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Archive – Page 3

Are Dairy Cattle Shows Holding Us Back?

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Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

Dairy cattle shows started out as a breed awareness tool. They then became an improvement tool. More recently they primarily function as a marketing opportunity for breeders and a training process for youth. Today many breeders are thinking that shows have gone beyond their best before date and are not serving a purpose for the vast majority of dairypersons. Let’s talk about show standards and show procedures.

Show Standards

The following standards may need revision or rethinking:

Stature: The show ring has moved to the stage where an animal must be extremely tall to place near the top at state, provincial or national shows. (Read more: Are Today’s Holstein Cows Too Tall? And 15 Strength Sires That Will Still Fit In Your Stalls) Often there are very high classifying cows, which are 58 to 62 inches tall, down the line that have high gTPI’s. In heifer classes the requirement for excessive stature is even more evident. From a spectator perspective, there appears to be a 25% emphasis placed on stature in the show ring that has a 5% weight in the scorecard. This over-emphasis is being challenged by many lifetime profit improvement focused breeders.
Mobility: Recently some judges have been placing emphasis on how an animal walks. That’s a good thing. Could we take this one step further and have judges designate the best in class for mobility, just like they do for best udder? (Read more: Mobility – The Achilles Heel of Every Breeding Program and Cow Mobility: One Step Forward or Two Steps Back?)
Maturity: As I listen to judges’ reasons for heifer and young cow classes I hear comments that one animal is placed over another for depth of fore or rear rib. Bullvine research (Read more: She Ain’t Pretty, She Just Milks That Way) shows that young animals do not need to have deep bodies at a young age to be long-lived and profitable. They do need good mammary systems and sound feet and legs.
Dairyness: It seems to me that exhibitors and judges confuse ability to produce large volumes of milk with an animal being railed off (skinny). There is a difference. Skinny cows do not have body reserves, usually do not get in calf easily, and cannot cope with hot weather, herdmate competition or other adversity. Placing a dairy cow 200+ days into lactation, and three months pregnant, down the line because she has put on some cover is not what breeders want or need. The definition of dairyness needs to be reconsidered by show judges.
Over Filled Udders: Yes we like to see a capacious well attached udder. But is that actually what happens? With more and more cows milked 3x or milked 4-5 times per day by robots do we need to show mature cows with 100 lbs of milk in their udders to demonstrate that they can produce a high volume of milk? On-farm the breed ideal is changing to a cow that can produce 4 pounds of milk per hour at 22 months of age or 6.5 pounds per hour at 72 months of age and be milked every eight to ten hours. Cows with over filled udders loose definition of cleavage, walk with difficulty and are under significant stress.
Cow Class Determination: Dairy cows exist to produce milk. It is our opinion that using age is an out-moded method to determine cow, After the first lactation classes, classes could be divided by pounds of milk already produced as follows: 1) 20,000 to 40,000; 2) 40,001 to 65,000; 3) 65,001 to 95,000; 4) 95,001 to 135,000; 5) 135,001 to 185,000; and 6) Over 185,000. Basing classes on milk produced would be a more appropriate method than birth date given the ideal of breeding for lifetime production.
First Lactation Classes: First lactation cows go through many stages from calving until day 305 of lactation. After calving, they have more udder depth, lack body depth, need more udder quality and are low front ended. By day 305 they will be markedly changed in all these areas. With many first lactation cows at most shows, it is the Bullvine’s opinion that having four classes would be an asset. The four groups could be determined by stage of lactation as follows; 1) Less than 75 days in milk; 2) 75 – 150 days in milk; 3) 151 – 225 days in milk; and 4) over 225 days in milk.

Show Procedures

Some ideas that may also enhance cattle shows could also include:

Information in Catalogs: Spectators want to know performance as well as pedigree as they assess the animals on parade. Without performance information it can be a quite boring exercise for all but the keenest. I want to know more and perhaps I can use my cell iphone to search for more details but that is costly. In today’s information age show catalogues can contain DGV’s for heifers or calving date, number of lactations and pounds of milk, fat and protein produced for Surely we are past treating spectators as mushrooms and keeping them in the dark when it comes to animals in the ring.
Message Delivered: Most shows have youth, domestic and foreign breeders and consumers watching. Why not have five of the 15 – 25 minutes while the class is being judged used to deliver a message about dairy farming. All shows have announcers who presently give a very limited amount of information. Why not have them deliver interesting and useful information? After all dairy farming is more that just watching a runway beauty contest. Awareness and education would be a great addition to the show.
More Winners: Presently beside the class winners, best bred and owned and best udder winners are awarded. Considering all the effort that breeders go to exhibit their animals, awards for mobility, milk, fat, protein, gTPI, etc would give exhibitors more opportunity to promote their animals. I fully understand that this takes more effort at entry and checking time but if exhibitors are going to the effort why not expand their marketing opportunities and, at the same time, educate and inform?
Milk Outs: At one-time milk outs were required for the top few of each milking class. That was abandoned due to the time needed and cows not having milk in their udders in champion parades. Milk outs have been replaced by ultra sounding of udders. The question should be asked is ultra sounding serving a worthwhile purpose? If so, why is ultra sounding not used at all shows?

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Shows and showing have remained quite static for the past twenty years during which time the breeding goals have changed significantly. With fewer and fewer exhibitors and interested, involved people watching the shows, it is time for a re-assessment. Not since the birthdays for classes were changed from January and July to September, December, March, and June and the milking senior yearling class was added have there been changes to align shows with genetic advancement. It is time that a North American across breeds task force be named and charged with the responsibility of bringing forward standards and procedures that will make shows relevant to the breeder needs for the future.

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Dairy Cattle Breeding Is All About Numbers

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Monday, July 27th, 2015

Dairy cattle farming has many numbers for breeders to review and weight as they go about their daily roles as manager, health care provider, bookkeeper, personnel manager, feed harvester, reproduction sequencer, animal selection or removal supervisor, ….. yes, the daily duty list is long. But in all cases, it is best to use a number when making a decision.

For this article, The Bullvine wishes to focus on the fact that science-based numbers (aka genetic indexes) are the best method to use when selecting the animals to produce the next generation.

Breeding – Is it Art or Science?

Dairy cattle breeders argue both sides of the answer to this question. Some breeders swear by a single observation, their impression or their experience (aka art) while others totally depend on science-based numbers. Let’s dig deeper.

What’s in the Number?

Breeders can use the number they can actually see, like lactation milk yield, or a cow’s milk genetic index that considers factors like age, herd mates, progeny, pedigree and now DNA analysis. The same applies to using a cow’s PTAT rather than her own classification. It is best to consider all factors.

Can the Number be trusted?

Accuracy is paramount to success or failure in dairy cattle breeding. Making a breeding decision based a single individual observation is 20 to 25 percent accurate in predicting a cow’s progeny’s performance. Using a cow’s genetic index that includes pedigree, DNA analysis and performance will be sixty-five to seventy percent accurate.

Does the Number Mean Anything for You?

Every breeder needs to have a breeding plan (Read more: What’s the plan?) for their entire herd or an individual mating. In the plan, there needs to be the importance of individual traits. Not every trait, for which an index is available, is essential for every herd or mating. Indexes like gTPI and NM$ should be included in every plan.

Breed for Desired Outcome.

Higher Milk Revenue – Do you breed for protein yield or protein percent? Very definitely it is protein yield. It is the volume of protein that breeders are paid for. Higher protein percent is associated with less milk production.

Improving Herd Longevity – Do you select a genomic sire for his PL (Productive Life index) or how long his dam produced milk? Very definitely for his PL. His dam’s length of life has many non-genetic factors and will have a very low heritability.

Improving Fertility – When mating a heifer do you consider her FI (Fertility Index) or the frequency with which her dam calved? Very definitely her FI. Her dam’s calving interval has an extremely low heritability, almost zero.

Developing a High Type Herd – Do you select a sire based on PTAT or the number of show winners he produces? Very definitely his PTAT. Show herds do not use a wide spectrum of sires and do not randomly use sires, this results in potentially biased genetic evaluations on the sires they use. Since many of the sires they are used on are not used in chimerical herds, the evaluations on these sires are biased. When a “type” sire does cross into wide stream usage you start to see evaluations like Goldwyn’s. Goldwyn is often noted as a great sire of show winners yet his PTAT of +1.81 and his PL of -0.5 reflects that used across the entire population he does not stand out as a significant improver.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Genetic improvement depends upon using science to improve accuracy and the completeness of decision making. The rate of genetic advancement has improved significantly over the past decade, and the pace will double again in the next decade. Breeding is about science.

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Rump – Is it Beauty or Utility?

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Monday, July 20th, 2015

I have often wondered why the rump in dairy animal conformation evaluation gets undue emphasis compared to the 5 % to 10% weight assigned to it on dairy cow scorecards. After years of listening to the reasons of show judges for cow classes I have determined that udder gets the most mention but coming in second during reasons is rump. Ahead of feet and legs (15% to 28% weight) and frame/capacity/dairy character (combined 20% to 40% weight). So what gives and is this added emphasis given to rump correct?

What’s Considered Ideal?

The 2009 Dairy Cow Unified Scorecard describes the ideal as follows: “Rump (5 points): Should be long and wide throughout. Pin Bones should be slightly lower than hip bones with adequate width between the pins. Thurls should be wide apart. The vulva should be nearly vertical, and the anus should not be recessed. The tail head should set slightly above and neatly between pin bones with freedom from coarseness.”

Holstein Canada’s type classification program describes the ideal as: “Rump (10%) – Ideal qualities: 1) well-sloped, wide and strongly anchored to back/vertebrae; 2) impacts position of reproductive tract to be held high within abdominal cavity; 3)improved fertility; and 4) better calving ease & healthy recovery following calving.

It’s What is Inside that Counts.

