CIEL | Total Dairy: The Event that Delivers Global Perspectives Across Dairy
Dr Annie Williams
Total Dairy was a combination of interactive workshops, world-class research presentations and panel discussions. The conference which runs every year aims to bring people together from across the dairy sector.
It was great to see so many CIEL members, including Lallemand, Boehringer Ingleheim, MSD and Cargill hosting talks during the conference.
The quality of speakers was excellent with topics ranging from consumer trends, to animal health, to in-depth nutrition talks on the latest developments in research findings.
Here are some of the highlights from this year’s show:
The demand for dairy
There was lots of discussion around the topic of consumer buying patterns for dairy products and alternatives was widely debated.
Most presenters agreed that there is still a high demand for dairy products, while the demand for alternatives is declining. In one of the panel sessions, it was suggested that we could gain insights on how to better market dairy products by examining how the alternatives market brands their products. This is because the way they brand their products has a strong influence on customer buying habits.
Developments in nutrition
If you’re a nutrition enthusiast, like myself, there are some important takeaways from the latest developments in our understanding of fibre digestibility and degradability in dairy cows. This will have an impact on the way we ration certain silages, especially this year when silage neutral detergent fibre (NDF) is extremely variable.
There have also been some significant developments in protein nutrition, particularly in relation to youngstock and their amino acid balance requirements. Additionally, there have been numerous discussions around efficiency in dairy cows and the tools we have available to drive efficiency.
Sharing expertise
CIEL also presented a poster created by Dr Bethan John on our latest thought leadership reports; “Why nitrogen matter in livestock production” and “Why protein quality matters in livestock production” and it was a great opportunity to be able to speak to delegates from across the dairy industry about these two topics.
Dr Annie Williams, Business Development Manager
Annie is the first-point of contact for existing CIEL Members and for bringing new Members on board who are focussed on collaborative research. She’s on hand to help Members identify new funding opportunities, build partnerships around those opportunities, and transform ideas into active projects. Annie’s valuable combination of commercial and research experience is matched by her enthusiasm for driving the livestock industry forward.
