Symposium Program*

*Subject to change

Day 1

7th November | Tuesday

Symposium Day

08:00 – 08.30

Registration

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Opening Session – Welcome to the DRF Symposium

Jane Sherborne

DRF President

Dairy Research Foundation

Jane Sherborne is a 7th generational dairy farmer, from an international dairy farming background. Jane with her family, husband Grant and 3 children Georgia, William and Samuel, dairy farm in the beautiful Southern Highlands. Just a short drive south of Sydney.  The Sherborne family milk 350 Holstein and Guernsey cattle, rearing all calves male and females, ensuring that they can meet their mature production potential. Operating a double feed pad and a 20 aside swing over dairy, a PMR feeding program, year around calving, ryegrass pasture based grazing and optimise calf health and growth with a fully housed calf facility.  Jane believes that working with nature, recognising, and respecting the natural resources on farm is important to be sustainable and prosperous.  With increasing urban pressures, Jane believes that dairy farming needs to be seen and recognised as an important and valuable part of the community, inviting curiosity, interest, and collaboration.

Prof. Jacqui Norris

Head of School and Dean
Professor of Veterinary Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

University of Sydney

Jacqui graduated with a BVSc (Hons) from the University of Sydney. She completed a small animal medicine and surgery residency program and clinical Masters at the University of Melbourne before returning to the University of Sydney to complete a PhD on the aetiology of periodontal disease in domestic cats with the late Professor Daria Love while maintaining her clinical work as a veterinarian.

After several years in small animal practice, Jacqui returned to the Sydney Vet School to work on the development of a new curriculum in veterinary infectious diseases and to continue her research in this area. She is a full time academic staff member at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney where she coordinates the teaching of veterinary microbiology and has previously overseen the veterinary curriculum as the Sub Dean for the Bachelor of Veterinary Science and later the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. She is passionate about teaching clinically relevant infectious disease courses for veterinary postgraduates, veterinary practitioners and companion animal breeders.

Jacqui leads the microbiology area of the school’s Veterinary Pathology Diagnostic Service.

Hon. Niall Blair

Chair, Dairy UP Steering and Advisory Board

Dairy UP

The Hon. Niall Blair is the Independent Chair of the Dairy Up Steering Advisory Committee (SAB) with more than twenty years’ experience across government and private sectors, specialising in risk management, agribusiness and sustainability. Niall is also Chairman and Non-Executive Director for the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and in 2020, he was appointed as the Victorian Fire Services Reform Implementation Monitor. He is Professor of Food Sustainability and Co-Chair of the NSW Circular Economy Research Taskforce. He is also the Chairman of Elf Farm Supplies Pty Ltd and Non-Executive Director of White Prince Mushrooms Pty Ltd. Prior to these roles, Mr Blair served as a senior member of the NSW Parliament for nine years, most of them as NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Water, Lands, Trade and Industry and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

Hon. Tara Moriarty, MLC

Minister for Agriculture; Minister for Regional NSW; Minister for Western NSW

New South Wales Government

The Hon. Tara Moriarty was born and raised in Queanbeyan in regional NSW and was a hospitality worker before she embarked on a career in the union movement. Prior to her election to Parliament, she was the Secretary and then President of the United Voice Liquor and Hospitality Division. Minister Moriarty was elected to the Legislative Council in 2019 and was immediately promoted to the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Crown Lands and Mental Health. In 2021 she was given the Shadow Portfolios of Corrections, Juvenile Justice, and Medical Research. Minister Moriarty is currently a member of the ALP’s National Executive and Senior Vice President of the NSW Labor Party.

Session One – The international perspective

09:00 – 09:45

Tim Mackle

Frmr CEO DairyNZ | Principal Tim Mackle Consulting Ltd

Future challenges and solutions - learning from the Kiwi dairy industry

Dr Tim Mackle presents to the 2023 DRF symposium after his retirement from 15 years at the helm of DairyNZ. Tim will reflect on the huge changes that have occurred in the NZ dairy industry across that time allowing us all to reflect on our own challenges in industry and how we can make decisions now to lay solid foundations for our own future ahead.

09:45 – 10:30

Ad van Velde

Global Dairy Farmers | President

Lessons to be learnt from key European dairy industries

Ad will provide a global overview and perspective, followed by insights specific to Europe and the Netherlands, and eventually leading to his own farm.

10:30 – 11:15

Morning Tea

Session Two – C.A.R.B.O.N.

11:15 – 11:45

Prof Richard Eckard

Melbourne University | Professor and Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre

A ‘birds-eye’ view of the ‘Carbon’ reality for Australian dairy farms

Prof. Richard Eckard will cut through the carbon confusion, dispelling myths within the dairy industry and provide many practical and simple tools farmers can implement now to plan for the future.

11:45 – 12:15

Aaron Simmons

NSW DPI | Technical Specialist Life Cycle Assessment

Industry impact on C emissions – a NSW perspective

Aaron Simmons will discuss different emission reduction strategies, their risk and benefits and what types of emissions accounting tools are most impactful for dairy farmers.

12:15 – 12:30

Q&A

Panel/Q&A/Session closure

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch Break

Session Three

13:30 – 14:55

Panel discussion

Dairy farmers panel discussion

A 'farmers-only' panel on resilience, recovery and forward-looking ways into the future

Phil Tate, dairy farmer, Albion Park, NSW

Phil and Craig Tate have seen it all…drought, floods, fires…and more..! the massive M1 highway crossing their farm and creating new challenges, excavations and permits delays for installation of new dairy facilities ….and much more.. Yet they have managed to run a very productive and profitable system and invest heavily into the future…How do they do it..?