As referred to in the Holstein Canada’s type classification program description, it is what cannot be seen below the skin, not the outward appearance of the rump that is important. It is especially important for first calvers as all breeders know so well. In time, the size of the birthing canal of young Holstein females will be critical as age at first calving is reduced to eighteen or less months of age.

So where breeders, show judges and classifiers once thought in terms of what they saw, they need to think in terms of what cannot be seen about the rump that affects reproduction and birthing. The flat, boxcar Holstein rumps of the past no longer cut it. Additionally high or low pins may create problems as they were once thought to.

Why the Over Emphasis on Rump?

When I ask breeders about why they place more than 10% emphasis on rump, they comment that they do it because of tradition, because at eye level at the business end of the cow there is the rump and because there is a limited understanding of what makes for a rump structure that is conducive to problem free calvings.

What would it take for the industry to re-think rumps in the show ring and the barn?

It needs to be recognized that progressive breeders no longer see large calves at birth as a must have. This, therefore, reduces that need for emphasis on rumps. That change has helped both the dams (quicker recovery after calving) and the calves (less stress at birth). Heifer killers need to be eliminated from all breeding programs.

Calving Ease Indexes are a Great Help

Breeders supplying information on all calvings has contributed in a major way in identifying sires and bloodlines that are below average for direct calving ease and maternal calving ease.

In researching for the Bullvine article “She Ain’t Pretty, She Just Milks That Way”, we found that positively rated sires for maternal calving ease are more apt to have daughters that have long careers in herds.

Possible Steps Going Forward

The Bullvine recommends the following:

Breeders continue to eliminate from their breeding programs sires negatively rated for calving ease and maternal calving ease,
Breed associations continue to publish genetic indexes for descriptive traits for rumps but not publish an overall rating for rump as it contributes to the over-emphasis.
More definitive research be done of the best shape and size of birthing canal,
Since most frame traits are moderate to high for heritability, bull dams should be measured and reported for the size/shape of their birthing canal, and
The approved emphasis for rumps must be applied by classifiers and show judges

The Bullvine Bottom Line

In short, the reason rump may be significant because of its role in ‘getting the cows in calf and getting the calf out’. It does not require beauty to do that. It’s about utility when it comes to the rump. Why should breeders emphasize rumps at the expense of other body parts known to have more influence on profit?

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Using Genomics as the Ticket to the Future

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2015

“Genomics has taken dairy cattle genetics to new heights.” Of course, there are breeders who agree and others who disagree with that statement. Regardless of our individual opinions, breeders definitely know more about the genetic make-up of the top animals than we did prior to 2008.

Let’s do an analysis on using and relying on genomics to achieve genetically improved dairy cattle in the future through increased accuracy, profitability, and genetic advancement.

Strengths

allows for reducing the effects of biases found in the phenotypic data used in genetic evaluations (accuracy)
can be used for both parentage verification and genetic indexing (accuracy)
increases the accuracy of genetic indexes for young bulls and genetically elite females (accuracy)
provides for enhanced accuracy when culling of heifers based on genetic indexes (accuracy)
allows for decreasing the generation intervals (rate of genetic advancement)
reduces the number of young bulls that need to be sampled. Each one costs $50,000. (profitability)
allows breeders to focus on replicating their best genetically indexed animals or families (genetic advancement)
can be used for decisions beyond genetics including in health and management (profitability)
fits a breeding model that uses genetic indexes and yields rapid genetic gain (genetic advancement)

Weaknesses

currently, not enough young females are being tested to know accurately the population average and ranges
adds to the cost for documenting animals
took some control out of the hands of breeders and breed associations
resulted in more friction amongst breeders
required that breeds incur the cost of education/awareness programs
does not fit a breeding model that uses show results or requires 90+% reliability for sires used

Opportunities

provides the opportunity for more on-farm profit including the need to raise fewer heifers (profitability)
reduces the loss that breeders incur when they get low-end heifers from low genetic merit unproven sires (profitability)
allows for breeders to implement new models for breeding and marketing (profitability)
results in a more rapid genetic improvement for both herds and breeds, at less cost (genetic advancement)
allows for the genetic evaluations for additional important traits (profitability and genetic advancement)
allows for the genetic evaluations for traits on which it is hard to capture field data (profitability and genetic improvement)
allows for the accuracy of comparison for animals originating from foreign sources (accuracy)
allows for re-structuring of or adding to services that breeders need (profitability)

Threats

The following threats are largely based on changes in the status quo.

devalues some animals previously considered elite and of some animals capable of winning at local shows
if not used wisely can result in increased levels of inbreeding
provides for breeders to discontinue participation in performance recording programs, yet they can make significant genetic improvement
could result in fewer A.I organizations and thereby potentially less choice for breeders
may require that a new genetic evaluation formula be developed

Where from here?

The position taken by breeders relative to genomic information very often depends on whether they see genomics as a threat or as an opportunity. It’s time to be positive. It’s impossible to turn back the clock. We need to stop the negativity on the topic of genomics or toward the people using that information. Breeders and industry stakeholders need to work nationally and internationally for collective benefit. With further research and development genomics will provide discerning breeders with information so they can achieve their breeding and profitability goals.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The Bullvine strongly supports using genomic information. Although it is not the only tool, it is a very constructive one for improving the total genetic merit of dairy cattle. Progressive and pro-active breeds and breeders will use and further develop this tool.

The first webinar in the series to be held on Noon (EST) Wednesday July 8th 2015, and will focus on the basics of genomics to provide producers with a better understanding of the benefits of knowing more about their heifers. Click here to reserve your seat!

Missing Fathers: Have You Missed the Mark with Your Sire Selection?

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Monday, June 22nd, 2015

Yesterday was Father’s Day and our focus was on what our fathers do for us. For fathers no longer with us, yesterday would have been all about the memories. For some fathers, perhaps, it was about how successful they have been as fathers.

Future Bovine Fathers

Dairy cattle breeders know all about the importance of great fathers when it comes to creating the next generation. The breeders of future generations of dairy cattle will have the opportunity to feed the world high-quality protein and fat. For this article let’s focus on the protein that consumers will be needing in the milk products they purchase. Let’s also consider the possible ways that consumer needs will impact the selection of the bovine fathers that breeders use to produce future generations of cows.

Cheese Predictions

Recently there has been considerable positive media coverage on cheese.

Elizabeth Crawford on June 15, 2015, article entitled “Cheese could be the next health food, industry expert suggests”. Author Crawford’s summary from her research concludes that “The tide may be changing for cheese, as science helps re-position the dairy food as a protein-dense, calcium- rich, healthy snack rather than as a high-fat and high–sodium food to be enjoyed in moderation”. Now, isn’t that a breath of fresh air for the dairy cattle industry!

It Could Very Well Go Beyond Cheese

Also, hot off the press on Friday was the announcement of the Dairy Innovation Forum to be held Wednesday July 29, 2015. It will be a free-to-attend online 60-minute forum. An expert panel of milk product innovators and marketers will address the following:

How difficult is it to launch a new dairy brand?
What are the hottest new trends in dairy?
What’s natural? And does it matter?
What keeps you awake at night?

Although many breeders may question the importance to them of such a forum, it will provide food for thought for leading edge breeders or geneticists at breeding companies who are considering what will follow a2 Milk (Read more: 12 Things You Need To Know About A2 Milk) and Greek yogurt. Both of these products focus on the protein in cows’ milk.

In the next five years, there will be other new products that are built on the presence of unique proteins in bovine milk. It is not a “what if situation”. It is only a matter of time until milk with certain protein combinations will be given a premium farm gate price. That means big bucks when it comes to farm profit.

The Impact on Bovine Fathers

With the protein in milk garnering much attention, the genetic merit of service sires currently being used is essential. Well, not just important, the sires need to excel.

The Bullvine recommends that breeders interested in having hard-working, long-lived, trouble free cows make the primary selection criteria for their service sires – protein yield (Protein), length of life (Productive Life) and total merit (NM$). (Read more: Mating Recommendations)

Differences do exist between breeds for what the genetic merit of active sires are. For Holsteins, the top sires have 60+ lbs Protein, 5+ Productive life and 750+ NM$. For Jerseys, they are 45+ lbs Protein, 5+ PL and 200+ NM$. Some breeders may wish to include in their selection criteria DPR, SCS, inbreeding level (Read more: The Truth About Inbreeding) and polled (Read more: Polled Genetics: The Cold Hard Facts). However, that will limit the progress that their herd will make for protein, herd life and total merit. Sires are now rated for beta casein and kappa casein, in demand by some cheese producers. It could very well be that other proteins will be identified as necessary in the future to make other specialty milk products.

The current top five active Holstein protein sires that do not have negative ratings for DPR or SCS are:

Jedi (7HO13250) 79 P, 6.0 PL and 859 NM$
Supershot (224HO02881) 70 P, 7.5 PL and 853 NM$
Supersire (7HO11351) 68 P, 6.5 PL and 834 NM$
AltaStratify (11HO11462) 68 P, 6.6 PL and 777 NM$
Superman (200HO07846) 67 P, 5.4 PL and 783 NM$.

How Do Your Current Service Sire Stack Up?

There is no time like the present for breeders to compare the sires they are presently using. If those sires do not favourably compare, the best decision could well be to dump the semen from the lowest half and replace them with top protein sires. The $25 to $50 lost per dose of semen dumped may be small in comparison to the money lost in the milking daughters four and more years down the road.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

If the milk that you plan to sell in the future needs to be protein rich, then the sires used today need to be top of the line. Compromising in sire selection is like not doing the best we can for our children. Fathers, in the house or in the barn, need to do their best.

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Culling for $$$ – The Six Animals You Need To Cull Immediately

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Friday, June 12th, 2015

Today I drove past a crew of highway maintenance workers and one was pounding in a stake, one was holding the stake, one had a white hard hat and was obviously the crew chief and three were watching. Like most Bullvine readers, my mind reacted by saying – “Now isn’t that an inefficient use of our taxpayers dollars!” Fifty percent of that crew were taking their pay check but not giving back. You could be correct if you were to say that I judged too quickly. Perhaps I did not have all the facts. Most of us are quick to judge outside situations. However when it comes to our own milk producing work force are we business like, when it comes to the number of workers required to get the job done?

