ADSS 2022 special edition

It brings us great pleasure to present this special edition of Animal Production Science which contains a selection of invited and offered papers that were presented at the 2022 Australasian Dairy Science Symposium (ADSS). This symposium was held on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland between 29 November and 2 December 2022. The ADSS is the largest gathering of dairy scientists in the southern hemisphere and has a unique focus on pastoral dairy systems. The 2022 symposium was the first time in the history of the ADSS that the meeting has been held in Queensland. Consequently, to introduce many of the delegates to the unique and diverse approaches to dairy production in subtropical Queensland, a field tour was added to the program in addition to 3 days of the presentations of papers. The symposium also provided an opportunity to acknowledge the significant contributions of three individual dairy scientists though the ‘Lifetime Contribution to Dairy Science’ award. These were:

The theme of the 2022 ADSS was a Changing Climate for Dairy Science. This theme not only had direct relevance to the imminent climate-based challenges faced by the Australian and New Zealand dairy industries, but broader emerging and existing challenges to the dairy operating environment in terms of competition from plant-based alternatives to animal protein, attracting and retaining staff on dairy farms, social licence and community expectations and maximising efficiencies in the use of inputs and resources. Consequently the organising committee (Omar Al Marashdeh, Lincoln University; Kevin Argyle, Dairy Australia; Martin Auldist, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources Victoria; David Barber, DairyNEXT; Racheal Bryant, Lincoln University; Paul Cheng, University of Melbourne; Kristy DiGiacomo, University of Melbourne; Danny Donaghy, Massey University; Callum Eastwood, DairyNZ; Sergio Garcia, University of Sydney; Brad Granzin, Subtropical Dairy; James Hills, University of Tasmania; Sabrina Lomax, University of Sydney; David Pacheco, AgResearch NZ; Keith Pembleton, University of Southern Queensland; John Penry, Dairy Australia; John Roche, Ministry of Primary Industries NZ; Nicole Steele, DairyNZ; Bruce Thorrold, DairyNZ) invited a series of papers from prominent dairy scientists that covered the recent science that is developing solutions for these challenges. These have been supplemented by a selection of offered papers from the symposium. These were selected based on their fit within the scope of the symposium theme along with the novelty, innovation and quality of the science presented.

This special issue includes topic areas covering dairy cattle welfare under a changing climate (Jago et al. 2024), extension and adoption pathways for recent dairy science (Nettle et al. 2024; Eastwood et al. 2024), impacts of heat stress on dairy production (Talukder et al. 2024), the response of grazing dairy cows to supplementary feeding (Raedts and Hills 2024), the use of mid-infrared spectroscopy in artificial breeding strategies (Newton et al. 2024), the impact of overwintering on forage crops on the growth of heifers (Woods et al. 2024), cow behaviour under novel milking schedules (Hall et al. 2024) and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from dairy systems (Munidasa et al. 2024).

The ADSS sincerely thanks all authors who contributed to this special issue and the anonymous reviewers who worked very diligently to ensure and enhance the quality of each paper. We also thank Callum Eastwood, James Hills, and Keith Pembleton who guest edited this issue. Finally, we thank and acknowledge our sponsors Dairy Australia, DairyNZ, Subtropical Dairy, Jefo, Lallemand Animal Nutrition, Queensland Government, Ministry of Primary Industries New Zealand, Feedworks, Lely and Bega for their support.

MAJOR SPONSORS

CONFERENCE SPONSOR

CONFERENCE DINNER SPONSOR

COFFEE CART SPONSOR

FIELD TRIP SPONSOR

SESSION SPONSOR

LANYARD SPONSOR

CONFERENCE SUPPORTERS