Dairy Diary: May business update

Ruminant Health & Welfare report highlights gains of ruminant health on methane emissions

A new report ‘Acting on methane: opportunities for the UK cattle and sheep sectors’ produced by Moredun Research Institute in conjunction with Ruminant Health & Welfare highlights the role reducing key endemic diseases in ruminants can play in contributing to the global methane pledge formed at COP26 to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. It also details available interventions for priority health and welfare conditions to provide a starting point for discussions between farmer and vet, or animal health advisers, about the health status of their herd or flocks with methane reductions in mind.

Evonik resumes production of Mepron Alabama

Evonik has resumed operations at its Mepron plant in Mobile, Alabama (US), so it will once again supply the US milk and dairy markets from a local source. Mepron is based on the essential amino acid DL-methionine and marketed as a formulation that prevents degradation in the rumen, enabling amino acid balancing of dairy rations to realise reductions of CO2 emissions and nitrogen excretion. Local Mepron production began in Mobile in 2015 at 1 of 3 world-scale DL-methionine production hubs of the business.

Phileo Microbiota Days

Lesaffre & Phileo have announced the upcoming Phileo Microbiota Days that will take place on 14 and 15 June. The virtual conference will provide an overview of the latest scientific results and future developments related to microbiota and their importance to animal health across the lifespan of different animal species. High level keynote speeches will be given by scientists from academia, institutes, and industry from Europe, the US and Brazil, and conference topics will include interactions between the microbiota and the host, relationship between microbiota and performances, biomarkers, food safety, functional metagenomics, the rumen microbiome, intestinal bacteriophages, and in vitro tools to study the microbiome.

Novus to present research for dairy industry

Novus International will share its latest scientific findings at the 2022 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Annual Meeting, which will be held from 19-22 June in Kansas City in Missouri in the US. Present information on 4 topics will be presented during the event’s symposia and oral sessions.

During the Animal Behaviour and Well-being session, Karen Luchterhand, C.O.W.S. programme manager, will provide 3 presentations: the effect of stocking density on cow comfort measures in Jersey dairy cows; the effect of stocking density on lameness and milk yield of Jersey cows, and; management factors associated with milk yield in dry lot facilities.

Novus senior research scientist, Heather Tucker, will share her research titled ‘Comparison of zinc sources on increased tissue zinc enrichment with dietary antagonism’.

Coloured breed judges confirmed for UK Dairy Day 2022

Completing the final line-up for the judging of the cattle show at UK Dairy Day, which will be held on 14 September 2022 in Shropshire, are the coloured breed judges for the Dairy Shorthorn, Guernsey and Jersey classes.

• The Dairy Shorthorn Society have chosen David Winnington who will travel from Stafford to judge the classes. David, who milks 165 original Dairy Shorthorns, has had the privilege of judging at various shows in Great Britain, including The Royal Show, Great Yorkshire and Royal Highland.
• The Guernsey Society welcome Laura Sales as their judge. Laura, who has been on the Guernsey Society’s Judging Panel since she was 19, comes from Radstock, Somerset, and works part-time for the Walters family of Creech Hill Ayrshires, where she helps with the calf rearing and relief milking.
• Travelling over from Ireland is Eddie Barrett to judge this year’s Jersey classes. Eddie, who is the Dairy breeding programme manager with the National Cattle Breeding Centre, grew up on a family farm which is home to the Laurelmore Herd. He is a member of the IHFA official Holstein judges’ panel, having been first selected in 1992.

FRAmelco B.V. becomes Adisseo NL B.V.

In December 2020, the FRAnklin Group (FRAmelco, Sustainable Nutrition, FRAnklin Asia) was acquired by the Bluestar Adisseo Company. With its integration into the Adisseo family, a formal name change from FRAmelco B.V. to Adisseo NL B.V., will take place on 1 September 2022.