Tighter Margins Means Stringent Culling

Last year when milk was $22.00 /cwt FOB the farm gate, cows below herd average for revenue generation or above herd average for problems could be tolerated. But 2015 is a new year. Milk is only returning $18.00/cwt. That $4.00/cwt difference in revenue has a significant impact on cow to cow margins. Cows are your work force. 2015 is good year to get the pencil out and do the math on which cows to cull and thereby, in fact, increase the daily herd profit.

Jack Welch 10% Removal Method

A previous Bullvine article called Why You Should Get Rid Of the Bottom 10% was based on former Chairman and CEO of General Electric Jack Welch’s theory of removing the bottom 10% of workers every year. Even though that may sound extreme, few can argue with the 4000% growth in GE’s value over the 20 years Mr. Welch led the company. That previous Bullvine article focused readers’ attention on reproduction, heifer rearing, animal health and technological changes. This article aims to apply dollars and cents to identify potential cull animals. So you can allocate the feed and energy to the animals retained.

Calculate The Dollars

Once the very obvious culls have been removed from the herd, breeders need some way to decide which animals are the next ones to be culled. As dairying is a business, it seems appropriate to make the decisions based on what drives profit. More profit comes from either less cost or more revenue. Let’s look at how that could play out on dairy farms.

These Six Animals Can Be Culled Immediately

By attaching dollar values the following six scenarios came to the top of our list:

Her Somatic Cell is Over 3.00
Think about it. You spend $2500 to raise a heifer only to have her produce milk that is over 3.00 SCS. Cows like that help put you in a potential penalty position, when it comes to the requirement that herd average SCC be under 400,000. Why keep cows that must be milked separately and their milk pasteurized and then used to feed calves? There are no dairy purpose sale opportunities for high SCS first calving cows. With a beef market value at $1300 (net), you have just lost $1200 on her. There is considerable documented field research to show that when a cow gets a third case of mastitis in a lactation that immediately puts her in the category of loosing money, no matter what the production level is. Considering lost saleable milk, drug costs, labor costs and consumption of valuable feed, cows that have high SCS’s can easily be costing you $2.00 per milking day. And that is not to mention the danger of shipping milk that contains a drug residue.
Her Conception Rate is Costing Time, Resources and Money
Cows that take more than three services and heifers that take more than two services to conceive, cost big time. They have increased costs of $400 – $500 per year and likely $2000 per lifetime. That is based on added semen, labor (farm manager, farm worker, vet & technician) and drugs costs. Also included are the extra days she spends being non-productive (prior to first calving and in dry pens) and her time at lower production levels in her lifetime. These types of animals are losing you $1.60 per milking day. Looking at improved reproduction from a net perspective, Jeff Stevenson of Kansas State University determined that moving up pregnancy rate by 2% will net a dairyman $132 per cow per year as a result of more milk revenue, more calf revenues and increased value of cull/dairy sales of cows when milk is $18 per cwt. It would be even more if the sale price of milk is higher.
She Cannot Keep Up in the Milk Pail
Yield is comprised of both volume and solid content. Cows that are 10% below their age-lactation contemporaries for solids corrected milk on average are generating $1.50 (1^st lactation) – $2.50 (mature) less revenue per milking day than their piers. Again why raise a heifer just to have her be 10% or more below other first calvers?
She is a Problem at Milking Time
Slow milking animals were tolerated in stanchion barns. Every breeder knew it was not a good thing but after investing in raising the heifer they thought they needed to get a return on their investment. Times have changed. Slow milkers in palor or rotary barns create extra work and lost through put time. Even in robot herds, slow milkers reduce the volume of milk that can be harvested per day. No one wants a slow milker. Another problem are the heifers that are hard to train to the milking routine. Staff can only be expected to be patient for a couple of weeks with first calf heifers that kick the milking unit off. Unlike the cows themselves, staff must be adaptable, but at what cost? It is almost impossible to put a dollar value on the cost of slow milkers and mean tempered cows. Definitely bloodlines with undesirable milking speed and temperament should be avoided.
She Visits the Hoof Trimming Chute Often
The Bullvine has previously covered animal mobility (Read more: MOBILITY – THE ACHILLES HEEL OF EVERY BREEDING PROGRAM). Putting a dollar value on the cows that need extra foot care ($15 per trim), eat less so they produce less, require medication and therefore milk withdrawal, require numerous extra inseminations to conceive thereby spending extra time in the dry pen can mount up quickly. A simple foot problem can take a very profitable cow and make her a money losing one. If even 5% of a herd falls into this category, it can be costing $0.25 – $0.50 per milking cow day for the entire herd.
She’s a Poor Doer / Goer
Animals that do not thrive and therefore require extra care can make the life of dairy people a drag a best but at worst can make people leave the industry. On a heifer basis we have no population figures on averages or the relationship with bloodlines of animals that do not thrive, get sick easier or do not reach puberty by 12-13 months of age. On a cow basis we know which ones have metabolic disorders, but we do not know how that relates to their genetic make up. As The Bullvine has stated on other occasions we need to be capturing and retaining more extensive information on these areas for both the heifer and cow herds. As yet we cannot put a dollar value on these costs.

Opportunity Lost

Culling is usually viewed by dairy managers as a cost. It should be viewed as an opportunity. An opportunity to improve your farm’s bottom line. In a hundred cow herd carrying an extra five cows and ten heifers every day of the year amounts to $23,725 per year for feed costs alone. As feed is 55% of all expenses, total costs for carrying these extra animals is $43,136. That is sure not pocket change.

Sires and cow families that leave progeny that fit these six scenarios need to be eliminated from herds and the entire population. Good judicious culling, like pruning a tree, always makes the harvest better.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

It’s time to base culling on dollars – either extra costs or lost revenue. Operating a successful dairy enterprise is all about maximizing profit. Removing problem animals can impact the bottom line a significant, positive way.

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It Takes All Kinds…

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Friday, May 29th, 2015

I expect most of us can remember a time in school when we were selected last when it came to spelling matches or a pickup sports game. Not being much interested in spelling and being vertically challenged, I can remember both situations. Being excluded isn’t nice, no matter when it happens. So how does that relate to the world of cattle breeding you ask? Well, how often have you seen or have you excluded another dairy cattle enthusiast because they did not fit in or share your perspective?

I know. I was that Outsider

I grew up on a small mixed farm, mainly market garden. We had three cows and shipped milk in cans to a butter factory. My first calf was a Jersey that died at her first calving and my first 4H calf was a grade, ugly for type, Holstein. She and I brought up the bottom end of the classes for both conformation and showmanship. I was made to feel that I was not part of the dairy industry. If it had not been for a very supportive youth-oriented extension worker, I might not have enrolled for a second year in dairy 4H calf club. He took me under his wing and helped me. A side note – he not only helped me as a 4H’er, but also as an MSc student and in several stages of my career. But this article is not about me. It is about how we need to help and include others and help our industry.

We Tend to Center Out Dairy People – Rather Than Include Them

Throughout my lifetime, I have witnessed many situations where dairy cattle breeders have been centered out because they did not conform to what the ‘in group’ was doing. We see this a fair bit on the extremely popular Milk House, closed discussion group exclusively for dairy farmers on Facebook. (Read more: INTRODUCING THE MILK HOUSE – DAIRY BREEDER NETWORKING ON FACEBOOK)

We tend to look down on those who operate differently:

they own grades, not purebreds
their herd has been graded up to purebred rather than descending from purebreds
they own a breed different from ours
they use herd bulls and not A.I.
they use on-farm systems or DHI owner sampler and not DHI or DHIR

We exclude those who don’t share the social side of dairying:

they do not attend breed events
they do not take animals to breed shows
they attend World Dairy Expo but only to walk the aisles of the trade show

We cannot even imagine breeding cows the way they do:

they use 100% young sires rather than using the higher priced top proven sires
they select only for production or for animals that maximize milk solids produced per acre
they choose solely on genetic indexes without concern for actual performance
they select sires using NM$ and not TPI (or its equivalent in other breeds or countries)
they select for traits that we do not consider in vogue – R&W, polled, beta casein, calving ease, calving interval, etc.
they mate their cows on a herd basis instead of mating each individual cow
they select based on genomic indexes and not progeny performance or pedigree indexes.

The eye-opening fact about many of these examples is that they have become, over time, the accepted practice for the majority of breeders.

Encouraging Other Breeders

The dairy cattle breeding industry has made significant advances in recent years, and that needs to continue. Each of us can and should encourage other breeders to make the future better than the past for this industry. (Read more: WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?)

Have an open mind to opinions and practices of others, as well as services and products of organizations. Take time to talk to others who operate differently than you. You could very well be surprised with what you learn.
Mentor others who are wanting to learn. Follow Mark Rueth’s example, he was mentored at Skagvale, and he has mentored many young domestic and foreign dairy enthusiast at Rosedale Genetics.
Adopt and implement technological advances. And encourage your fellow breeders to follow suite. Business advancement cannot be made by standing still. (Read more: BEST PRACTICES WHEN BUYING NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR DAIRY OPERATION, DAIRY FARMERS ARE BRIDGING THE APP-GAP!, WHY ARE BREEDERS NOT GENOMICALLY TESTING THEIR HEIFERS?)
Take time every day to learn something new. Surf the www, participate in Facebook, read magazines that cover improvement, email questions, attend meetings and talk to change influencers and ask company reps that visit your farm for “what’s new”. Think and search globally when it comes to new ideas. (Read more: THE FUTURE OF DAIRY CATTLE BREEDING IS IN THE DATA & ROBOTIC MILKING SYSTEMS: BREED FOR PROFIT NOT FOR MACHINES)
Encourage other breeders to focus their genetic selection on traits that impact their bottom line rather than nice to have traits. (Read more: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TPI AND LPI, UNDERSTANDING GENETIC INDEXES – KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID & LOW HERITABILITY – HIGH IMPORTANCE)
Strongly encourage other breeders to participate in improvement services and submit their data to national data bases. Without large data bases, neither research nor genetic evaluation will be possible.
Practice full disclosure and honesty when dealing with other breeders.
Support youth programs – all you need to do is ask where you can volunteer.
Take leadership responsibility and positions – local, regional and national

Encouragement from respected breeders and peers goes a long ways in helping breeders, young and old, feel positive about themselves and the industry. Think about others, respect others, respect yourself and go the extra mile to find ways to give a pat on the back.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Whether it’s an individual or the entire dairy industry, success and one size does not looks the same for every breeder. There are many ways to get from A to Z and we can learn a lot from those who take a less familiar road. It takes all kinds.

