Australian Jersey genetics were highlighted last week at the world’s largest dairy expo with hopes that sales into North America could grow ten-fold.
Jersey Australia general manager Glen Barrett said a joint trade site in 2022 had shown the possibilities for Australian Jerseys.
“The North American market is a potential 100,000 straw-a-year opportunity for Australian Jerseys but we’re lucky to get 10,000 in there at the moment,” Mr Barrett said.
“Australian Jerseys are well regarded as the best Jerseys in the world. They have good depth and width, good feet and legs and good capacity to perform in America. The biggest challenge we have in the North American market is that they don’t score well on the breeding values and the only way to fix that is to get more data in the system.”
Mr Barrett said the 2022 expo mission had set a good grounding for more export success. “Last year’s trade mission identified that there is a viable market and we need to continue to support and encourage that opportunity and bridge the divide in getting product into the marketplace.”
Genetics Australia (GA) export manager Rob Derksen said last year’s delegation had opened doors for local genetics and a GA new joint venture will create more opportunities this year.
“There was genuine interest in Australian genetics and all of the parties involved in last year’s delegation have since exported semen to the US,” Mr Derksen said.
“We’ve had recent enquiries from Jersey US about another of our bulls, Bigtop, after flyers were distributed at the expo, and we’ve recently sent semen to Canada from him and ASKN. ASKN has been widely exported throughout North America and has been mated to several very high-profile cows.”
This was also the first GA visit to the US since the start of a joint venture with global herd improvement leader URUS Group LP, including the GENEX co-operative.
“We met with GENEX for the first time in the US since the start of the joint venture to discuss opportunities for Australian Jerseys and Australian genetics in general,” Mr Derksen said.
“There are a lot of international visitors to World Dairy Expo, particularly from Latin America, and our new partnership with URUS and GENEX will create more opportunities for our genetics.”
Agri-Gene general manager Chris McIlroy said the 2022 visit had been worthwhile and had prompted more interest in Australian genetics from the US and other countries.
“I think it’s good to have another follow-up,” Mr McIlroy said. “We need to continue to promote Australian Jerseys and Australian genetics in general to the rest of the world.”
Mr McIlroy said demand for high quality Australian Jerseys was growing throughout the world.
“In the US, Jerseys have been crossed with Holsteins and other breeds so Australia provides a good option for more pure Jersey genetics, and our grazing genetics also appeal,” he said.
Mr McIlroy added that Agri-Gene was a distributor for many other countries and benefitted from seeing clients in the one location at the expo.
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