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In this issue:National Johne’s Disease Industry
National Johne’s Disease Industry
Liaison Committee Disbands Animal Health Australia has squashed all deer industry participation in national planning for Johne’s disease control by the grazing industries and governments
Animal Health Australia (AHA) recently disbanded the national committee through which the deer industry was represented over many years in national planning and policy negotiations between governments and the grazing industries involved with control of Johne’s disease (JD) in Australia. AHA is the agency managing the national JD program.
With other grazing industries (wool, sheepmeat, beef, dairy, alpaca and goat) the deer industry was a founding member of the National Johne’s Disease Industry Liaison Committee (NJDILC), originally convened by Cattle Council but more recently by AHA. Through the NJDILC, the deer industry had an effective voice in several other national committees developing the policies for JD control in Australia. Within the NJDILC, the deer industry contributed significantly to planning of the National JD Program. In this process, the deer industry was able to ensure that any adverse impact on deer farmers from the JD policies adopted by government was no greater than necessary for effective disease control. For example, when movement and trading restrictions for ovine JD were under discussion, strong argument from the deer industry backed by scientific evidence ensured that fallow deer were not included as a susceptible species to which movement restriction for OJD would apply. Red deer were known to be susceptible to sheep strains of the JD bacteria, but there was no evidence from anywhere in the world of infection with sheep strains in fallow deer, despite the presence of fallow deer in areas where JD is endemic in sheep and goats. Without deer industry representation on the NJDILC, fallow deer would have been subjected to unwarranted movement restrictions for OJD. Unfortunately this level of protection for the interests of deer farmers’ by effective representation in the national JD policy development process no longer exists.
The demise of the NJDILC arose when the AHA Board accepted a recommendation from the committee it had appointed for a mid-term review of the National Ovine Johne’s Disease Program. The mid-term review committee recommended that NJDILC should be disbanded because the major animal industries were represented in other JD forums, leading to some unnecessary duplication of consultation. Although there were sound reasons for this recommendation in relation to the sheep and cattle industries, the acceptance of this recommendation by the AHA Board has created a dilemma for "minor" grazing industries like the deer industry.
Whereas the sheep and cattle industries were represented on other JD policy and management committees in their own right, and this representation continues, with the demise of the NJDILC deer industry representation in JD planning ceased altogether as it had always resulted from deer industry membership of the NJDILC.
The deer industry is now completely unrepresented in any of the national committees that are making numerous decisions with significant impacts on deer farmers across the country. In effect the deer industry is now b e i n g asked by g o v e r n - ment to participate in two very significant national disease control programs, one for the sheep industries and one for the cattle industries but both with significant impact on deer farmers, without the deer industry having any direct involvement whatsoever in the future direction of these programs. This is a very unsatisfactory and very unfair situation. Only time will tell whether the commitment that deer farmers have shown to JD control so far will continue in the future, in the absence of proper and democratic representation in national program planning and management. When and wherever the opportunity presents itself, this lack of fair representation should be raised by deer farmers with Commonwealth and State Ministers, government agencies, local Members of Parliament and representatives of other grazing animal industries affected by JD control programs.
Report back: Deer Industry National Conference
Canberra, September 2001The Deer Industry Association of Australia held its 2001 Conference in Canberra in early September. The conference and the following Annual General Meeting of the DIAA were well attended by deer farmers and other industry participants from all states.
At the meeting, Managing Director of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Mr Peter Core, gave a verbal report to the industry on the Corporation’s operations over the last year, including a brief run-down on all current deer R&D projects under contract.
Mr Core’s paper demonstrated RIRDC support for the industry’s initiatives in the area of Johne’s disease control, with $30,000 funding for a project to develop a diagnostic test for JD in deer for use in a proposed Deer JD Market Assurance Program.
Mr Core also discussed implications for future scope of the deer R&D program arising from the new levy rates introduced by the government.
In broad terms, the reduction in deer R&D levies is about 40%, but this will not necessarily mean a 40% reduction in the aggregate revenue to the program nor in the future deer R&D budget.
It is anticipated that the cut in levy rates will reduce deer industry levy income to just under $200,000 per annum in a full year, but this reduction over a full year will not occur until 2002/2003. The real impact of these changes on the R&D budget remains subject to considerable uncertainty as a result of other factors including the effect of export markets, seasonal conditions and herd rebuilding on the rate of deer slaughter.
