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DAF and QAAFI staff take centre stage

Page published: September 2, 2019 | Page reviewed: September 2, 2019

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) staff had key roles in the Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition conference held at Rockhampton on 23-24 July 2019. The Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition is the professional association for ruminant nutritionists in Australia. The Rockhampton conference drew 40 attendees with diverse roles in research, extension, agribusiness and consultancy from across Australia.

Of the seven presentations on the first day, two were delivered by DAF staff (Dr Maree Bowen and Stuart Buck) and three by QAAFI staff Dr Rob Dixon and Dr Luis Prada e Silva).

The second day program comprised a field trip to the Clews family dairy farm at Rossmoya about 30 km north of Rockhampton. Dr Dave Barber (DAF Dairy Team Leader) who has had a long association with the Clews family led discussions on management strategies for dairy farms in the sub-tropics.

Attendees traveled to the Parkhurst Conference for the afternoon session organised by Rockhampton staff and chaired by Matt Brown. The session was designed to showcase key Animal Science and QAAFI grazing beef industry research, development and extension activities being undertaken in Central Queensland with presentations by Kylie Hopkins, Maree Bowen, Dr Terry Beutel, Mick Sullivan and Rob Dixon.

Presenters received excellent feedback from conference attendees. The DAF and QAAFI presentations and input on research, development and extension for the extensive beef industry provided a fresh perspective for many of the participants, since previous conferences of this nature have focused on more intensive ruminant production systems in temperate Australia.

The next Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition conference will be held in Armidale, NSW on 23-25 October.

For more information on the staff and their research work, check out these thinks below:

Left to right: Kylie Hopkins (DAF), Rob Dixon (QAAFI), Maree Bowen (DAF), Stuart Buck (DAF) and Mick Sullivan (DAF) all presented at the Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition Conference held in Rockhampton in July.