Jorge Massa, General Manager, “Hilltop”, Leslie Manor Trust (Simpson, VIC)

The Leslie Manor Trust (LMT) is a privately held trust which owns and operates two separate properties that combined span over 1000 hectares in South Western Victoria, Australia. ‘Hilltop’ is an intensive dairy operation near the town of Simpson.

Ruth Kydd, dairy farmer, Finley, NSW

Ruth and Neville Kydd milk over 1300 crossbred cows in just about 400 ha…And they are building another dairy farm to grow the family business..! Risk management, cost control and an incredible amount of determination and belief in the future of the industry all combined in this great story..!

Peter Morgan, dairy farmer, Pokuru, South Waikato, New Zealand

Pete Morgan and Ann Bouma milk over 600 crossbred cows in South Waikato. They have adopted virtual herding technology to make their system more efficient and environmental friendly. A technology-adoption pathway to sustainable growth while keeping the system simple and profitable. Resilience at its best..!

Abbey Smeets, dairy farmer, Moorland, NSW

Abbey Smeets and her partner, Ben Clarke purchased a new property and started from scratch on a green field site. They have made many improvements to the farm including building a new dairy, hay shed, mill room, calf shed with automatic feeders and feed pad all within 1.5 years.

 

14:55 – 15:45

Afternoon Break - Melbourne Cup

Tea/Coffee and Light Refreshments

Session Four

15:45 – 17:15

Dairy UP date

Short snapshots on Dairy UP program and a selection of its 23 projects/subprojects!

Prof Yani Garcia (Sydney University – Dairy UP Program Leader)

Introduction and a bird’s eye overview of the program

Dr Martin Correa Luna (Sydney University- P1a Project Leader)

Unlocking the potential of Kikuyu-based pastures through remote management- Martin presents the latest results from Dairy UP monitoring of 15 pasture-based dairy farms in NSW and the application of  satellite-derived imagery to improve productivity and  profitability..!

Prof Luciano Gonzalez (Sydney University -P1d Project Leader)

Pasture alive! Towards net-zero in Kikuyu-based pasture systems – is it possible? an update on the research undertaken by P1d  project by a USyd expert in Agriculture research and Animal Sciences.

A/Prof Cameron Clark

Milking D.A.T.A!  new approaches to convert data into useful information for farmers and processors..!

Dr Helen Golder (Scibus)

P2 Unlocking the potential of cows! the latest on the exciting P2 project!

Greg Duncan (Dairy Australia)

P5 Planning for success – planning, planning, planning..! how successful farm businesses make the most out of this excellent project!

19:00 – 23:00

Conference Dinner

Join us at the historic Belgenny Farm for dinner

Proudly sponsored by Norco

Day 2

8th November | Friday

Farm Day and Emerging Scientists Program

09:00 – 09:30

Welcome and farm Induction

Rotate through the following stations

09:30 – 12:30      (With a break for morning tea)

Station One

Dairy UP P1 Unlocking the potential of Kikuyu

Kikuyu genetics and Kikuyo toxicity

  • Dr Amit Singh (USYD) from Dairy UP’s P1c (Kikuyu’s genetics)  shares preliminary results on 13 potential new varieties of Kikuyu
  • Dr Krista Plett (NSW DPI- EMAI) from Dairy UP’s P1b (Kikuyu’s toxicity) explains the latest findings and the innovative approach of P1b to dilucidate what causes Kikuyu’s toxicity!

    Emerging Scientists

    Three emerging scientists to discuss their latest research findings

     

    • Bereket Zeleke Tunkala (Melbourne University) – Tannin extract for increased ruminant production and reduced greenhouse gas emissions

    • Michael Fitzgerald (formerly NSW DPI) – Where does the Nitrogen fertiliser applied to a Kikuyu-ryegrass pasture go?
    • Mulisa Dida (Sydney University) – Dietary Concentrate Supplementation Benefits Both Dairy Farmers and the Climate: Evidence from the Australian Dairy Farms

    Station Two

    Dairy UP P2 Unlocking the potential of cows

    Dairy UP researcher Barbara Brito Rodriquez (NSW DPI – EMAI) shares the latest from her large on-farm testing for pathogens: Calves scours and respiratory disease: can the genes of the bugs help us improve diagnosis and treatment?

    Emerging Scientists

    Four emerging scientists to discuss their latest research findings

    • Hannah Pooley (Sydney University) – Under the Skin: How Ticks Undermine Calf Vaccination Success..!
    • David Sheedy (Sydney University) – Culling reasons on Australian dairy farms
    • Sreemol Nair (Melbourne University) – Revolutionizing Livestock Parasite Control: Sustainable Herbal Alternatives vs. Chemical Deworming
    • Ishaya Gadzama (Queensland University) -Soymilk Replacer versus Whole Milk: Effects on Calf Performance

     

     

    Station Three

    Virtual Herding in practice

    New Zealand’s dairy farmer Peter Morgan talks about virtual herding in an interactive Q&A with the audience!

    Emerging Scientists

    Three emerging scientists to discuss their latest research findings

     

    • Boris J. Sepulveda (La Trobe University – AgVic) – Microbe profiles indicate eco-friendlier cows
    • Alice Shirley (Sydney University) – Hot cows, cool solutions
    • Md Rezaul Hai Rakib (Sydney University) – Can heat stress be detected in the milk of dairy cows?

    12:30 – 13:30

    Lunch Break

    13:00 – 13:30

    Emerging Scientists

    Awards & Symposium Close