In view of this uncertainty, Mr Core advised the DIAA that he thought it prudent for the industry to continue to maintain the industry’s financial reserves at about the existing level ($470,000). Adequate reserves would then be available to maintain the existing R&D program at about the current level in the event of a decline in levy revenue or, alternatively, to increase the program in response to any emerging threat requiring an R&D response.
With a direct contribution from RIRDC Core Funds of $52,000 per annum for each of the next three years, as previously announced by Senator Judith Troeth, this strategy will allow the industry to continue to fund an R&D program of about $275,000 to $300,000 per annum.
Mr Core noted that the true size of the deer industry R&D program was actually about $540,000 when the contributions to the program from contracted research organisations and collaborating industry participants involved in the program are included.
Mr Core also announced a RIRDC review of the composition and membership of the RIRDC Deer R&D Advisory Committee. Mr Core emphasised that it was important for RIRDC to have R&D advisory committees with an appropriate mix of skills amongst the members but free of any industry politics. Mr Core said that he believed the mix of skills of the current deer advisory committee is an appropriate one for the deer R&D program.
A number of important decisions were taken at the DIAA AGM that affect all deer farmers. In particular, the DIAA resolved "that a National Livestock Identification System [for deer] be investigated as soon as possible".
Although not the subject of a formal motion, the meeting was also in favour of the introduction of abattoir monitoring for detection of Johne’s disease in deer.
Former Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Tim Fisher was guest speaker at the conference dinner and gave a very informative and entertaining presentation about export market development processes and trade issues from his experiences around the world as the Commonwealth Minister for Trade.
Deer Industry Company Report
and Deer Industry StatisticsThis edition of the Deer Industry R&D Newsletter does not contain the usual Deer Industry Company (DIC) report with venison market statistics.
Over the last few months Chris Tuckwell and the DIC have unfortunately been unable to obtain sufficient data from the major venison processors to report meaningful price and production statistics. We delayed printing of the October edition of the newsletter for several weeks anticipating that the venison market data would be obtained by DIC, but this was not the case and ultimately we decided to go to press without it, producing a joint newsletter for October and December.
RIRDC has recently provided funding to the DIC for the development of a computerised market information recording and reporting system for use by venison processors. This system, called "VenStat", is intended to make the task of recording and reporting data much simpler for all venison processors. This program is currently being ‘rolled out" to all Australian venison processors and it is hoped that they will quickly put the program into use in their businesses so market information will again be available. We look forward to being able to resume the reporting of venison production and price statistics in the R&D newsletter in the near future.
Growing Weaner Deer: Overcoming Nutritional Constraints in Southern Australia
By Dr D Revell & Dr P Tow 2001, 26pp, RIRDC Pub No 01/107 - $10 (+$4 postage )
RIRDC R&D projects have consistently shown that slow growth of fallow weaners due to undernutrition is a major cause of the unacceptably low carcase weight of many fallow deer slaughtered in Australia.
Profitability of fallow venison production is signifi- cantly improved if the deer can reach a suitable market weight without the need to carry them through a second summer-autumn period before slaughter, but achieving the necessary growth rate requires very good nutrition throughout the first year of life. Unfortunately, the high cost of maintaining fallow slaughter stock through a second summer-autumn period leads to the slaughter of many fallow at lower than the preferred market bodyweight.
Poor post-weaning growth may even reduce mature bodyweight ("stunting") no matter how long the animals are retained. With a well demonstrated relationship between weaner nutrition and product quality, developing effective and efficient feeding regimes for fallow weaners in southern Australia has been a high priority for the deer industry.
The nutritional problem underlying poor growth of fallow weaners in the Mediterranean climate of southern Australia is fairly simple. On typical pastures in this region, weaning of fallow deer fawns coincides with low pasture availability and quality.
The objective of RIRDC Project UA-46A was to investigate the relative benefit of a range of feed supplements in autumn on the growth of weaner fallow deer and to compare these supplements with feeding of lucerne in both a "cut-and-carry" system and a grazing system. The use of annual medic pasture in winter and early spring combined with lucerne in late spring and early summer was also investigated. Several important observations were made in the trial.
