Country Report: Australia

by Michael Tuhan, Illawarra Cattle Society of Australia

After two years of restrictions and uncertainty around organising events, some levels of normalcy have started to return here in Australia, with shows now back on the agenda. International Dairy Week (IDW) 2022 was one of the first major shows to return. With the cloud of Covid outbreaks still hovering, exhibit numbers were somewhat reduced, particularly from out of state with the risk of border closures still imminent. Despite this, the quality of animals on show was still at an absolute premium. Spectator numbers were noticeably low, but the beauty of modern technology meant that the Illawarra show livestream was viewed by a huge number of people from all over the world.

The IDW Senior Champion Illawarra, Llandovery JR Joan 982, epitomises the longevity that the breed has become renowned for. A 7th lactation ten year old, Joan exhibits ideal productive and functional type. She also happens to be the dam of “Jazzy” standing at Genetics Australia, and now Gorbo Stormy Jon has entered collection for AgriGene. Being a SunSupreme son, Jon has created a great deal of excitement with both his dam and PGD classified EX95.

Sales of Illawarra semen have been strong, boosted by the addition of an Illawarra bull to the ST Genetics team. Demand for sexed semen has been well above supply, with newer breeders especially utilising it as a tool to increase their Illawarra numbers as quickly as possible. Sexed Oceanbrae Foster was an option welcomed by many breeders.

Currently in Australia, the Illawarra breed is evaluated within the “Red Breeds” data set, alongside Ayrshires and Aussie Reds (predominantly Scandinavian genetics). In the near future, we are looking forward to the Illawarra breeding values being expressed as a separate data set, which will make it easier to evaluate Illawarra sires relative to the actual breed average.

It was pleasing to be involved in a constructive Zoom meeting initiated by Ryan Barrett involving representatives of Milking Shorthorn related breeds from around the globe. Collaboration is likely to be our best chance at achieving useful genomic information and continuing this dialogue amongst breed societies will give us the best

chance of success. Progress has been limited on the genomics front for Illawarras thus far, but time has enabled us to assess our options and hopefully navigate the best way forward. We now have plans in place to start genotyping select individuals, commencing with dams of bulls in A.I. and groups of daughters sired by proven bulls with high reliability. Our genetic evaluation centre Datagene has already started genotyping Illawarra bulls, with a plan of adding as many sires as they can source straws from to their data set.

Champion Cow lineup from International Dairy Week 2022. Photo by Fleur Ferguson. IDW Senior Champion is 2nd from right: Llandovery JR Joan 982 EX95

New Prefixes / Nouveaux préfixes:

BONAVENTURE Dominic Aubuchon, Ste-Elizabeth, QC HARCOLM Harcolm Farms Ltd, Beachville, ON ILLUMINATING Kate Coleman, Lower Norton, NB RADIODIAL Ally Coleman, Passekeag, NB SX Kyle Corcoran, Scout Lake, SK SYSLIC Ferme Syslic, Ste-Justine-de-Newton, QC WINDKNOLL Windknoll Holsteins, Elora, ON