Genomic
Selection in the works for the red breeds in Denmark,
Sweden and Finland
It is expected that the
first results from genomic selection on the three red breeds: Finnish Ayrshire
(FAY), Swedish Red and White Cattle (SRB) and Danish Red (RDM), will be ready
in the middle of July 2009. The genomic analysis is going as planned. The
necessary blood- and semen samples to set the animal base have been collected
and are analysed now and the following months with thousands of genetic
markers, 50 k. The three breeds are first being analysed individually.
Afterwards it will be analysed if the genetic ties between the Nordic red
breeds can be used, so that genomic breeding values can be calculated for all
three breeds when selecting young sires for the future. The genomic selected
bulls in VikingGenetics are marketed as GenVik.
VikingGenetics bulls at the
top
The organisation, that
calculates breeding values in Canada,
CDN (Canadian Dairy Network), wrote in relation to publicising the latest
breeding values: “Peterslund and B Jurist lead the Ayrshire Breed”. In the same
article the top 5 Ayrshire bulls for LPI (Canadian total merit) were shown as
below:
1. Peterslund +3228
2. B Jurist +2863
3. T Bruno +2741
4. Jupiter (B Jurist) +2561
5. Edmour (B Jurist) +2268
CDN also states that 52 out
of the top 100 cows for LPI are either out of Peterslund or B Jurist. On top of
that 5 of the 10 best Ayrshire bulls that Semex are marketing are sired by
VikingGenetics bulls.
Ten Minnesota
dairies enrolled in crossbreeding study
Amy Hazel and Les Hansen, University
of Minnesota
The University
of Minnesota has initiated a
crossbreeding study including more than 10,000 dairy cows over an 8-year period
in 10 commercial dairies in Minnesota. The project will compare pure Holsteins to crossbreds
in a 3-breed rotational system using the Holstein,
Montbeliarde, and Swedish Red breeds.
The objective of the study
is to compare the profitability of crossbred dairy cattle with pure Holsteins,
which currently comprise more than 90% of the dairy cows in the U.S. Only pure Holsteins
will be initially enrolled in the project as foundation cattle, and 4185 heifers
and cows have been committed to the study across the 10 dairies. Approximately 40% of the foundation pure Holsteins will continue to be bred to Holstein A.I. bulls
in successive generations across the years of the study. The other roughly 60% of the foundation
heifers and cows will be mated to Montbeliarde or Swedish Red AI bulls – exactly
one half of heifers and cows to bulls from each of the two European breeds.
The 10 dairies are
located throughout Minnesota and among the top
managed dairies in Minnesota. All dairies have milked some crossbred cows with
great satisfaction, and their success with crossbred cows in their dairies sparked
their interest in participating in the project.
The 10 dairies range in size from 250 to 1620 cows.
These dairies are among
the best in Minnesota
for production and reproductive management (see table that follows). However, collectively, these dairies are near
the Minnesota
average for stillbirth rate, death rate, and turnover rate – all three of which
have a huge impact on profitability of dairying.
Why are these top dairies
interested in crossbreeding? After all, generally
speaking, they are satisfied with the average production and reproduction of
cows in their dairies. The explanation
is the owners/mangers of these dairies believe their current performance for
calving difficulty, stillbirth, health disorders, death of cows, and survival
of cows needs substantial improvement to boost profitability. Also, many of these dairies achieve superior production
and reproduction at considerable expense in labor and other inputs. Crossbreeding provides a breeding system that
should result in reduced labor requirements and less treatment of individual
cows for health disorders.
Crossbreeding in dairy
cattle has gained the interest of commercial dairy producers globally because
of heterosis (also called hybrid vigor), which is the advantage expressed for traits
above the average of the parent breeds when animals of different breeds are
crossed. Although most livestock
industries have embraced crossbreeding for many years, dairy producers have not
done so until recently. Over the past 20
years, deficiencies in fertility, health, and survival of pure Holsteins have resulted from selection against body
condition but for larger body size, in addition to heavy selection for milk
production. Besides this, inbreeding
continues to mount in the global Holstein
breed, and inbreeding has been documented to reduce the fertility and health of
all farm animals.
This research is a
follow-up to a field study with 7 cooperating dairies in California,
which compared pure Holsteins and crossbreds of Holstein
with Normande, Montbeliarde, and Scandinavian Red. The California
study ignored data for health traits, which will be emphasized in the new
study. Furthermore, the new Minnesota
study is likely to confirm results from the California study, which showed major
advantages of crossbreds compared to pure Holsteins for calving difficulty,
stillbirth, fertility, and survival, with little, if any, loss of production.