1. The best supplement to maximise the post-weaning growth rate of fallow deer grazing natural pastures in autumn was a 70:30 barley:lupin mixture or barley alone. Fallow fed these supplements for 12 weeks after weaning outperformed those fed hay, silage or cut fresh lucerne as a supplement. The returns ($15 to $20) from higher carcase weights early in the following summer exceeded the cost of grain supplementation ($8/head) by at least twice as much.
2. Weaner fallow grazing on standing lucerne during autumn performed as well or better than those on grain or cut lucerne supplement.
3. Supplementation with grain or lucerne did not completely prevent the slowing of growth that occurs during the first 2 to 4 weeks after weaning, but did prevent any weight loss during this critical period.
4. The improvement in early post-weaning growth from this supplementation continued after supplementation ended, resulting in improved liveweight at the end of spring and/or a reduction in the number of days to reach a target weight.
5. Winter growth rates in excess of 150 gm/day were possible on high quality annual pasture in male fallow that had been well fed as weaners in autumn. Conversely, the deer could not compensate during spring for their restricted growth during autumn, even when provided with an abundant supply of high quality pasture.
This trial showed that it is critical to ensure that the early post-weaning growth of fallow deer is maximised through careful management and nutrition. Grazing of standing lucerne or supplementation with barley and lupins appears to be ideal strategies.
The trial also clearly showed that cost-effective feed management will ensure that fallow weaners can be turned off at an appropriate bodyweight for slaughter by the end of spring or early summer. A high proportion of fallow weaners (all males and most females) can reach an acceptable target bodyweight by early December.
Stress is a probable factor in the temporary cessation of growth immediately after weaning and this causes a proportion of weaners to fall short of target weight despite adequate supplementary nutrition.
Deer farmers should note the two apparently inescapable conclusions from this project.
A. Efficient production of fallow venison cannot be achieved unless the quality and quantity type of supplementary feeding for fallow weaners is sufficient to maintain their bodyweight in the first two to four weeks after weaning (that is, sufficient to prevent any bodyweight loss during this period) and this same level of supplementary feeding is continued for about 12 weeks or until sufficient green pasture becomes available in winter or spring.
B. Good quality hay or silage is not an adequate feed supplement for achieving this nutritional objective with fallow weaners on typical pastures in southern Australia.
International and domestic market access for Australian venison continues to be compromised by a lack of understanding or acceptance amongst deer farmers of key market requirements for venison.
Producer commitment to programs that overtly demonstrate the industry’s collective commitment to meeting the market specifications for product quality, animal welfare, disease status and absence of contaminants is critical to the immediate and long-term future of the industry.
The deer industry QA program is now a central element in achieving this goal. The distinctive QA accreditation marks soon to be released will provide those who receive accreditation from the industry’s QA program with an ability to advertise their products and services as "quality assured" in the market place.
The purpose of Project DIP-3A (Part B) was to facilitate a review and update of the Deer Industry Quality Assurance program by updating manuals and the industry Code of Practice.
This project facilitated the publication of updated versions of the Deer Farming Best Practice Manual, the Deer Transport Best Practice Manual, and the Venison Processors Best Practice Manual. Appropriate HACCP sections are now included
in each manual and all are now available on both the RIRDC and DIAA websites (http://www.rirdc.gov.au and http://www.diaa.org.au).
The operator’s manual for the DeerQAMA software program and the DeerQAMA program itself were also updated during this project and the project report includes an extensive list of enhancements in the most recent version of the software and detailed recommendations for future general and specific enhancements to the program.
A new deer industry Code of Practice for the Welfare of Deer was also written during this project and this has now been provided to Animal Health Australia through the Deer Industry Association of Australia.
RIRDC Publication No 01/094 RIRDC Project No DIP-3B 2001, 42pp - $10 (+$4 postage) Principal Investigator: Chris Tuckwell Tel (08) 85323 3500
Quality Assurance, Strategic Industry Development
RIRDC Publication No 01/120
RIRDC Project No DIP-4A
2001, 78pp - $10 (+$4 postage)
Principal Investigator:
Chris Tuckwell
Tel (08) 85323 3500This industry based project was established with the following objectives:
i. To maintain and expand the industry statistics database initiated in 1997This report was recently published as RIRDC Publication No 01/120 which can be purchased from RIRDC by telephoning (02) 62724819. The report comprehensively describes the structure of the Australian deer industry in 2001 and includes a detailed up-to-date set of industry statistics, with 14 tables and 31 graphs.ii.To encourage development of strategic alliances between producers and processors that will assist producer and processor commitment to quality assurance programs
iii.To continue development of documentation for the licensed use of the Deer Industry QA marks
iv. To continue regular and open reporting of market information to industry The research contractor for this project, the Deer Industry Company, has submitted a final report for the project.