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Are Breed Associations Missing Important Breeding Signals?

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Monday, May 18th, 2015

A primary purpose of breed associations is to provide genetic information and services that assist breeders in their cattle genetic improvement efforts that have a direct effect on breeders bottom line. Although some significant changes in genetic information and techniques have been made over the past decade, there is still much that many breeds need to do. They must provide leadership so that future seed stock breeders can be successful.

Breeding has Changed

The dairy cattle breeding industry has changed significantly in the 21^st century. On-farm management sexed semen and embryos produced using have tipped the balance. IVF (Read more: MASTER BREEDER KILLED IN TRIPLE HOMICIDE and MASTER BREEDER’S ARE NOT HOME RUN HITTERS) Today revenue generated from the sale of solid, but not outstanding, breeding stock has diminished. At the same time, milk producers are asking for new traits, a different emphasis on traits and improved levels of performance for existing traits. Life for modern dairy cattle breeders is far from same old, same old.

Genomic Information Has Helped

Genetic evaluation centres have done an excellent job of linking the DNA results with the previous genetic information to produce genomic indexes. In short, half a decade of genetic improvement was achieved the day genomic indexes were published. Today, seven years after the introduction of genomic indexes, we have proven sires that were selected for sampling based on their genomic indexes and that have proofs close to those of current top genomic sires. (Read more: THE TRUTH ABOUT GENOMIC INDEXES – “SHOW ME” THAT THEY WORK!, WHAT HAPPENS IF GENOMICS DOESN’T WORK? And THE BULLVINE PROVES GENOMICS DOES NOT WORK!)

Breed Societies are Missing a Key Role – Facilitator

Taking energy and resources to bash or promote genomic versus proven should be abandoned. The debate is over. It’s like debating whether you should use a fax versus send an email. For the next decade, more focus needs to be placed on genetic improvement for all economically significant traits. Breeds have a role to play when it comes to helping breeders who have varying objectives but who need to work collectively and profitably.

Change the Emphasis on Traits

Over the next five to ten years, breeders and milk producers will not be satisfied with selecting only for the traits previously considered to be important.

In herds where 85-90% of the income is from milk sold, breeders are asking for genetic information that highly correlates to revenue generated or variable cost reduction. Revenue generation traits are usually fairly easy to identify. However, most data captured by breeds and herd recording agencies do not lead or have direct correlations to being available between genetic merit and key variable costs. The top four variable costs that account for over 80% of the COP (cost of production) are: feed (50-55%); labor (13-15%); reproduction (11-13%); and replacement animals (10-12%).

Breeders want to have genetic information that relates to variable cost reduction, for their herds and the sires they use in order to use genetics for improving the farm’s bottom line. Even gains of 5% improvement in profit, using genetic information, would be significant.

Why Continue With Global Breed Groups?

Dairy cattle breeding has gone global. Breed research efforts no longer apply to one country, one breed or one breeder organization. Global breed organizations could better serve all areas of the globe by focusing on animal research and development, rather than breed purity, breed superiority or nice tours for breed officials.

Information Needed

Eight areas that breeders will require genetic information on and that breed associations could provide or facilitate are:

Breed 5-10 Years in the Future: Most total merit indexes are based on today’s circumstances and each country promotes their own total merit index as the best. Where does that leave breeders who want to be prepared for the future and want to use the best there is globally? It takes three generations or ten years of females to change a herd. Therefore, breeds need to provide leadership on total merit indexes for a decade down the road.
Heifers Need to Calve at 20-22 months: Male and female genetic evaluations for growth rates and age at first heat for heifers must be available. The longer it takes until first calving, the longer it will take for cows to show a lifetime profit. Breed associations need to promote data capture for heifers from birth to first calving.
Animal Health and Disease Resistance Must Be Improved: Breed associations need to be promoting that all herds need to be capturing health and disease data at the farm level for both heifers and cows. With accurate data, genetic evaluations can commence. Recent research results indicate an association between genetics and tuberculosis. Could that be true for leucosis, Johnes, etc.? We don’t know. But we need to know.
Labor for Animal Care Must Be Minimized: – For many readers labor may seem like an area where genetics cannot have an effect. However, when we think about how the animals that breeders work with impact how labor is used, it is indeed a significant cost factor. In the future, individual animal attention for most herds will be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, most breed associations are silent about the relationship between genetic merit and labor required.
Milk Composition Needs To Be Addressed: The majority of milk is consumed in a solid form. The world’s population increase will be in the developing countries and there an even higher proportion of consumption will be on the solids side. Unique proteins (i.e. A2A2 Milk) and healthy fats need to be considered when breeding cows. Most breed associations do not store information on the unique properties of a cow’s milk and are not encouraging breeders to consider the components of milk in their breeding program.
Reproduction Must Improve: – For most breeders reproductive performance is both the biggest frustration and a big time profit eater. If breeders only wanted a cow to calve once in her lifetime then it would not matter. It is long past time for breed associations to incorporate reproduction information into their data files. Breeders need the facts on family differences for reproduction.
Conformation is More Than Beauty: Some progress has been made in moving away from an artistic perception of the breed ideal for type. Nevertheless, it is still quite far from form following function when it comes to most type classification programs. Traits such as style, height at the shoulder, angularity, sweep of rib and smooth blending of parts are still required for the Very Good first calf cow at the expense of a superior mammary system, superior mobility and the ability to function very well in her environment. Type classification programs need to totally divorce themselves from current show ring type standards. (Read more: SHE AIN’T PRETTY – SHE JUST MILKS THAT WAY!)
Breeds Need to Publish All The Facts: Breed associations only publish data that they consider to be official. As well, breeds often charge for every data look up. Is that what tomorrow’s breeders will want and support? The world has changed. Nothing is exclusive, and information is the driver. The breeding industry is moving more and more to information at the gene level. When will breed organizations provide all the facts, identify the data sources and let the reader determine if they trust the information or not?

The Bullvine Bottom Line

To date, most breed associations have taken the comfortable route and followed tradition. However, tomorrow’s world is coming quickly, and breeds are not reading the signals that breeders are giving regarding the genetic information that they want and need.

Tomorrow’s breeders will not accept the continuation of the outdated practices of their breed associations. The cart is before the horse. It is not about breeders funding a breed association. It’s about the association providing relevant and up-to-date tools and information, in order for dairy breeders to be profitable and sustainable.

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Are you getting the Maximum Return for your Investment in Dairy Cattle Genetics?

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Wednesday, May 13th, 2015

It is a fact that dairy farmers do not need to own animals of documented and high genetic merit in order to produce milk. Many very successful milk producers use sires of more than one crossbreed to rotationally cross their herds. Purebred breeders planning to be profitable in the future should have a clear plan for how they intend investments in high genetic merit animals (aka purebreds) to augment the revenue from their farm.

Go Big or Go Home

The Bullvine has published articles on how to invest wisely in dairy genetics. Bruce Jobson’s article Roybrook Revisited on the famous Roybrook Herd contains Roy Ormston’s thought that “all breeders need to invest in the highest quality seed stock they can afford and life is too short to start with poor stock”. Andrew Hunt’s article “6 Ways to Invest $50,000 in Dairy Cattle Genetics” identifies that the best return on investment (+47%) comes when you invest $20,000 to $25,000 in the two best high genomic heifers you can find from top families. His second best (+38%) is the purchase of the very best, high genetically ranked, two-year-old. ALL other alternatives will yield a negative ROI. In purely financial terms, you get more for your money by investing only in the best.

The $10,000 Question

Pennsylvania dairyman John Kiser got the idea to poll dairy breeders on what how they would invest $10,000 in breeding stock. He posted the following question to the over 3,000 members on The Milk House discussion group.

You have $10,000 to invest in cattle/embryos or semen. Which would you choose?

Buy 50 embryos from genomic heifers” (basically high production commercial cattle)
Buy 20 embryos from an Excellent cow to make show calves
Buy 1,000 straws of semen from various bulls hoping to cash in later (like the folks selling Goldwyn semen)
Buy one young foundation type of cow

Although John called it a hypothetical question, actually it is very relevant. It covers the choices that every breeder faces when investing to improve the genetics in their herd.

The Top 4 Investment Choices

Here is a summary of the first fifty-two responses to John’s $10,000 question:

Embryos from genomic heifers (15%)
Twenty embryos to make show calves (39%)
Invest in 1000 straws hoping to cash in later (10%)
Buy one foundation cow (36%)
(10 responses selected an option other than those offered)

Clearly the majority of respondents from the Milk House survey are not thinking along the same lines as Master Breeder Roybrook and The Bullvine’s recommendations when it comes to getting returns from their investment in genetics. They fall more in line with another Bullvine article “Master Breeders are not Home Run Hitter’.

Fantastic Opportunity? Or Waste of Money? How do you spend genetic investment dollars?

Although all dairy operations expect a return on investment, when it comes to genetics, the $10,000 question produced a variety of answers in targeting that goal. It is important to weigh the options in terms of success rate. We will look at them ranked on popular choice and then consider the financial implications.

