Feed projects 2008/09

New Zealand's unique competitive advantage is based on its low cost, pasture-based farming systems. DairyNZ is focused on achieving profitable and sustainable farming systems through improving the quality and amount of feed dairy farmers grow, matching feed supply with demand, and improving efficiency with which feed is converted into milksolids.

Below is a summary of projects carried out during the 2008/09 season in the Feed area.
Note: These were proposed contracted amounts. Actual final paid amounts may vary from these numbers.

Project	Project Number	Description	Partners	Funding (Excl. GST)
Impact of a New Ryegrass Endophyte (AR37) on Dairy Production	FD601	To determine the effects of AR37 endophyte on pasture production and persistence and milksolids production and cow health.	DairyNZ Ltd	$391,000
Improving Water Use Efficiency on Irrigated Dairy Farms	FD602	To make irrigated pastoral production in Canterbury more sustainable and ensure that the ongoing significant commercial benefits to individual farmers and communities will continue.	AgResearch Ltd	$182,000
New Zealand Pastoral Industries Ryegrass Development Programme	FD603	The aim of the investment in Pastoral Genomics is to use modern biotechnology approaches to develop new ryegrass and clover plants that are more productive and persistent.	Pastoral Genomics	$854,000
Tall fescue based dairy systems	FD604	Determine the annual dry matter production and nutritional quality profiles of various forage grass and legume species in irrigated and non-irrigated Waikato dairy pastures.	DairyNZ Ltd	$160,000
Increasing feed intake of pasture fed dairy cows	FD605	To increase productivity of forage-based dairy systems by developing perennial ryegrass varieties and endophytes that will promote superior digestion rate and voluntary intake of grazed pasture by dairy cows.	AgResearch Ltd	$349,000
Experimental Release of a Clover Root Weevil Biocontrol Agent	FD606	The aim of this project is to improve vigor and viability of white clover through the successful biocontrol of clover root weevil throughout New Zealand	AgResearch Ltd	$222,000
Enhanced Dairy Nutrition via Herbage Protein Stability	FD607	To provide economic options to increase protein utilisation from fresh forage, via enhanced stability of herbage protein.	AgResearch Ltd	$267,000
The Role of High Sugar Grasses in Pasture-Based Dairy Systems	FD608	Increasing the total quantity of metabolisable energy (ME) grown and the efficiency of conversion of grass to animal product, while minimising nitrogenous waste, are industry goals. Ryegrass is the main grass used for dairy pastures and increasing the concentration of water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) in ryegrass and its conversion to animal product contributes to those goals.	AgResearch Ltd	$311,000
Forage brassica crops for NZ's pastoral systems	FD609	To transfer existing and new management technologies for forage brassicas to a large number of pastoral farmers in diverse climates and farming situations so that a significant improvement in performance of NZ's forage brassica crops is achieved.	Plant and Food Research	$120,000
Pasture covers using satellite technology	FD610	The Pastures from Space program is based on the premise that more accurate and frequent information on pasture cover would allow cows to be better managed throughout the year by optimising decisions on paddock selection, rotation lengths, supplementary feeding, nitrogen fertiliser use and conservation. This project is testing the use of satellite remote sensing to measure pasture cover at farm and paddock scale.	Fonterra	$395,000
Validating and promoting tools for pasture measurement	FD611	To increase use of tools for pasture measurement by dairy farmers through locally relevant tool validation.	AgResearch Ltd	$102,000
Standardised feed quality analysis in New Zealand	FD612	To develop a robust standard methodology for feed chemistry, thus ensuring that there is no more than acceptable variation in NIR results from different labs	Lincoln University	$178,000
Increasing pasture eaten	FD615	To increase New Zealand dairy farming profitability and competitiveness by increasing the amount of home-grown ME eaten per hectare on NZ dairy farms while not increasing environmental footprint.	DairyNZ Ltd	$540,000
Acquisition of new plant germplasm for the NZ dairy industry	FD617	To provide new plant germplasm to advance future dairy farming New germplasm is required to underpin future production systems, and to coordinate industry action to ensure access to new pasture and forage crop germplasm. This project also provides long-term capability development through a Ph.D project in the area of germplasm development.	AgResearch Ltd	$75,000
Integrating high yielding, sustainable crops into dairying	FD701	To improve dairy farming productivity by at least 12% by demonstrating the successful and sustainable integration of forage cropping (targeting 45 TDM) into the pastoral dairy farming system.	Waimate West Demonstration Farm Trust	$80,000
Sustainable feed systems for dairy support land in North Otago	FD801	To identify feed systems (pastures/crops) that improve young stock live weight gain during summer/autumn and feed dry cows during winter without causing long-term damage to soil quality.	AgResearch Ltd	$20,000
Best-Practice Pasture Renewal for Forage Production and Sustainability	FD802	This project proposes to trial best-practice pasture renewal and management techniques with close monitoring of the establishment, persistence and production of the key forage species. In this way, a value proposition can be developed (with independence from vested interests) that explicitly considers the costs, benefits, risks and uncertainties of pasture renewal in a farming system context. Together with consideration of the social context of technology adoption, this directly addresses the key constraints to higher rates of successful pasture renewal and adoption of new pasture technologies.	AgResearch Ltd	$111,000
Adapting to a drier environment by improving irrigation practices	FD803 EN634	The aim of this project is to increase the uptake of already available irrigation practices and tools by dairy farmers, particularly in areas where water restrictions do or are likely to occur.	The Agribusiness Development Group NZ Ltd	$13,000
FRST/P21	Pastoral21	DairyNZ is a cofounder of this joint industry-government research programme. The programme aims to increase the yield and quality of feed harvested on New Zealand pastoral farms.		1,133,000