It is expected that this document will become the key reference for the next few years for governments and other organisations that make decisions about the Australian deer industry. It is perhaps the best up-to-date review of the current state of the industry in Australia and its future profit potential and should make interesting reading for all deer farmers who are interested in the "bigger picture" situation of their industry today.
The report notes that active development of international markets for Australian venison over the last decade has significantly increased both the demand and price for slaughter stock in Australia, with a consequent improvement in returns and profit to deer farmers.
The report suggests that this improvement in the trading environment for venison occurred principally due to the efforts of the Venison Market Development Officer appointed by RIRDC in the early 1990’s, to the extent that the increased demand exceeded the potential for expansion of supply from the industry’s relatively small production base in the late 1980’s, with higher prices for slaughter stock leading to a depletion of the female breeding herd. In an effort to increase supply to maintain the venison export markets that had been developed, in 1995 the industry’s top R&D priority shifted to increasing the size and production capacity capacity of the national herd.
This industry planning was underpinned by industry statistics, but collection of reliable data remains diffi- cult, partly due to a lack of understanding by many industry participants about the importance of reliable industry statistics. Nonetheless, the available data has more recently shown that the current farmed deer population now appears to be fairly stable, although with a structure that could facilitate rapid growth by a decrease in the culling of young females if appropriate. The statistics also show that venison production has increased significantly in recent years as a result of higher returns to farmers. The total volume of venison produced in Australia was about 1000 tonnes in 1996/97 but this had increased to almost 1800 tonnes by 1999/00. Perhaps most significantly, the farm gate value of the 1300 tonnes of venison produced in 1998/99 was only $3M, but the value of the 1700 tonnes (40% increase) produced in 2000/01 was about $6M (100% increase), reflecting the improved prices for slaughter stock. Whether this expansion of production will be sustained over the next few years is however uncertain.
In mid 1999, the Australian deer industry faced the lowest returns for venison since the industry began more than 20 years ago. This report concluded that a state of depression" existed in the industry in 1999 as result of both internal and external factors, notably i.) the Asian currency downturn, (ii.) the industry’s lack of competitive advantage in influential markets (particularly in respect to New Zealand competition) and (iii.) competition within the Australian industry processing and marketing sectors for the limited volumes of local venison available. This 1999 crisis led to a major rationalisation of venison production and processing, with many small operators leaving the industry. Unfortunately, at the same time this also led to a period of decreasing interest in further investment in the industry by the remaining participants.
The result is that the smaller number of venison processors remaining today each now controls a significantly larger volume of venison product. These processors can now afford to invest in their own market development with confidence that their supply is reasonably secure. This has been assisted by a better understanding of strategic alliances and the concept of loyalty between suppliers and processors.
Strategic alliances involving delivery of slaughter stock according to a mutually acceptable specification has been facilitated by the development of a computer database program, "VenStat". This program allows processors to record information about the carcases they produce and to feed this information back to deer farmers to be used to fine tune their animal production according to the agreed carcase specifications. The ultimate aim is improved farm gate returns for farmers and increased market share for processors.
Over the period of this project, the deer industry put a considerable effort into improving product quality, as recommended by the Venison Market Development Officer. Despite this effort, however, participation in the industry’s Quality Assurance Program continues to grow slowly. This project report concluded that many deer farmers do not accept the need for quality assurance, probably because their processor and consumer clients have not yet demanded it from them. [This lack of any market signal or product price premium as an incentive for adoption of a quality assurance program is not unique to the deer industry. The return to deer farmers from the adoption of a QA program is perhaps more likely to be continuing confidence in market access despite periodic crises involving potential loss of consumer confidence in venison products, rather than an identifiable price premium.] Despite current favourable farm gate prices for venison, this report is cautious about the future, noting that export market prices remain subject to factors well beyond Australian control including international currency exchange rates and European consumer con- fidence in red meats in light of the BSE crisis in Britain.