Buy 1000 straws of various bulls hoping to cash in later: Many respondents mentioned that with the quick turnover of bulls these days this practice no longer made business sense. One person suggested that ‘elite young sires start out at $100+ and likely with only one in fifty, at best, possibly being in demand in 3-5 years this was sure fire way to have a significant negative ROI.

Embryos from Genomic Heifers: Many commented that they, as yet, did not have enough confidence on genomics to go that route. Although many that did not select this option did say it may well be the best choice for the future. No respondents mentioned it, but investing in embryos from multiple heifers spreads the risk and gives the best opportunity to get a high outlier. Some did mention that $200 per embryo seemed low for unsexed embryos from top heifers, but they recognized that bargains could be had. After all, 2400 to 2500 gTPI heifers can produce 2700+ gTPI calves when mated to elite sires.

Buy a young foundation type of cow: A popular choice for respondents, this option left open to respondent’s interpretation what a foundation cow is. Assuming that would mean a cow with pedigree, production, classification, cow family and genetic appeal it is a practice many breeders may be most comfortable with when it comes to building the genetic level in their herd. It also has the limiting factor, as some respondents mentioned, of having only one cow and cow family for the herd. As far as ROI, The Bullvines calculations, referred to previously, show an ROI of -77% for this option.

Embryos from an Excellent cow to produce Show Calves: The fact that this was the most popular choice identified that the majority of group members responding were thinking in traditional terms of breeding and generating revenue. None mentioned that only the very best show calves now command the top dollars and that many showy calves from Excellent dams sell in sales for under $3,000. Remember it cost $2,500 to get a heifer to milking age. For what is happening to sale prices consider reading An Insider’s Guide to What Sells at the Big Dairy Cattle Auctions and An Insider’s Guide to What Sells at the Big Dairy Cattle Auctions 2013. Another fact mentioned by one respondent was the fact that putting all your eggs in one basket (one Excellent cow) may not be the wisest decision.

Other Options: 20% of respondents mentioned that they would use the $10,000 differently with the majority preferring to purchase two high genomically indexing heifers that have the indexes and are sound for conformation but they could be the least fancy heifer of a flush. And yes a couple of respondents mentioned using the dollars elsewhere including for other farm improvements or farm family purposes.

Keys to Genetic ROI Success

Success is not something that is automatic when it comes to breeding a top individual animal or an entire herd. Where once breeders determined their success in terms of a single individual animal, success has now moved to where it is not only about animals but also about business success (ROI).

Some keys to being successful in the future are likely to include:

Be prepared for the industry to change as much in the next five years as it has in the past twenty years. The demand for genetics will be focused on the top 1 to 5%.
Have a documented plan covering genetics, marketing and finances as measured by profit. (Read more: What’s the plan?, Flukes and Pukes – What Happens When You Don’t Have a Plan)
Your plan needs to be dynamic, fit your farm, include the continual incorporation of new technology and contain a chapter on human resources to achieve the plan.
A business plan for genetic ROI success also includes using opportunity, consideration of risk and keeping costs under control.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The sale of genetics from your herd in the next few years will change if it has not already done so. It will be about selling superior not average genetics. Investing for your future returns from genetics needs to be all about business.

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Inbreeding: Could we be Headed to a Genetic Dead End?

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Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

Inbreeding and the lack of genetic diversity are on the radar screen of milk producers, breeding stock suppliers, A.I. companies and scientists. In some cases, they are barely there while for others it is a major concern. Every year there is new evidence that points to the fact that these factors should not be ignored when it comes to breeding decisions.

A New Approach to Studying Diversity

A recently published article by Yue, Dechow, and Liu, where they studied the limited number of Y chromosome lineages in North American Holsteins, gives discerning breeders serious food for thought. The results of this study appear in this month’s (April 2015) Journal of Dairy Science and is entitled “A limited numbers of Y chromosome lineages is present in North American Holsteins”.

Some Eye-Opening Facts

The researchers found that all current North American Holstein A.I. bulls trace to two sires from the 1880’s, Hulleman, and Neptune H. And that’s just the beginning of the narrowing of the bloodlines! The more in-depth study shows that, of three prominent sires from the 1960’s, Chief, Elevation, and Ivanhoe Star, two remain dominant today. The study reports that, in 2010, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief (48.8%) and Round Oak Rap Apple Elevation (51.0%) totally dominate, being present in 99.8% of all North American A.I. bull pedigrees. The data for this study came from Interbull’s files that contained 220,872 bulls worldwide born between 1950 and 2013. Of those bulls, 62,897 were from North America.

Genetic Diversity is No Longer

To say the least, we have severely narrowed the genetic diversity in North American Holsteins. Yue, Dechow and Liu state the obvious “We believe that the extreme lack of genetic diversity of Y chromosome could be a limiting factor toward improvement in Holsteins for male fertility traits that are influenced by the Y chromosome”.

The effects of reduced genetic diversity on male fertility is often not a high priority for breeders. Breeders think of calf liveability and growth, female reproduction, disease resistance, lifetime production and many more traits when it comes to the negative effects that result from inbreeding. The truth is that limiting our effective breeding population to two sires from the 1880’s and two of their descendants from the 1960’s is alarming.

Is this a Ticking Time Bomb?

Most of us ignore the actual situation. We accept, as a fact of life, that the rate of inbreeding in our dairy cattle is increasing every year. Could it be just a matter of time until we are doomed? Do breeds and breeding companies need to take the blinders off?

Finding Solutions

Dairy cattle breeders are usually quite creative when it comes to finding solutions. It means thinking outside the box. So let’s think outside that box!

Sourcing Sires: Now that we have DNA analysis in most countries with significant Holstein populations, it should be possible to find breed improving sires that do not contain Chief and/or Elevation in their pedigrees. Getting the genetics of such outcross sires incorporated into North America Holsteins is now simple enough. Simply IVF top North American Holstein cows and use those non-Chief and non-Elevation sires to produce sons. Then DNA test those sons and identify which ones have the different Y chromosome. The project will need to be large, but amongst the sons without Chief or Elevation Y chromosomes, there will be sires that are high based on genomic testing.

Lower Purity Requirements: North American Holstein breeders have prided themselves on having animals that are 100% pure as to breed. That’s nice but do we need to demand 100% purity at the expense of losing the breed because of lack of genetic diversity? In New Zealand the Kiwi breed, Holstein x Jersey, has been developed and it has gained wide acceptance by milk producers as the animals they want to work with on their pasture-based milk solids per hectare dairy farms. Bringing in genetic diversity from other breeds could produce a strain of Holsteins that suits the needs of bottom line focused dairy farmers everywhere.

Genetic Engineering: I understand that anything to do with altering nature is a controversial topic. However can we not learn from the success of crop breeders where they introduced new and constructive genes into plants? Introducing those new genes has been a major success story in positioning farmers everywhere to produce crops that have fed and will continue to feed our ever growing global population. Genetic engineering is a topic that ne eds serious consideration in dairy breeding.

These three suggested ways of finding a solution only scratch the surface of what’s available to an open-minded, progressive dairy cattle improvement industry

The Bullvine Bottom Line

North American Holstein breeders have been very successful in eliminating unproductive animals. As a result, the average production per cow has doubled in less than fifty years. But with that increased yield has come inbreeding, poorer reproduction, disease resistance challenges and other detrimental factors. Continuing to ignore the facts and refusing to search for ways to increase genetic diversity could take us down a road that leads to a dead end.

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Are You Making the Most of Genomic Information?

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Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Much has been written about genomic indexes since they were introduced in 2008, yet one key ingredient has been ignored. That ingredient is how can a breeder use the genomic information to analyse and plan for the future breeding of their herd? To fill that need Holstein Association USA, and Zoetis joined forced to develop the Enlight service that any Holstein producer in the USA can benefit from using.

Let’s hear about Enlight from Lindsey Worden

Lindsey is the Executive Director of Genetics Services at Holstein USA and when listening to her speak about Enlight you can hear the enthusiasm in her voice. Enthusiasm for what a breeder using Enlight can do to advance their herd. As Lindsey says, the advancement can cover more than genetics. It extends to others areas including management, reproduction, health and in the future nutrition. That is a wide scope. For U.S. dairy people interested in learning the opportunities available, go to Holstein USA’s website to learn more.

Enlight Home Dashboard

One final matter that Lindsey emphasized to The Bullvine – “Enlight is a free tool for any dairy producer who is genomic testing their Holsteins through Holstein Association USA or Zoetis, using CLARIFIDE^®, a genomic testing product. Enlight is web-based, and has a direct connection to the Holstein Association USA herdbook database, so all animals in Enlight must also be in the Holstein herdbook”. It should be noted that a herd’s data contained in Enlight is proprietary to the herd owner and is not shared with others.

Worden Draws on Experience

Lindsey grew up on her family’s dairy farms in New York and New Mexico, and was active in 4-H and Holstein Junior programs, including dairy judging and showing. She followed that by studying Dairy Science and Life Science Communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After college, she joined Holstein Association USA. That was over eight years ago, and she has filled a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Holstein USA. Lindsey is familiar with all facets of dairying from the small breeder’s herd, to the large commercial herd, to the show scene and to the international trade in genetics. She gives major credit to her parents for giving her and her brothers the opportunity to experience life, both on and off their farms. Lindsey attends many industry events and is always eager to speak with breeders to understand their positions, their concerns and their needs, and to explain Holstein USA services.

Enlight – Animal Snap shot

Working to Shared Benefit

In short, Enlight was developed in partnership by Zoetis and Holstein USA. They saw an opportunity to combine their collective strengths for the benefit of producers. It is novel in that a private company and a breeder not-for-profit association joined forces to provide a service, and refreshing to see that providing dairy people with a complete package is central to the service.

Excellent Uptake

Lindsey reported to The Bullvine that since July (2014) there have been over 600 herds enrolled in Enlight, and those users have genomic tested over 260,000 animals in total.

