Earlier this month, the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) offices in China and Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEA&O) collaborated to host its Second Dairy Management Summit Asia in Jinan, China. The joint initiative fostered networking opportunities for participants from both regions and allowed SEA attendees the chance to visit a state-of-the-art dairy farm to help grow their operations.
The summit focused on dairy farm managers from China and SEA operating commercial farms with at least 3,000 cows and covered topics including nutrition, general farm management and animal husbandry techniques.
“Powdered milk continues to dominate Asian markets due to the limited availability of high-quality fresh milk. As demand for fresh milk rises, opportunities for local dairies will expand but producers face obstacles like restricted access to efficient feed,” said Caleb Wurth, USGC regional director for SEA&O.
“The Council aims to address these challenges by promoting better management practices like integrating more efficient feeding formulas that add distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).”
More than 80 participants attended the two-day event that began with an overview of global dairy markets, the importance of herd genetics and the impact of high-protein DDGS in cattle diets. In the afternoon, attendees split into groups for more specific educational sessions focused on their needs.
The next day, the group toured an advanced dairy facility, examining all aspects of its production process including breeding, feed formulations, milking and storage to learn how to enhance milk yields.
“After a successful conference, it’s important for us to now stay in contact with participants and continue offering technical support to improve feed formulas and reduce input costs with U.S. DDGS,” Wurth said.
“Incorporating DDGS can be a win-win by raising market demand for U.S. products and improving the quality and availability of dairy products in China and SEA.”
Learn more about the Council’s work in DDGS here.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.