The report notes that market stability can only be achieved with a continuous supply of high quality product which is competitive in comparison to product from other sources. The trend towards price schedule grids for slaughter animals to ensure that deer farmers target venison processor specifications and that processors pay premiums for carcases that meet or are close to their "ideal" specifications is likely to continue.
The report includes three formal recommendations for the industry to consider:
1. The industry should actively encourage the use of the VenStat program by all venison processors and make it available to all Australian processors at a price that encourages them to use it. [VenStat will allow processors to easily and more comprehensively report information about each animal processed to the grower.]
2. The Australian industry must actively adopt and promote its quality assurance program that is aimed to give consumer confidence in Australia’s production and the deer industry generally.
3. A range of strategies should be considered to improve the average hot carcase weight of deer processed in Australia. [Mr Tuckwell suggested that inadequate nutrition remains the major cause of low carcase weight and high variability in carcase weights of deer slaughtered in Australia. Suggested strategies to address this problem include
(i.) benchmarking of a series of properties to demonstrate management techniques to achieve ideal carcase weight,HOW TO ORDER(ii.) a detailed cost:benefit analysis of the techniques that are required to achieve ideal carcase weight,
(iii.) training of Australian deer farmers and processors in live body condition score (BCS) assessment, and
(iv.) continuation of the regular and open reporting of venison market information to the industry.
Publications reported on in this newsletter are the latest in RIRDC’s diverse range of over 700 research publications. Phone (02) 6272 4819 for a free catologue, or view them on our website: www.rirdc.gov.au/eshop
Nutritional Requirements for Pregnant
and Lactating Red and Fallow DeerIn meat production systems where the provision of an adequate level of nutrition involves supplementation of pasture with grain or other concentrated feeds, the efficiency and hence profitability of the system depends greatly on fine-tuning the balance between the nutritional needs of the animals and the supplementary feed supplied.
The objective is to obtain optimum animal performance (reproduction, liveweight gain and carcase quality) without wasting costly feed.
Knowledge of the nutritional requirements of the class of animal to be fed and the nutritional value of alternative feed sources available to farmers are both necessary for efficient animal feeding.
Profitable meat production requires not only efficient feeding of young animals grown out for slaughter, but also adequate nutrition for breeding females. Proper feeding of breeding females leads to improved fertility and higher quality carcases from their progeny. Perhaps surprisingly however, until completion of the research reported here there was no information available on the nutritional requirements of pregnant or lactating fallow deer and incomplete knowledge for red deer. The relationships between nutrition, placental development and foetal growth that are known to underlie poor reproductive performance in other farmed ruminant animals remained unclear for deer.
RIRDC Project UWS -16A was designed to correct these knowledge gaps.
The Final Report of this project has been published as RIRDC Publication No 01/095 and is now available from the Corporation. This comprehensive report covers 136 pages of quality research data with informative discussion, numerous colour plates and several diagrams to demonstrate the practical applications knowledge obtained from the research. Although research itself was technically complex, the authors have written many useful sections of their report in language that will be readily comprehended by deer farmers with limited training in animal nutrition. The report is highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in efficient feeding of farmed deer.
The study describes a number of experiments undertaken to assess the nutritional requirements of pregnant and lactating fallow does, both pure European fallow and 1/4 Mesopotamian 3/4 European hybrids. The trial showed no statistical difference between the nutritional needs of the two genotypes when corrected for liveweight differences.
Individually housed does consumed on average 10.3 MJME/day* in the second trimester of pregnancy, increasing to 13.0 MJME/day in the third trimester. The nutritional requirement of these housed fallow does increased to 20.4 MJME/day over the first 12 weeks of lactation, double the requirement of non-lactating fallow does. These daily nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating fallow does were higher than had previously been estimated by extrapolation from red deer data.
In addition, the trial showed that adult fallow does rapidly face competition from their fawns which start consume "hard" feed such as concentrate supplements from 7 weeks of age and have the same daily nutritional requirements as their mothers from 16 weeks of age.
The authors suggested that this observation of a similar or even higher energy requirement for both male and female fallow fawns in comparison to non-lactating adult fallow does indicates that pre-rut weaning should be implemented so adequate pasture is available weaners to reach target slaughter or joining weights.