U.S. dairymen can expect to hear more about Enlight in 2015 as Holstein USA, in collaboration with Zoetis, will have this service as a focal point at meetings and in communications through out this year. It is interesting to hear the many different ways Enlight users are taking advantage of genomic information in their herds. Many begin with testing a few animals and eventually work up to testing most or all of the heifers born on their farm. Dairymen are using the information to make decisions about which animals will be parents to the next generation on the farm, making sure they are keeping and propagating the best genetics in their herds, and using the lower end genetics for recipients, or culling when they have excess animals to sell.

One important part of Enlight is that it is real-time. Enlight is refreshed every night, so whenever a dairyman registers a calf, or has new genomic or genetic information available, it can be viewed in Enlight. Since the service if free and web-based, users can run the analysis of their animal as often as they wish.

Enlight – Genetic Progress Graph

Expanded Service

For dairy farmers, linking all pieces of information on their animals together is important. Sandy-Valley Farms have been using Enlight for a few months now to capture their actual and genetic information in one place, to obtain genomic information instantaneously and to download information in Excel documents. And Danae Bauer of Sandy-Valley looks forward to using Enlight even more in the future as more options and screens are added to it. (Read more : PINE-TREE MONICA PLANETA IS THE NEW GENOMIC SUPER STAR MAKER, and DANAE BAUER: CAPTURING THE PASSION)

Holstein Association USA continues to see interest in genomic testing grow each year, and with the availability of Enlight to help producers make better use of their information, and a partnership with Zoetis, that trend is only expected to continue to increase. As more breeders are exposed to how using genomic information can improve their herds, more and more will adopt the technology and find benefit in keeping track of their genetics with Enlight.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

With many dairymen already using Enlight, there are many users that Holstein USA or Zoetis can direct interested producers to in order that they can hear a fellow dairy person describe the benefits as they see them. Enlight is definitely a win – win – win for producers – breed association – private service provider.

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Mobility – The Achilles Heel of Every Breeding Program

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Monday, February 2nd, 2015

Cows that inherently move about in their environment with ease and comfort are what every breeder wants to have in their herd. They produce more milk, require less labor, are usually more reproductively sound and, ultimately, they make more profit in their lifetime. Lame cows are significant profit eaters and, as animal welfare becomes more and more important to our industry, lameness could become our Achilles Heel.

Genetics and Lameness

So what does genetics have to do with lameness? To date our phenotypic evaluations of feet and legs have yield heritabilities of 5% to 10%, so we have essentially said why bother breeding for improvement in mobility? Instead we choose to address it through feed and management and cull the problems from the herd. Well that approach is not resulting in a reduction in lameness. So let’s address the elephant in the room. Why are we not breeding for improved mobility in dairy cattle?

Other New End Result Indexes

In the past few months new outcome based indexes have been declared official and are now being used for fertility (Holstein USA’s Fertility Index), for immunity (CDN’s Mastitis Resistance Index) and for herds that depend on grazing ( CDCB’s Grazing Merit Dollars). As well, both TPI and NM$ had their formulas adjusted or expanded in December 2014. However the very important area of cow mobility does not even appear to be on the radar screen, when it comes to providing breeders with animal ratings for locomotion. Is mobility too big or too complex for our researchers, genetic evaluation experts, breeders and A.I. to tackle?

Evaluating Mobility

For seventy years we have had the Dairy Cow Scorecard which describes the ideal feet and legs and how they are to function. We also have very good type classification programs that analyse the form of feet and legs. But they do not capture data on how the feet and legs function. And yes it would take time and effort for classifiers to see all cows walk. But, if it was a requirement, would it not give the classifier the opportunity to more accurately assess this important area of a cow’s conformation? One significant factor that adds bias to the classification of feet and legs is that herds often have the hoof trimmer visit and trim all animals before the classifier visits. Can we expect that the heritability estimates for feet and leg traits will ever be above the current low values? Not likely.

Very few cows relative to the size of the recorded national herd get to dairy shows. Those that do get to shows seldom have major mobility problems and therefore judges infrequently make negative comments on a cow’s mobility. As well few elite gTPI, NM$, PTAT or gLPI dams, the mothers of the very top young bulls or heifers, are taken to shows, so show ring feet and leg evaluations are not a solution when it comes to improving animal mobility.

I have heard some people suggest that all heifers 6 to 15 months of age should be evaluated for their mobility. Perhaps that could be a more accurate assessment of how an animal naturally walks and it would replace the need to have every cow that is classified observed on the walk by the classifier. However that would require that the type classification program be expanded to include heifers. Who would benefit and who would pay for that expanded service?

Locomotion Scoring

Often veterinarians, feed advisors, consultants and herd managers evaluate a portion of a herd rating the cows for the locomotion from normal to severely lame. (http://www.zinpro.com/lameness/dairy/locomotion-scoring) However that information is usually for only a portion of the herd and is not linked to classifier evaluations for feet and legs.

Hoof trimmers could also analyse cows for mobility before they trim their feet but there again how would that information be captured and who would pay for it? Linking the results for a herd would also be a problem because only a portion of the herd is trimmed on any visit and what about the cows that are not trimmed?

What could a Mobility Index Look Like?

The Bullvine has not done an extensive study on what a mobility index might look like but from our experience as classifier, judges, researcher and breeders we offer the following suggested content and weightings:

Mobility Index = 50% (Walking Evaluation) + 20% (Rear Legs Rear View) + 15% (Feet and Pasterns) + 5% (Rear Legs Side View) + 5% (Thurls / Pins – location and width) + 5% (Chronic Conditions –i.e. crampiness)

Additional traits may also have an influence on mobility. However for brevity we have limited the traits included.

What Needs To Be Done?

Studying mobility is a big task. Likely requiring the evaluation of many many more animals than the current coordinated international multi research herd study underway. That study is for relating feed intake, production and genomic profiles to give animal ratings for feed efficiency. Also a lowly heritable but important trait. Both Holstein USA and Holstein Canada have conducted pilot studies on how to capture cow locomotion. But as yet they have not been able to find a way to expand the classification of feet and legs to include locomotion. However they should be congratulated for attempting to find solutions.

The truth is that this challenge is too large for any single organization to undertake and it is not limited to a single breed. At this point what is needed is a champion to bring all the stakeholders together to consider how to proceed. As has been the case for every other trait, determining genetic indexes requires phenotypic observations, genomic profiles, data analysis, extensive funding and likely new ways of evaluating body parts.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Until breeders have a mobility index they will not be in an improved position to breed cows that move with ease and comfort in their environment. Limited mobility, limited production, limited reproduction, reduced profit, all contributing to the challenge of future industry viability and sustainability. It requires a collective stakeholder effort. The challenge is a big one but it is not impossible. Our industry needs to address the elephant in the room and not continue to remain silent on finding ways to improve cow mobility.

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Robotic Milking Systems: Breed for Profit Not For Machines

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Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

Pick up any dairy magazine or go to any online dairy information site, and you will see numerous ads for milking using robots. In fact, even the ads for sires contain reference to the fact that a sire is Robot Ready as it relates to his daughters being friendly to being milked by a robot. But is it wise to only breed cows to accommodate machinery? Let’s dig deeper when it comes to breeding cows for systems and machines of the future.

Robotic Milking

The first robots were installed in herds of sixty or fewer cows and were an adaption of claw type milking machines. Difficulties were encountered when the machine could not find or attach to the teats or when the milk stimulation was not adequate, and the machine detached before there was milk letdown. Owners routinely complained about cows where the rear teats were too close, and the machine could not determine which rear teat to attach to. Often valuable cows with close or touching rear teats had to be culled from herd breeding programs.

Robot Friendly Sires

A.I. mating and marketing programs adapted and coined the term robot ready for sires whose daughters were more suited to robotic milking. As well after some experience with their robotic milking systems, breeders also removed from their breeding programs sires that produced daughters that had short teats or whose udders were too deep or too shallow to be milked by the robot. Sires, like Planet, who leave close rear teats, short teats and sometimes deeper udders were not used as much as their high TPI or NM$ indexes would warrant. Sires like O Man and Ramos were more desired as they left wider rear teat placement than normal even though the teats cold be somewhat short. Other bloodlines, like Shottle and Goldwyn, did not have problems with robotic milking, as their females had more middle to the quarter teat placement, and teat length was at least average.

Milking Machine Technology Advances

Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in robotic milking technology. The systems remember a cow’s physical configuration and know how to attach successfully. As well machines now exist that do not use the claw cluster principal and therefore are not limited by height or distance. Today’s robotic milking systems not only milk the cows and discard non-saleable milk, but they also collect almost endless amount of data that can be used for cow and herd management and also for breeding and feeding.

If a new milking system is in your future, whether in a single box unit or in a parlor, and you do not make breeding decisions based on show ring type, it may be time for you to reconsider trait emphasised in your breeding program. With milking machine technology advancing quickly and with less than 0.5% of North American dairy cows culled for poor udder conformation, then why continue to insist that your cows need to have show ring udders? Deeper in front, unbalanced side to side, only milking on three quarters or teats not hanging plumb, machines will milk them all.

Breed for Your Own Situation

No two breeders have the same dairy farming scenario or plan. Often genetics is asked to make up for management deficiencies and appropriate priorities are not attached to the traits included in the herd’s breeding program. It is your farm, and you need to decide on the traits and the emphasis allocated to them. If there is more than one trait given the lead emphasis then genetic progress will be significantly reduced. TPI, NM$ or LPI are not a trait and are best used to short list the sires that could be used.

Breed for Profit

For the vast majority of dairy farms, the length of time a cow is productive in the herd has a very significant affect on profit. If there was data captured on the heifer herds and genetic evaluations done using that data then, profit per lifetime could be used in breeding decisions. In most herds increasing the length of productive life by one lactation would reduce herd turnover anywhere from 25% to 50%. Thereby the number of herd replacements and size of the heifer herd could be reduced by 25% to 50%. The resulting cost savings for the dairy enterprise could be from 8% to 16%. That’s huge.