This study is funded by
five internationally-recognized genetics organizations: Coopex
Montbeliarde, France;
Viking Genetics, Denmark
and Sweden; Creative
Genetics of California; Minnesota Select Sires; and Select Sires, Inc. of Ohio. Professor Les Hansen and Junior Scientist Amy
Hazel enrolled the 10 cooperating dairies in the new study between April and
September of 2008.
|
Average
number of cows, production, somatic cell count, fertility, stillbirth rate,
death rate, and turnover rate for the 10 dairies in the crossbreeding study
at initiation.
|
|
Trait
|
Average of dairies
|
Standard deviation
|
|
Number of
cows in dairy
|
677
|
382
|
|
Milk (lb)
|
27178 (12328
kg)
|
2220 (1007
kg)
|
|
Fat (lb)
|
985 (447 kg)
|
95 (43 kg)
|
|
Protein
(lb)
|
822 (373 kg)
|
68 (31 kg)
|
|
Somatic
cell count (in 1,000’s)
|
289
|
92
|
|
Days open
(days)
|
137
|
10.8
|
|
Services
per conception
|
2.6
|
0.2
|
|
Calving
interval (months)
|
13.7
|
0.4
|
|
Stillbirth
rate (%)
|
9.2
|
4.2
|
|
Death
rate (%)
|
8.6
|
1.6
|
|
Turnover
rate (%)
|
35
|
8.4
|
22. januar 2009
National Show in Denmark
National Show will be held 2. - 4. July 2009 in Herning. There will be app. 150 Danish Red Dairy cows.
22. januar 2009
Survival of crossbreds versus pure Holsteins
from calving to first observation for
milk recording
and during the first 305 days of first
lactation
Brad
Heins and Les Hansen
University of Minnesota
Survival from calving to first
observation of milk recording was compared for crossbreds versus pure Holsteins
that calved for the 1st time in 6 California dairies. Cows calved for the 1st
time from
June 2002 to January 2005, and these cows continue to
be also gauged for production, fertility, and other traits. A 7th dairy in the broader study
of California
dairies participated
in the whole-herd buy-out program (although heifers were retained to continue
dairying); therefore, cows from that dairy were removed from the analyses of
survival.
The percentage of 416 pure Holstein and 1075 crossbred cows that died or were culled
in the 6 dairies during first lactation are in the table that follows. Death rate, culling rate, and total removal
rates reflect the actual percentage of cows that left the 6 dairies prior to
first observation for milk recording and up to the 305th day of
lactation. The difference of crossbreds
and pure Holsteins was statistically
significant in all cases.
|
Percentage
of cows that were removed prior to first observation for milk recording and
during the first 305 days of first lactation.
|
|
|
|
Prior to first
milk recording
|
|
Calving to 305th
day
|
|
Breed
|
Number of cows
|
Died
|
Culled
|
Total removed
|
|
Died
|
Culled
|
Total removed
|
|
|
|
------------ (%)
------------
|
|
------------ (%)
------------
|
|
Pure
Holstein
|
416
|
3.6
|
5.0
|
8.7
|
|
5.3
|
10.6
|
15.9
|
|
All
Crossbreds
|
1075
|
0.9
|
1.7
|
2.6
|
|
1.7
|
5.7
|
7.4
|
|
Normande/Holstein
|
251
|
0.8
|
2.8
|
3.6
|
|
1.2
|
8.4
|
9.6
|
|
Montbeliarde/Holstein
|
503
|
1.0
|
1.4
|
2.4
|
|
2.0
|
5.0
|
7.0
|
|
Scandinavian
Red/Holstein
|
321
|
0.9
|
1.2
|
2.2
|
|
1.6
|
4.7
|
6.2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Death
Only 10 of 1075 crossbred cows
(0.9%) died prior to first observation for milk recording, however, 15 of 416
pure Holsteins (3.6%) died prior to first
observation for milk recording.
Furthermore, 18 of 1075 crossbred cows (1.7%) compared to 22 of 416 pure
Holstein cows (5.3%) died during the first 305
days of first lactation.
Total removals
More crossbreds remained in
these dairies than pure Holsteins, with only 2.6% of crossbreds removed (died
or culled) before first observation for milk recording compared to 8.7% of pure
Holsteins.
In other words, pure Holsteins were 3
times more likely than crossbreds to die or be culled in these dairies before
the first observation for milk recording.
Also, only 7.4% of the crossbred cows versus 15.9% of the pure Holsteins in these dairies were removed by the 305th
day of first lactation.
Interpretation for the industry
With replacement
heifers valued at more than $2,000 in the U.S.
in recent years, the 6.1% difference (8.7% pure Holsteins
minus 2.6% crossbreds) in first-calf heifers lost after calving but prior to
first observation for milk recording has huge financial implications for
profitability of dairying.
Cows lacking a production record
are excluded from genetic evaluation in the U.S. for productive life (PL). Consequently, cows that die or are culled
before the first observation for milk recording are also excluded in those
genetic evaluations. Therefore, the
transmitting ability (PTA) for a bull for PL might be under-estimated or
over-estimated based on daughters that did or didn’t survive to first
observation for milk recording. Perhaps,
editing of data for genetic evaluation for PL and Net Merit (NM$) should be
altered to include cows that do not survive to first observation for milk
recording to more accurately reflect the true survival of daughters.
Under-reporting of death rates
by USDA
Additionally, death rates of
cows during first lactation would be higher than is often reported, especially
by AIPL of USDA, if cows that died prior to first observation for milk
recording were included in data files.
Accurate and complete data is essential to provide dairy producers with
information that fully represents the dairy cattle population.
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