Rennylea Research
Rennylea has always collaborated with research organisations to contribute to industry knowledge.
Historic Research
Over 20 years we participated in 3 Beef CRCs from 1992 to 2012, the Trans Tasman Maternal Productivity Project from 2013 - 2017 and more recently short term projects to answer specific questions, with other research institutes.
After the adoption of genomics in 2015 we carried out a research project with the CSIRO through their Innovations Connection programme to investigate the effect of adopting genomics in the herd. We collaborated with a geneticist and data scientist to analyse the benefits of introducing wide scale genomic testing into the Rennylea herd. This gave us the confidence to implement genomic tesacross the herd including all bull and heifer calves.
We followed up with a project with the University of Adelaide with Prof. Wayne Pitchford and Dr. Stephen Lees looking to incorporate MSA indicies from commercial clients into our Breedplan data base and decision making. Given there are 3.2 million carcases are graded each year through Meat Standards Australia, the large amount of data harvested is a massive opportunity for genetic selection.
Current Research
In 2019 a Dung Beetle Ecosystems Engineers project was established at Rennylea, funded by Meat and Livestock Australia. The project is managed by a team at Charles Sturt University led by Professor Lesley Watson and Dr. Russell Barrow. Preliminary findings are very encouraging with the range of active dung beetle species having increased from 4 to 13 throughout the year since 2003.
The aim of the project is to study the activity of dung beetles through the year, release and study some new varieties from Morocco and France and see if various farming practices help or hinder the establishment of the beetles.
We are constantly on the lookout for partners to work with and opportunities to add value for our commercial clients.
