The new sire proofs were very exciting for the industry and LIC again had a strong showing across the various breeds, LIC Australia sales and operations manager Mike Rose said.
“Instead of focusing on individual sires that are performing well, I want to take this opportunity to take a step back and get you to ask the question, ‘does the cow I currently milk, suit the farm system I want to have in the future?’,” Mr Rose said.
He said farmers were wanting to be more sustainable from a financial, people, environment and animal viewpoint. This sustainability could well see farmers move to using higher levels of home-grown forage and pasture to reduce costs.
Making simple systems throughout the farm could help, and a move toward one or two times a year calving could help reduce complexity and workload, Mr Rose said.
However, he said it was important to understand that these types of changes would often require a different cow than the ones you were currently milking.
Mr Rose said to cope with these changes, cows now need to be more resilient and robust so they can adapt to the ups and downs of volatile weather conditions, feeding levels, milk prices and skills of staff.
“We are proud of the fact LIC genetics have proven themselves in tough conditions around the world and feel this is an advantage over animals bred for barns on a TMR system, which calves all year round.
“LIC’s focus has always been on delivering a cow that delivers more profit, not necessarily the most milk volume.
“At the end of the day it’s about how much profit that’s coming from each tanker load of milk that matters, not how many tanker loads you produce.”