2020 Salute to Dairy

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 CELEBRATING OUR LOCAL DAIRY INDUSTRY | 9
NUNES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
ers can make better informed
management decisions
and create a more
accurate inventory of
their herd.
A genomics mating program
allows producers
to make more accurate
mating decisions, Nunes
noted, and also guides decisions
on which calves to
keep and raise into their
herd.
“Typically, when people
are starting out they will
want to test their breeding
age heifers,” she said. “After
that, people test their
calves when they are born.
That way they know which
ones they want to raise.”
A sound genetics program
is absolutely essential
to a successful program,
Nunes emphasized,
and genomics provide information
not previously
available.
You can have two cows
that look identical, but one
will produce more milk on
less feed. You can’t tell
that by looking at them,”
she explained. With genomics,
she said, “if you
have two heifers you can
figure which one is going
to make you money and
which one is not. You either
have a good cow or
you don’t. There is no gray
area.”
The ultimate goal, she
said, is to help producers
be more productive and efficient.
“We need to make our
cows produce more using
less resources,” Nunes
stated.
Nunes, who graduated
with a degree in ag communications
with a minor
in dairy science, said she
was planning a career in
marketing and communications
when the opportunity
to join the genetics
firm came about.
“I never saw myself doing
genetics. I ended up
really loving it,” she commented.
“I took a couple
of genetics courses in college,
but I am very much
a hands-on person. I didn’t
learn as much as I did
when I started this job.”
Nunes works with dairy
producers in California
and a number of other
western states.
Her own roots in the industry
give her valuable
perspective into the challenges
facing dairy producers.
“I’m a dairy farmer’s
daughter. I know that
dairymen in these tough
times are always looking
for the next step to make
them more profitable,”
Nunes remarked.
Nunes, a 2014 Gustine
High graduate, is the
daughter of Alfred and
Lucy Nunes.
Her involvement in
dairy judging took her
across the nation as a
member of teams from
Modesto Junior College
and Ohio State - where she
was president of the Buckeye
Dairy Club.
At Gustine High, Nunes
was part of the FFA team
that placed first in California
and second in the nation,
earning a trip to compete
at an international
show in Scotland.
“I have been around
cows my whole life,” she
said. “It was the dairy
judging that kind of led
me to the next phase of
my life.”
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