Genetics Australia marks decades of improvement
ROBERT Noble was 15 years old when his father chaired the foundation meeting of an artificial breeding co-operative in Victoria.
ROBERT Noble was 15 years old when his father chaired the foundation meeting of an artificial breeding co-operative in Victoria.
The government supported the foundation of a co-operative and the Boisdale dairy farmer said his father, Murray, “almost lived and breathed” herd improvement and artificial breeding.
“He had always been interested in cattle breeding. Maffra was one of the leading lights in the early part (of artificial breeding),” Robert said.
“In 1956 there was an AI centre started in Maffra, two years before (Victorian Artificial Breeders).”
Robert’s father was also on the first board of VAB, the artificial breeding co-operative that became Genetics Australia in 1994.
Tonight and tomorrow Genetics Australia will celebrate 60 years with a dinner and open day.
Robert, with his son Stuart and grandson Andrew still farm at Boisdale, adjacent to his father’s property, milking 650 cows across two farms.
Like his father, Robert has maintained a commercial focus and concentrates on achieving the maximum return per cow.
“We’ve only ever, in that time, used one bull that wasn’t a Genetics Australia bull,” he said.
Robert said they like how bulls are proven in Australian conditions and for the past 20 years they have used progeny test, suggesting they are the “latest and greatest” most of the time, semen and focused on a “big spread of bulls”. The Nobles’ herd includes Friesian, Aussie Red and Jersey.
In north east Victoria, at Kergunyah, four generations of the Wallace family have been associated with, and used bulls from, both Genetics Australia and VAB.
Sandy and wife Noelene still live in the farm which milks 320 cows, but it’s managed by their son Cameron, wife Lenore and their son Ryan.
Sandy believes “if you are going to spend time milking cows, they should be the best possible standard”.
“The introduction of genomics, herd health and type and the detailed data available is a great asset in helping to choose particular bulls to suit your requirements,” he said.
“As we were community minded people, we embraced the concept of a herd improvement co-operative. It still fulfils this role.”
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