Have a Sire Selection Plan

Consider the following plan when you next purchase semen. Short list the bulls in the gTPI, gLPI or NM$ sire listings to those that are in the top 20 to 30 sires.

Lead Emphasis: Use the index for productive life (PL in USA or HL in Canada) as the lead selection criteria. Those indexes are a combination of factors that determine profit as they are the summation of all things reproductive, health, production, mobility, and conformation.

Secondary Emphasis: The three areas, in order of the importance for breeding, are: production (fat plus protein yield); fertility (FI in USA or DF in Canada); and health (SCS in USA or Mastitis Resistance in Canada)

Useful Information: Traits that can be used to fine tune mating decisions include: Udder Depth (deep udders are detrimental for udder health and cow mobility); Rear Teat Placement (rear teats too close together can create problems for milking); Teat Length (teats too short and too long can both create problem for milking); Milking Speed (slow milking cows lengthen the time to milk a herd); Foot Angle (deep hoofs are associated with less foot infection, less hoof trimming and superior cow mobility); Rear Legs Rear View (cows that walk straighter are more mobile and push the udder out of position to a lesser degree); and Maternal Calving Ease (MCE in USA or DCA in Canada. Bulls’ daughters that give birth easier lead to fewer health problems for both dam and calf, fewer deaths at calving and save on labor costs)

Any other traits are simply chrome for the majority of dairy farmers.

Sire Rankings Using Productive Life

The following tables rank North America sires for productive life (PL in USA and HL in Canada). In developing these lists, only the top ranked sires for gTPI and gLPI were considered.

Table 1 – Top 10 Productive Life (PL) Sires from the Top 30 Daughter Proven gTPI Sires (Dec ’14)

Name	PL	gTPI	NM$	F+P Yield	Fert Index	SCS	MCE	U Depth	RTP	T Length	Foot Angle	RLRV
	6.7	2337	571	69	3.4	2.82	6	0.71 S	0.44 C	-0.10 S	1.05	0.88
Wright	9.6	2355	631	48	5.3	2.65	5.2	-0.21 D	0.13 C	0.48 L	0.62	-0.33
Petrone	7.5	2361	549	45	3.8	2.68	5.9	1.26 S	0.93 C	0.14 L	1.41	1.5
Denim	7.3	2356	615	82	5	2.71	5.6	0.33 S	-2.58 W	1.95 L	1.14	0.16
Erdman	6.9	2260	631	91	3.6	2.77	7	-0.36 D	-0.09 W	-0.81 S	-2.1	-0.55
Shamrock	6.7	2304	565	66	3.2	2.9	4.1	1.02 S	2.08 C	-3.24 S	-0.26	0.04
Robust	6.3	2504	767	130	1.8	3.06	3.8	0.27 S	1.14 C	-0.76 S	1	1.72
Sapporo	5.9	2248	438	43	4.5	2.86	7.7	0.88 S	1.19 C	-1.15 S	1.06	0.61
Freddie	5.6	2349	533	61	4.6	2.91	5.3	0.71 S	-0.20 W	0.72 L	2.34	1.83
Dorcy	5.5	2339	527	71	-0.1	2.79	8.6	1.75 S	1.43 C	1.05 L	2.45	2.27
Epic	5.3	2296	449	53	2	2.88	6.3	1.50 S	0.37 C	0.65 L	2.86	1.57

Wright stands out as the clear leader for PL. The sire stack Freddie x Wizard also rings the bell in #3 position. The other sire stack with two on the list (#2 and #10) is Super x AltaBaxter. These ten proven sires produce daughters that remain in herds 202 days longer than the breed average and are sires that on average also produce daughters that are high for fertility, health, production, conformation and maternal calving ease. Robust leads in production but need to be watched for SCS. Shamrock with both close and short rear needs to be correctively mated for those areas.

Table 2 – Top 10 Productive Life (PL) Sires from the Top 30 Genomic gTPI Sires (Dec ’14)

Name	PL	gTPI	NM$	F+P Yield	Fert Index	SCS	MCE	U Depth	RTP	T Length	Foot Angle	RLRV
	8.4	2687	820	108	3.6	2.71	5	1.66 S	1.33 C	-1.12 S	1.88	1.48
Motega	9.8	2665	790	77	4.4	2.68	5.2	2.83 S	1.03 C	-1.62 S	2.14	2.44
Charismatic	9.1	2809	985	152	1.8	2.7	4.3	1.94 S	0.19C	-1.80 S	2.67	2.37
Halbert	9	2702	770	82	5.7	2.62	4.2	2.02 S	2.39 C	-1.01 S	0.78	0.54
Director	8.3	2759	882	132	4	2.84	4.7	1.31 S	2.22 C	-1.66 S	1.09	0.46
Troy	8.3	2650	788	96	3.6	2.66	6	1.42 S	0.62 C	0	2.84	2.19
Dozer	8.2	2650	805	107	2.9	2.56	5.8	1.22 S	1.02 C	-1.25 S	1.57	1.34
Multiply	8.2	2635	773	100	3	2.85	5.8	2.45 S	0.80C	-1.01 S	3.44	2.72
Tailor	7.9	2634	740	93	3.3	2.61	4.7	1.62 S	2.59 C	-0.46 S	1.4	0.81
Delta	7.8	2709	873	132	2.4	2.77	5.5	1.00 S	1.34 C	-1.55 S	2.26	1.46
Santano	7.8	2652	792	111	4.4	2.82	3.7	0.79 S	1.12 C	-0.81 S	0.61	0.51

Two points stand out when looking at Table 2. Firstly it is expected that the daughters of these sires will stay in herds 257 days longer than average. Even if we regress that number down, as we know genomic indexes are perhaps 10% overestimated, it is still a wow number. The other point of note is the fact all these bulls were sired by genomic sires and in some cases it is a genomic sire on genomic sire. On average, all the indexes are very high but it should be noted that rear teats are indexed to be both close and short. An outstanding group of sires than can be used to increase herd life.

Table 3 – Top 8 Herd Life (HL) Sires from the Top 20 Daughter Proven gLPI Sires (Dec’14)

Name	HL	gLPI	F+P Yield	DF	MastitisResist	DCA	U Depth	RTP	T Length	M Speed	Foot Angle	RLRV

Lego	112	2958	117	104	107	107	3 S	9 C	10 S	97	0	14
AltaRazor	111	2962	139	96	102	109	2 S	5 C	3 L	102	5	5
Gillsepy	109	2981	134	98	102	102	2 S	5 C	0	97	13	6
Boulder	109	2912	129	107	101	101	3 S	5 C	10 L	104	1	2
Freddie	109	2885	116	112	102	107	5 S	5 W	0	107	4	8
Dempsey	109	2856	62	100	107	105	7 C	5 C	5 S	101	9	12
Phoenix	108	2871	138	100	103	103	4 S	7 C	9 S	95	2	5
AltaCaliber	108	2901	96	105	104	108	10 S	6 W	2 L	107	8	3
Average	109	2916	116	103	104	105	5 S	3 C	1 S	101	5	7

These eight sires are all within the top 6% of the Canadian population for Herd Life. Freddie has done an excellent job of improving productive life and appears in both Tables 1 and 3. In Table 3 his daughter fertility stands out at 112. All the sires are rated above average for yield, fertility, and mastitis resistance. Among the eight there are sires that can be used to improve traits where females in a herd may be lacking.

Table 4 – Top 8 Herd Life (HL( Sires from the Top 20 Genomic gLPI Sires (Dec’14)

Name	HL	gLPI	F+P Yield	DF	MastitisResist	DCA	U Depth	RTP	T Length	M Speed	Foot Angle	RLRV
Average	116	3503	181	109	103	109	6 C	3 C	0	101	8	7
Penmanship	121	3500	163	113	104	107	7 S	2 W	1 L	107	9	7
Rubicon	116	3596	198	110	101	111	4 S	5 C	2 S	102	8	13
Supershot	116	3542	199	108	104	110	3 S	3 C	3 L	98	7	6
Brodie	116	3525	190	107	102	107	3 S	3 C	3 L	98	5	4
Boastful	116	3500	182	110	102	111	8 S	1 C	0	101	7	1
Flattop	116	3430	167	107	107	105	7 S	1 C	2 L	102	7	8
Kobra	116	3500	158	110	103	109	8 C	5 C	3 S	101	12	11
Modesto	115	3430	191	107	100	111	4 S	2 C	3 S	97	6	7

The list of sires in Table 4 are, simply put, outstanding for improving Herd Life. As in Table 2 all these eight bulls are sired by genomic sires. On average, they excel for all traits included in the table. The trait where these sires shine, as compared to the sires in the other tables, is in Feet and Legs. Kobra, Rubicon, and Penmanship are particularly high for feet and legs. The fact that all these sires are rated at 105 or greater for daughter calving ability and at 107 or higher for daughter fertility is very impressive.

Table 5 – Top 5 Productive Life (PL) Sires from the Top 20 Genomic Polled gTPI Sires (Dec’14)

Name	PL	gTPI	NM$	F+P Yield	Fert Index	SCS	MCE	U Depth	RTP	T Length	Foot Angle	RLRV
Layton	6.5	2429	611	86	2.3	2.82	6	1.29 S	0.44 C	0.26 L	0.59	1.14
Harpoon	6	2281	574	80	1.4	2.77	6.1	1.68 S	0.79 C	-0.86 S	0.43	0.86
Champ	5.9	2282	422	25	3	2.61	7.1	3.05 S	1.14 C	1.71 L	0.57	0.6
Homerun	5.3	2345	580	100	0.6	2.82	7.4	0.83 S	-0.20 W	0.52 L	-0.91	0.53
Gremlin	5.3	2286	581	96	1.5	2.9	5.5	0.12 S	0.91 C	0.33 L	0.07	0.14
Average	5.8	2325	554	77	1.8	2.78	6.4	1.39 S	0.62 C	0.39 L	0.51	0.65

First off it needs to be said how quickly Holstein polled genetics is improving. All are polled by horned crosses and show how breeders are moving to incorporating polled into their herds. Unfortunately, none of these bulls are PP but still using these sires will leave half their daughters polled and each one of the five has strengths that can match breeders’ needs. Layton stands out a clear leader. He is just now a year old and hopefully will soon have semen available. If production is a breeder’s choice for their first secondary trait, then Homerun is the leader.

