Research interests

• Improving the efficiency of water used in the agricultural landscape, particularly of forages used in dairy industry.
• Increasing dairy farm profitability and sustainability.
• Dynamics of water and nutrients in the soil profile as impacted by different crop and pasture systems.
• Integration of simulation models to optimise resource allocation in the dairy industry.
• Increasing forage production and utilisation on dairy farms.
• Improving dairy cow nutrition in pasture based systems.
• Reducing the incidence lameness on dairy farms, particularly its negative affects on dairy cow productivity and health.

Background

James Neal is a research scientist with the NSW Department of Primary Industries, involved in improving the profitability of dairy farming systems. 

In one of the largest irrigated forage evaluations ever undertaken, James is investigating the water use efficiency, dry matter yield and nutrient content of 30 forages commonly used in Australian dairy industry. The data collected will be used for modeling purposes to determine the optimum allocation of forages which will maximize dairy farm profitability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor Agricultural Science
  First class Honours, University of Adelaide 1996

Current projects

• Evaluating the productivity and water use efficiency of dairy forages. 
• Determining the relative profitability of forage options used in the dairy industry.

Recent Publications

Neal M, Neal J, Fulkerson WF (2007) Choosing the best forage species for a dairy farm: the whole-farm approach. Journal of dairy science 90: 3044-3059

Fulkerson WJ, Neal JS, Clark CF, Horadagoda A, Nandra KS, Barchia I (2007) Nutritive value of forage species grown in the warm temperate climate of Australia for dairy cows: grasses and legumes. Livestock science 107: 253-264

Neal JS, Greenwood KL, de Ruiter JM (2007) Water use efficiency, productivity and profitability-how do forages compare? Proceeding 2007 Dairy Science Conference, Melbourne, Australia

Neal J, Fulkerson WJ, Neal M, Lawrie R, Nandra K (2007) Criteria for choosing forages in the Australian dairy industry. Proceeding of the recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia 2007 conference, Armidale, Australia 163

Neal M, Neal JS, Fulkerson W (2006) Choosing the best forage species for a dairy farm - The whole-farm approach. Journal of Animal Science 84: 281-281

Neal JS, Fulkerson WS, Greenwood K (2006) Forage production and water use efficiency of 30 species used in the Australian dairy industry. Journal of Animal Science 84: 255-255

Neal J, Fulkerson W, Nandra K (2006) Development of a more suitable forage base for the Dairy Industry. Proceedings of the 6th Triennial Maize Conference, Water to Gold, Griffith, Australia 6: 301-307

Neal J, Fulkerson W, Greenwood K (2005) How crops and pastures respond to water stress. Proceedings of the Interdrought II, The 2nd international conference on integrated approaches to sustain and improve plant production under drought stress, Rome, Italy. 2: 347

Neal J, Fulkerson WRL, Greenwood K (2005) Water use efficiency of 30 forages grown under optimal and suboptimal irrigation. Proceedings of the WUEMED Workshop, Improving water use efficiency in Mediterranean agriculture, Rome, Italy. 20

Neal J, Fulkerson WRL, Nandra K, Beale P, Kingston H, Sutton B, Campbell L (2004) Development of a more suitable forage base for the Dairy Industry. Proceedings of the World Dairy Summit, Melbourne, Australia. 137-138

Neal J, Fulkerson WRL, Nandra K, Beale P, Kingston H, Sutton B, Campbell L (2004) Measuring the water use efficiency of dairy forages. Proceedings of the Third Australian/ New Zealand Soils Conference, Sydney, Australia 3: 89

Professional associations and activities

• Member American Dairy Science Association
• Member International Grasslands Society

Fields of Research

• 040603 Hydrogeology
• 070306 Crop and Pasture Nutrition 
• 070302 Agronomy   
• 070301 Agro-ecosystem Function and Prediction
• 070304 Crop and Pasture Biomass and Bioproducts
• 070399 Crop and Pasture Production (not elsewhere classified)
• 070206 Animal Reproduction   
• 070204 Animal Nutrition   
• 079901 Applied Hydrology (Drainage, Flooding, Irrigation, Quality, etc.)
• 140201 Agricultural Economics

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Keyword/phrase list of research interests

• Agronomy
• Soil water dynamics
• Water use efficiency
• Forage production and utilisation
• Animal nutrition
• Animal health
• Profitability