Data related to dairy cattle diseases
In 2006-2007, the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN) and dairy improvement agencies CanWest DHI and Valacta jointly developed a system to collect data on the eight diseases that are currently the most expensive to the dairy industry, and transfer them to CDN. Participants get reports helping with their herd management, and also contribute to the selection of more resistant animals in the future. This important projet received $600,000 in support from the Sustaining the Genetic Quality of Ruminants (SGQR) program at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (support was chanelled through Holstein Canada). Developed in close collaboration with veterinarians, this system has been in place since June 2007. In Quebec, contributing producers can have their data recorded by their veterinarian with the DS@HR software, or by Valacta personnel with the Agri-Lacta program.

Health management
Another health committee has been created, with a wider mandate than the dairy cattle diseases committee. This committee will set objectives for the general improvement of dairy herd health in Quebec. Valacta will hire a veterinarian, who will work closely with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and who will establish strong ties with all advisors at the farm in order to reach the objectives.

The two most costly health problems in Quebec are mastitis and reproduction. The committee met with representatives of the Table de concertation sur la reproduction (the dairy industry reproduction committee) and the Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network to make sure that it would not duplicate their work, but provide additional help to reach their objectives.

The committee discussed establishing a common communication plan for health and reproduction, aimed at dairy producers. It was agreed that a common message would have more impact than separate communications issuing from each organization. This will be the focus of the committee in the coming years.

Johne's Disease
In collaboration with FPLQ and veterinarians, Valacta also contributes to a MAPAQ committee for the implementation of a program for the screening and prevention of Johne's disease.

Genetics
Committee members have identified actions that will ensure sustained and increased participation by Quebec dairy farmers to improved genetics. They have also defined objectives to be met.

Planning the expansion of dairy farms
Participants decided to publish a Guide to support farm businesses planning to expand. Special attention is being paid to the difficulties encountered at the planning stage of any expansion project.

Planifier l'expansion d'une entreprise laitière - Guide de réussite is available on line since March 2008 on the CRAAQ web site (free - currently in French only). This project received financial support from the Initiatives d'appui aux conseillers agricoles program of the Agricultural Policy Framework (see also the corresponding MAPAQ link - in French).

Dairy farm economic management
Committee members identified aspects worthy of in-depth analysis. In order to support and enlist industry advisors working in the field to identify the best solutions, an agroeconomist, René Roy, joined Valacta's R&D team in May 2007.

Management and diagnostic tools
Valacta is involved in a project to develop a Management and diagnostic tool for agricultural enterprises based on a new, integrated data bank. This project groups Coopérative Fédérée, the Association québécoise des industries de nutrition animale et céréalière (AQINAC), the Association des médecins vétérinaires praticiens du Québec (AMVPQ), the Fédération des groupes conseils agricoles du Québec (FGCAQ), the Centre de développement du porc du Québec (CDPQ) and Valacta.

The end result of this ambitious project will be a control panel using performance indicators that will facilitate analysis and decision-making for both farm advisors and producers.

See also:
Partners on the Valacta Board of Directors
Development in partnership of dairy production expertise (R&D team)
Data processing and dairy herd management

(Click picture to enlarge)

National health project
By recording data on the most damaging dairy cattle diseases, producers improve their herd management and contribute to the future selection of animals with better natural resistance.

Available documentation (PDF):
- Record health data (780K)
- Dairy cattle health definitions (105K)
- Top 10 questions on the national health project (1,19MB)

 

 

 

René Roy, agroeconomist, R&D, Valacta

 

 

 

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