To strengthen and modernize the local dairy industry, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) hosted a knowledge sharing event on calf rearing and management on March 10, 2026 at Los Baños, Laguna. The event convened Filipino and Australian dairy experts, researchers, and cooperative leaders to address two critical challenges facing smallholder dairy farmers: standardizing calf-rearing practices and managing inconsistent feeding practices.
The activity is part of the project, “Evaluate the Opportunities and Constraints for Growth of Smallholder Dairy Value Chains in the Philippines,” funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). According to Ms. Meliza F. Abeleda, Officer-In-Charge of DOST-PCAARRD’s Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD), feed management remains the largest cost driver in the dairy value chains. Farmers often experience feed shortages during the dry season, and many have limited land to plant forage crops. Moreover, reports show that farmers expressed difficulties with doing feed calculations and ration formulation. This leads to improper feeding and inconsistent dairy production.
Another important issue identified by the PhilDairy project is that proper feeding requires calculations and ration formulation, which many farmers find difficult to apply in practice. This led to the development of Feed and Nutrition 101, a customized training program specifically designed for smallholder dairy farmers. The PhilDairy project is planning to make this training program available in the PCAARRD Advanced Learning Management System (PALMS), once the initial set of training in Southern Luzon and Northern Mindanao is completed.
Feed and Nutrition 101 is delivered in modular form, covering key aspects of dairy cattle nutrition. The last module focuses on the feed calculator, which serves as a decision-support tool to help farmers determine appropriate feed rations. Ms. Abeleda emphasized that the PhilDairy Feed Calculator is envisioned to equip farmers and farm advisors with a practical, easy-to-use tool that takes the complexity out of feeding decisions to help increase farm productivity and profitability goals. The calculator will be available for public use once the patent has been processed.
The Feed and Nutrition 101 was complemented with a Farm Business Management module to help farmers develop profitable dairy enterprises. Farmers were trained on record keeping and monthly farm financial analysis. These results are shared with the farmers during discussions and farm visits so they can better understand the performance of their enterprises.
While the primary focus has been on feeding and nutrition, the PhilDairy project also recognized that herd management practices greatly influence farm productivity and business outcomes. One important area is calf rearing, which affects the long-term productivity and sustainability of dairy herds. For this reason, calf rearing has been included as a special topic in the project’s work with farmers. Dr. Antonio A. Rayos presented the current calf-rearing practices in the Philippines, providing a grounded view of the current state of young stock management in the country. This was followed by Dr. David McGill of the Central Queensland University, who shared lessons from his work with dairy cattle farmers in Pakistan, highlighting the importance of colostrum in early calf development. Ms. Sheena Carter of the DPI-NSW then discussed Australian calf-rearing best practices, emphasizing their long-term economic benefits for farmers. Drawing from international practices and local conditions, forum participants collectively identified key adaptations suitable for smallholder dairy cattle farming in the Philippines. These insights will support the development of a standardized Calf Rearing Module to be integrated into the ongoing Feed and Nutrition 101 training series.
In the afternoon session, Mr. John Cedrix Zara, the main developer of the Feed Calculator from DOST-PCAARRD, presented the tool. This science-based tool aims to be a practical decision-support instrument for the smallholder dairy cattle farmers. This is created to directly respond to the farmers’ expressed need for a simpler and more accessible way to manage feeding decisions despite the uncertainty in feed supplies. Prior to the calculator’s development, farmers had long depended on trial-and-error feeding with limited technical capacity to target outcomes, specifically on farm profitability. The PhilDairy Feed Calculator will address the gap by guiding farmers and farm advisors toward a recommended feeding plan based on defined targets for milk productivity and profitability. The successful introduction of the PhilDairy Feed Calculator to dairy cattle experts and cooperative leaders marks a major milestone for the project, as it now stands ready for improvements and possible scaling-out strategies. The event concluded with an open discussion facilitated by Dr. David McGill and Dr. Amy Bates on dissemination strategies and future directions. Dr. McGill highlighted that combining locally grounded calf-rearing practices with international expertise and digital decision-support tools represents a significant step toward a more productive Philippine dairy sector.