8 January 1998 Seminar for dairy farmers looks at issue of selection for animal size and milk yield

Believe it or not, there's more than a millilitre or two of debate inside every bottle or carton of milk you open and some of that debate spills over into a Lincoln University seminar of special interest to dairy farmers being held on 22 January.

The debate concerns the live weight of dairy cows and which are the more efficient producers of milk when factors such as the balance between feed intake and energy use are taken into account – big cows or small cows?

Addressing the seminar will be international expert Dr Roel Veerkamp from the Netherlands, who is an authority on dairy cattle breeding and in particular the selection of dairy cows for increased efficiency of milk production.

Dr Veerkamp, who has recently returned to his native Holland after working for many years at the Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, is combining a visit to New Zealand with attendance at the four-yearly International Animal Genetics Conference being held this time in Armidale, New South Wales.

The title of Dr Veerkamp's Lincoln seminar is ‘Selection for milk yield, feed intake and live weight in dairy cattle: consequences for energy balance ‘.

"The issue of dairy cattle live weight has attracted a lot of attention among farmers and animal scientists in recent times," says Dr Martin van Houtert of Lincoln University's Animal and Veterinary Sciences Group.

"Its importance is now indicated through its inclusion in the Livestock Improvement Corporation's scheme for the genetic evaluation of dairy cows.

"We hope that the seminar will encourage people to think about the issue and become aware of what the link between live weight and efficiency is."

All interested farmers and members of the public are welcome to attend Dr Veerkamp's seminar. Admission is free and it is being held on 22 January in Lincoln University's H1 lecture theatre starting at 12.40pm. The venue will be sign-posted from the main road in front of the University.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand