Breeding guide to help improve herd profitability
DairyCo's breeding briefs, a guide to genetic indexes in dairy cattle, has been launched, writes DairyCo technical extension officer Andy Dodd.
It identifies the tools of genetic improvement, so farmers can make better breeding decisions. The guide concentrates on the theory and provides tips on using breeding tools in practice and helps to pinpoint which figures to seek out and prioritise.
High quality cattle are at the heart of profitable dairy farming. It isn't just about genetics for milk production. It's also about health, welfare, management and type traits, each one of which can make an important contribution to profitability and all can be improved through breeding.
A series of poor breeding decisions can mean the difference between profit and loss; even between a business's survival and failure. Yet the time, cost and effort needed for a good breeding decision to be made is much the same as those needed for a bad one.
Even more important is the fact that breeding decisions are cumulative. Their effects build up over the generations, such that a problem can be introduced or cured over just a few years through the breeding choices made. Although most people are familiar with genetic indexes for milk, fat and protein, it's a common misconception that indexes only relate to production. Genetic indexes are far more and their application for non-production traits is becoming increasingly important in today's health and welfare conscious society.
In measuring an animal's genetic merit and assigning it a genetic index, every effort is made to disregard the effects of its environment and to strip all of its performance down to the bare genetics. This means that a 12,000-litre cow from a high input system can be compared with one in an extensive herd averaging 6,000 litres. Equally, bulls whose daughters are milking in different production systems can also be fairly compared.
Before we had genetic indexes we had no way of fairly making such comparisons.
DairyCo's Breeding+ programme improves your herd's profitability through better genetics. You set your own realistic breeding goals, understand your herd's strengths and weaknesses, and understand how to use all the tools available.
DairyCo's breeding briefs, a guide to genetic indexes in dairy cattle, can be downloaded and requested by post from www.dairyco.org.uk
