The Young Dairy Scientist Communication Award has become part of the career trajectory for many entrants in the past.
This year’s finalists were across a range of research topics.
The awardee was announced at the Australian Dairy Conference dinner, and a bursary from Gardiner Australia.
The prize went to Laura M. Jensen, a scientist with Agriculture Victoria.
There were five finalists vying for this year’s award.
Komahan Sivanandarajah is a PhD candidate with Massey University, New Zealand.
He is researching the efficacy of plantain, in a mixed pasture blend, for its ability to alter fermentation in the rumen and reduce gas production and therefore nitrogen and methane emissions.
Komahan is also researching plantain’s ability to reduce nitrogen leaching into the soil profile.
He is halfway through a four-year research project.
Boris Sepulveda is originally from Colombia, and is now a PhD candidate working with Agriculture Victoria.
In a collaborative project between Australia and Spain, Boris is seeking to identify the variation in methane emissions between cows.
His research should articulate into a breeding value for reducing emissions in the cattle industry.
Boris has been working with a core number of cows and is now looking to extrapolate his research into the paddock.
“We need about 10,000 more cows to build data accuracy into this project,” he said.
Hiren Bhadani is a masters research student, working in collaboration with the University of Tasmania, Fonterra Australia and a dairy farmer at Cressy, Tasmania.
He is researching how to reduce fertiliser use without creating a negative impact on pasture growth and soil health.
The involvement of a dairy farmer in the project has enabled Hiren to use 50 hectares of land, split into four plots, to identify and apply a variety of fertiliser methodologies.
One of the plots is a control plot.
Laura M. Jensen is a PhD student researching the effect of heat stress on cows, in a collaborative project with Agriculture Victoria and La Trobe University.
Laura’s questions include, can we use sensor data to build a data base that improves the prediction of heat tolerance and can be articulated into a reliable breeding value?
Laura said she was now seeking to increase the number of cows she is gathering data from.
To do this, she needs farmers to nominate their cows for her project.
“If your cows are already wearing collars, or other wearable sensors, they can be nominated for this project,” Laura said.
Pia Benedetti Vallenari is a student with the University of Tasmania, and had to attend the conference presentation virtually.
After suffering budgetary constraints, Pia identified an off-the-shelf solution for diagnosing sub-clinical ketosis in milking cows.
She identified a blood diagnostic tool used by people and readily available at chemists that can be used to diagnose ketosis in milking cows.
“Using this tool doesn’t hurt or impede the cows as they walk into the dairy,” Pia said.
“Research suggests 12 cows is a big enough sample to identify if there is any ketosis in the herd.
“This tool is a cheaper way of checking for ketosis, than bringing in the veterinarian and sending blood to a laboratory for diagnosis.
“If three cows show a positive sample, that then leads to veterinary care.”
To further her research, Pia is now seeking farmers who can take up this technique and report their findings to her.