Every year Western Dairy calls for expressions of interest from university students completing their honours year or undertaking a PHD with a dairy focus, to consider a project that will contribute to the knowledge bank of WA dairy research.
In 2018/2019 we have funded two students:
Shilja Shaji
Western Dairy has awarded a scholarship to support UWA student Shilja Shaji complete her PhD exploring ways to identify dairy cows that are more likely to suffer from heat stress.
Heat stress is known to have high impact on dairy businesses, ranging from loss in milk production and income; reduced in-calf rates, reduce milk and fat tests and a higher rate of health problems associated with this.
The Australian dairy industry released its new breeding value for heat tolerance earlier this year and the research being undertaken through the UWA study will add another piece to the heat tolerance jigsaw.
Shilja will be exploring the capacity for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to detect heat stress in lactating dairy cattle, using samples from milk, saliva and blood. NIRS technology is a proven method of estimating milk components in herd testing laboratories and so the research work hopes to capitalise on this technology opportunity.
Teanna Cahill
Western Dairy has awarded an honours scholarship to Murdoch University student Teanna Cahill, to explore the risk factors associated with sub-clinical mastitis and antimicrobial usage in WA dairy herds.
The results of this research will allow WA farmers to implement specific, relevant improvements to decrease their Somatic Cell Count and increase milk quality and reduce treatment costs, whilst providing some resilience in a changing market.