In other words, competition between fawns and does for available feed during and after the rut should avoided.
Feeding behaviour of fallow does was also observed during this trial. Individually housed does had three periods of feeding in each 24 hour period - one period starting before sunrise and ending some 2.5 hours later, a second period starting just before sunset, intensifying after sunset and lasting on average about 1.7 hours and a third period around midnight lasting about 2.3 hours.
Environmental temperature had a significant effect on feed intake. Temperatures above 35oC at sunrise or sunset reduced the length of time spent feeding and also suppressed average feed intake over the 24 hour period, whereas temperatures below 20oC at the time of feeding increased time spent at the feed trough. Does on average also spent a greater period of time feeding at other times of day when temperatures fell below 15oC at normal feeding times. During lactation, feeding activity time was positively correlated with feed intake.
In addition to assessment of nutritional adequacy, a body condition scoring (BCS) system based on antemortem and post-mortem descriptors was developed for fallow deer, using live animal and carcase evaluation measurements from 350 fallow deer. This BCS system is based on live animal palpation. There were significant post-mortem differences in fat depths over the rump, loin and brisket between animals within each of the five live animal body condition scores used, but not over the forequarter, with a strong correlation between BCS and fat depth over rump, loin and brisket. The BCS system was shown to be an effective and practical system for assessing the suitability of live animals for slaughter.
The effect of restricted maternal nutrition in fallow does on rates of liveweight gain, BCS and growth of the conceptus (placenta plus foetus) was also investigated in this project. Does fed throughout pregnancy at the estimated maintenance level for non-pregnant does showed no significant difference in placental mass, foetal weight, foetal crown-rump length or the rates of maternal liveweight gain at the end of the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy when compared to pregnant does fed ad libitum as a group. A second experiment was undertaken in which pregnant does were fed 70% of the feed consumed by an ad libitum fed control group, but this also did not reveal any significant effect of undernutrition on conceptus development in does killed 12 weeks after joining, although the authors concluded that the lower mean liveweight and lower BCS recorded in the restricted feeding does might well have compromised fawn viability at birth if restricted feeding had continued through their pregnancies.
With the data on nutritional requirements obtained from this RIRDC project, precise strategic feeding of fallow and red deer breeding herds is now possible. If deer farmers apply this data on their farms, consistent reproductive performance and production of high quality slaughter animals to specification can be achieved efficiently using strategic supplementary feeding and the implementation of BCS assessment.
All deer farmers should make an effort to understand the implications from this research for efficient venison production and to integrate the research findings into their own herd nutritional management.
Correct feeding of fallow deer for venison production may be costly, but underfeeding of fallow does is very much more costly for the deer farmer when the effect of undernutrition on reproductive performance of does and quality of venison carcases from their progeny is properly taken into consideration. If the feeding of many fallow deer breeding herds is not improved, production of venison carcases below market specification weight due to serious but avoidable undernutrition will continue to plague the deer industry and unnecessarily reduce the profitability and apparent viability of deer farming in this country.
RIRDC Publication No 01/095
RIRDC Project No UWS-16A
2001, 149pp - $20 (+$6 postage)
Principal Investigators:
Prof RC Mulley & Dr JS Flesch
Tel (02) 4570 1438*MJME = Megajoules of metabolizable energy, a standard unit for measuring the energy content of animal feeds. This unit includes only that proportion of the total feed energy content which can be used ("metabolised") by the animal for its body maintenance, growth or reproductive purposes, ignoring energy in the feed that is not available to or is not captured in the animal’s body tissues.
Deer Research Advisory Committee:
What does it really do?On the facing page you will find a notice calling for applications for new members of the Deer Research Advisory Committee. Industry participants may be interested to know the types of activities that members of the committee undertake.
The principle role of the advisory committee is to review applications for R&D funding. These applications come from a wide range of people and cover a bewildering range of subjects, from high-tech biotechnology, animal physiology and economics to market research and practical industry based development.
The committee as a whole, although not necessarily every member individually, has to be able to evaluate every application on any subject in a meaningful way and advise the RIRDC Board as to whether the proposal should be funded.
The committee must also husband the industry’s R&D funds by appropriate budget development and control.
This can involve a considerable amount of judgement concerning projected income and demands for expenditure.
