An international expert in free-stall and compost design, Ms Halbach runs the Dairyland Initiative at the University of Wisconsin.
The Dairyland Initiative provides welfare-friendly recommendations and lameness prevention tools. She is particularly passionate about calf and cow barn design, positive tube ventilation systems and automatic milking systems.
Ms Halbach is one of a number of speakers at the symposium session to discuss on-farm intensification.
Foundation director and symposium organiser, Professor Yani Garcia, said intensification was a hot topic in the Australian dairy industry.
“Courtney will be attending the symposium in person and will be joined by Dairy UP researchers and Australian farmers who are either considering or already taking the intensification path,” he said.
“It promises to be a very interesting session, where we’ll hear the pros, cons and costs of intensification as well as keys to success.”
The session includes dairy farmers Colin Thompson and Simon Scowen, with consultant Professor Ian Lean from SciBus, Sheena Carter from NSW DPI and Karen Romano from Dairy Australia.
Mr Thompson owns and operates Silvermere Holsteins at Cowra, milking 320 cows three times a day. The herd has been housed in a free-stall barn since 2011 and produces five million litres a year.
Mr Scowen manages Manning Valley Dairy, at Wingham. The family-run corporate business is investigating installing a compost barn to house the 800-cow herd.
Ms Carter will report on a Dairy UP project that undertook an economic analysis of seven NSW dairy farms with intensive systems.
Prof Lean will report on early findings from a Dairy UP project investigating ways to lift cow productivity in intensive systems.
Prof Garcia said he was excited to be able to bring together such a dynamic series of speakers on this very important topic.
“The combination of farmers and technical experts will create a lively discussion on how research findings apply in the real world,” he said.
The symposium will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15 and 16 at Forster, NSW.
To register, visit https://drfsymposium.eventbrite.com.au and for more information contact Kirsty Jaensch on (02) 4601 8823 or kirsty.jaensch@sydney.edu.au
