HIGHLIGHTS 2019

2010-2019

Dr Pieter Vervoort

Disease outbreaks (e.g. FMD outbreak in 2012 and 2019) have costed the livestock industry in South Africa billions of Rands.
Traceability can be used to prevent, control, and manage disease outbreaks.
Traceability can also open additional international markets that can help increase the price livestock producers receive for their animals.

Dr Stephen Miller

If you can measure a trait and it is heritable, you can select for it by making use of EBVs and GEBVs.
Several new technologies exist within livestock breeding that can be used to measure traits of economic importance.
Technology is enabling the improvement in a number of areas, e.g. adaptation, efficiency, health, product, etc.

Dr Hugh Nivison

To succeed in your farming enterprise, it is very important to first get the basics right.
Use the available technologies to get the basics right.

Kim Matthews

Technology and Precision Livestock Farming should be used to be sustainable environmentally, financially, and socially.
Data is king, however the data should be reduced and converted into a form that farmers can use to make various selection/management decisions.

Prof. Gorden Carstens

If beef production wants to remain relevant compared to other protein sources, emphasize should be placed on feed efficiency of cattle
Available technology, such as GrowSafe System, can be used to record feed intake information on cattle, that can be used to calculate Residual Feed Intake (RFI).RFI is currently the best tool for selecting for feed efficiency in cattle, as it is independent of growth.