Whether a project should be funded will depend on the relevance of the project to agreed deer R&D priorities, past record of the applicants, whether the budget is reasonable for the work proposed, the likelihood of success in achieving stated objectives, whether the development proposed will be adopted by industry, and the relationship of the project to earlier research or research in progress.
The committee needs to have members with a good knowledge of current deer farming and processing issues, particularly factors that are limiting profitability.
But the committee needs more than this. Many project proposals offer the promise of high rewards for the industry if funding is provided. Enthusiastic researchers can generate new ideas at a rapid rate. Sometimes they approach industry participants directly to gain support for their novel ideas. The role of the committee is to examine their proposals realistically in the context of a knowledge of relevant methodology and research in progress elsewhere - not just deer industry priorities.
For example, consider an application to trial a genetically modified rumen protozoan in deer. It is claimed this will improve feed conversion efficiency and growth rate. In the laboratory the modified protozoan has a greater ability to break down cellulose and lignins than field protozoa. The proposal is technically complex but cites several scientific references which are said to provide evidence the idea is sound. How will the committee assess this proposal? Is the aim a priority for the industry? Yes! Is the technology in commercial use in other farm animals similar to deer? No! Do the researchers have the necessary equipment and other resources? Maybe! What experience in this area do the proponents have? (A site visit may be necessary to answer this.) What research is going on in this field in other species in Australia and overseas? What is known about the practicality of this technology? (The references cited in the proposal are no help with this.) The committee is divided on the project.
Fortunately, one member of the committee just happens to know that work in this field has been going on for years in sheep and cattle, without success to date.
The problem is that the modified organisms do not survive in the rumen under field conditions and must be constantly fed to animals which is costly and often impractical. On hearing this, the committee decides the deer industry should wait to see how the work in sheep and cattle progresses before funding a project in deer.
The committee moves on to a proposal to develop a local market for freeze dried deer blood as a health food product. A whole new set of issues to consider is on the table including TGA regulations and biosafety. Know anyone interested in this?
Deer R&D Advisory Committee Meeting
The RIRDC Deer Advisory Committee met in Melbourne on 6th November to consider preliminary proposals for R&D funding for 2001/02 and other business.
Following advice on the current financial situation in the RIRDC Deer Sub-Account from the Research Manager, the committee resolved to plan for an R&D budget of approximately $300,000 in 2001/02. With current project commitments, this will allow about $200,000 for new projects commencing in 2001/02. The committee noted the continuing uncertainty surrounding future levy revenue.
Dr Presidente gave a brief report to the committee on recent progress in the new Project DAV-194A which indicated that work towards the validation of an effective diagnostic test for Johne’s disease in deer is progressing well.
The committee considered twelve preliminary funding applications and recommended to RIRDC that full applications be invited for six of these. The subject areas covered by the six successful preliminary applications include:
The committee also recommended three overseas travel grants to allow for specific Australian deer industry promotion at the World Deer Farming Congress to be held in the United States in 2002. Australia will host the Congress in 2006.
- the communication of technical information to deer farmers,
- optimal weaning procedures for red and fallow deer,
- velvet harvesting techniques,
- development of a decision support system for feeding deer involving assessment of the adequacy of an existing feeding regime by faecal analysis,
- production of a pamphlet about deer velvet for use in point-of-sale marketing,
- an upgrade of the industry’s quality assurance software, and
- an investigation of the effect of velvet antler on performance of racing greyhounds.
RIRDC Deer R&D Advisory Committee The Committee is the key point for allocating the industry levy funds and oversighting progress on the funded projects. The Committee consists of:
- A Chair, approved by the RIRDC Board.
Some knowledge of the deer industry is highly desirable.
- Four Members nominated by the DIAA and approved by the RIRDC Managing Director. These Committee members will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: - commodity production, processing or marketing; - the conservation or management of natural resources; - science technology or technology transfer; - economics or social sciences; - the administration or research and development; and - finance or business management.
Two vacancies fall due in early 2002.
- The RIRDC Program Manager.
Send your application to: Managing Director, RIRDC PO Box 4776, KINGSTON ACT 2604
Details on the Deer Program are at the RIRDC website at www.rirdc.gov.au/programs/deer.html
Applications due Friday 15 February 2002
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