizona was the opportunity to visit some commercial dairy
farms which emphasised the difference between dairy farming in the south-west
USA and in New Zealand. The dairy farms in Arizona were huge commercial operations,
milking 3,500 cows three times a day, 365 days a year. 550 cows were milked
every hour and the dairy was in continuous use throughout the day. Heat stress
was a huge problem and one of the farms reported that although they were producing
30kg milk/cow/day, even by milking 3,500 cows, the costs of running the necessary
cooling systems meant that they were operating at a loss during the peak summer
months. There was no grass, no trees and all the cows were fed a total mixed
ration and housed under huge iron roofs with shade curtains and cooling systems.
The average yearly rainfall for Arizona was less than that which falls in
a typical day in the Waikato and temperatures of 45oC and more were a common
occurrence.
Jane said that possibly the most important finding from this trip was the
huge emphasis being placed on CLA research in UK, Europe and USA. There are
a large number of programmes and scientists dedicated to researching CLA,
both the enhancement of the anticarcinogenic isomer cis-9, trans-11 CLA and
the use of the trans-10, cis-12 CLA isomer to cause milk fat depression in
lactating dairy cows. She found this was very encouraging for someone who
is interested in and currently working in this area.
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