Clearly there are many many sires on these lists that will increase the rate of genetic advancement for length of productive life.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Both dairy farming and breeding are changing at an ever increasing pace. Considerable pressure is being placed on on-farm margins with decreased milk prices and increased costs. Ways must be found by breeders to eliminate costs and losses. Breeding cows differently for the future will be required in order for dairy enterprises to be viable and sustainable. Using increased length of productive life as a primary selection tool needs to be part of every breeders plan in breeding for profit.

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A Guide to Understanding How to Breed For Feed Efficiency and Fertility

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Wednesday, December 10th, 2014

Are your breeding decisions in tune with where you want your herd to be in the future? As I follow the breeder discussions on The Milk House (Read more: Introducing The Milk House – Dairy Breeder Networking on Facebook ), I see three different approaches: 1) Some breeders are asking what to breed a cow or heifer to, in order to get a show winner; 2) Some are saying that Holsteins are not the only breed and that Jerseys can also get the job done at returning a profit; and 3) The majority are saying that they want to stay with Holsteins but neither the show ring nor only filling the milk pail to overflowing suits their breeding plans for the future. This latter group want cows that, on average, stay in the herd into at least their fourth lactation, and that are efficient at converting feed to milk. They must also be fertile.

The good news for the third group of breeders is that there are two interesting new ratings that can assist them when it comes to sire selection for feed efficiency and fertility.

New Indexes for Feed Efficiency & Fertility

With the revisions to the TPI® formula (Read more: US Genetic Evaluation Changes: Are You Keeping Up?) made on December 2^nd, Holstein USA added indexes for Feed Efficiency (FE) and Fertility (FI) for breeders to use when they evaluate sires for their daughters’ ability to convert feed to milk and for combining the various indexes that relate to fertility. The weighting of these indexes in the TPI® formulae are not large – 3% for Feed Efficiency and 13% for Fertility. Breeders wishing to place more emphasis on either or both of these areas in sire selection can eliminate bulls, during their selection process, that are inferior for one or both of FE and FI.

In order to provide information, that may be useful to breeders, The Bullvine has taken the top fifty daughter proven sires on Holstein USA’s Top 100 International Bulls -December 2014 list and selected and analysed the top ten sires for both of these indexes. The top fifty gTPI® proven sires are 2210 gTPI or higher.

Feed Efficiency Index

Table 1 lists the top ten sires for Feed Efficiency (FE) as well as these sires’ indexes for other traits that breeders normally use when evaluating sires to use in their breeding programs.

Table 1 Top 10 Proven Sires for FE (Feed Efficiency) that are in top 50 gTPI

Sire and NAAB Code	FE	NM$*	gTPI*	PTAT	Milk	Fat	Protein	FI	PL	Sire Stack
Average	146	611	2352	0.96	1258	69	46	1.3	4.3
1. Robust	177	767(1)	2504(2)	0.99	1143	81	49	1.8	6.3	Socrates x Oman x Manat
2. AltaFairway 11HO10980	163	643(3)	2303(18)	0.46	1457	72	52	0.5	4.7	Planet x Oman x Morty
3. Manifold 200HO00402	154	575(9)	2286(20)	0.36	1440	69	52	1.9	3.7	Oman x BW Marshall x Emory
4. Facebook 200HO03753	150	512(33)	2366(4)	1.51	1281	80	47	2.2	1.1	MOM x Airraid x Shottle
5. AltaGreatest 11HO10928	145	619(6)	2338(11)	1.18	2104	54	60	0.5	5.2	Planet x Bolton x BW Marshall
6. AltaPhonic 11HO10997	145	539(20)	2262(25)	0.38	914	69	43	1.5	2.5	MOM x Nifty x Lynch
7. Mogul 7HO11314	142	728(2)	2586(1)	2.84	1143	81	49	0.3	5.1	Dorcy x Marsh x Bret
8. Mixer 7HO11313	128	543(16)	2332(12)	1.75	897	60	42	0	3.6	Dorcy x Marsh x Bret
9. Myrle 29HO14828	128	554(12)	2278(21)	0.6	978	69	36	1.1	3.8	Lief x Encino x Oman
10. Erdman 1HO09800	126	631(4)	2260(28)	-0.52	991	59	32	3.6	6.9	Planet x Ramos x Amel

* Bracketed number is the rank within NM$ or gTPI

Robust, the #1 NM$ sire and #2 gTPI®, easily comes to the top for FE. In second place is AltaFairway. All bulls on this list are superior for their ability to sire high production daughters with their proofs averaging Milk 1258 lbs, Fat 69 lbs and Protein 46 lbs. Further study of these bulls shows that they have a variety of sire stacks, have high Productive Life (4.3) but are not outstanding for type (PTAT 0.96) or fertility (FI 1.3). The indexes of these ten sires have a better correlation between FE and NM$ than between FE and gTPI®. It should be noted that only Facebook and Erdman, on this list, are over 2.0 for FI. Breeding for feed efficiency will not automatically get improved fertility.

Fertility Index

Table 2 lists the top ten sires for Fertility Index (FI) as well as these sires’ indexes for other traits.

Table 2 Top 10 Proven Sires for FI (Fertility Index) that are in top 50 gTPI

Sire and NAAB Code	FI	NM$*	gTPI*	PTAT	Milk	Fat	Protein	FE	PL	Sire Stack
Average	4.4	506	2288	0.45	501	33	23	74	5.9
1. Wright 7HO1123	5.3	631(4)	2355(8)	-0.19	401	28	20	72	9.6	Freddie x Wizard x Rudolph
2. Sobieski 1HO09853	5.1	501(37)	2311(15)	0.44	363	45	25	90	4.3	Freddie x Lynch x Duce
3. Denim 1HO10218	5	615(7)	2356(7)	-0.7	389	55	27	114	7.3	Freddie x Wizard x Mtoto
4. Freddie 1HO08784	4.6	533(23)	2349(9)	0.51	866	33	28	77	5.6	Oman x Die-Hard x Metro
5. Sapporo 200HO03773	4.5	438(82)	2248(29)	1.06	572	32	11	43	5.9	Jeeves x Goldwyn x Outside
6. Army 1HO09659	4.5	338(203)	2210(49)	1.06	-100	27	21	74	2.2	Jet Stream x BW Marshallx Rduolph
7. Gallon 29HO14684	4	489(42)	2245(30)	0.42	1380	33	31	74	4.9	Jeeves x Goldwyn x Oman
8. Yano 1HO10085	4	530(24)	2210(50)	-0.15	451	15	23	64	7.6	Planet x Bret x Manfred
9. Sherman 7HO11164	3.9	432(93)	2230(35)	0.67	63	29	24	82	3.6	MOM x Shottle x Roy
10. Petrone 7HO1169	3.8	549(13)	2361(5)	1.39	624	32	13	47	7.5	Super x AltaBaxter x Buckeye

* Bracketed number is the rank within NM$ or gTPI

Wright (Read more: TPI^® – Do we have it all wrong?) comes to the top of this list. The first three on the list are all Freddie sons and Freddie himself is #4 on the list. Knowing that leads to the question – Who says the fertility is not heritable or at least that there are sire lines that have daughters that are superior for fertility? The averages for these ten sires give a very clear indication that selecting for higher production is inversely related to fertility. As well, PTAT and FE are only slightly positively correlated to fertility. And that fertility (FI) has no correlation to NM$ or gTPI® for sires that are in the top 50 gTPI®.

Except for Freddie himself, breeders are not likely to recognize the names of the other nine bulls in Table 2. It is noteworthy to see that the ten sires in Table 2, on average, are high for PL (5.9). Cows that have a high genetic ability to get pregnant stay longer in herds. Commencing to select sires for FI but not at the total expense of production will be a wise decision for breeders that focus on profitability in their breeding programs.

Always Compare to the Top Sires

When making comparisons and selecting sires, it is always useful to know what the profile is for the best in the breed. Table 3 contains the index averages for the top 10 gTPI® daughter proven and genomic sires. The genomic list is limited to sires born in 2013, as this is the group of sires that breeders are likely to be using currently or in the near future.

Table 3 Index Averages for Top 10 Proven and Genomic Sires – December 2014

	Proven	Genomic
Feed Efficiency (FE)	104	170
Fertility Index (FI)	2.8	1.7
NMS	595	814
gTPI®	2398	2677
Milk	878	1623
Fat	50	80
Protein	33	57
SCS	2.8	2.84
Productive Life (PL)	5.8	6.4
PTAT	1.23	2.27
UDC	1.18	2.03
FLC	1.35	1.74

It goes without saying that the averages for these two top 10 sire lists are outstanding. Due to Freddie’s influence, the top 10 proven sires are very high for FI. While for FE the genomic list is far superior due to their milk, fat and protein indexes being almost double those of the proven list.

In studying these lists it did come to our attention that Mogul (#1 gTPI®) is the sire of six of the top 10 genomic sires. As well, Robust is the second sire for six of the genomic sires and Planet is the third sire for six of the genomic sires. Most breeders feel that inbreeding levels should not be ignored. Mogul, Robust and Planet are not closely related but it is always wise to check on the Expected Future Inbreeding level of a sire before purchasing semen (Read more: The Truth about Inbreeding, Twenty Things Every Dairy Breeder Should Know About Inbreeding, 6 Steps to Understanding & Managing Inbreeding in Your Herd and 12 Outcross Sires to Help Control Inbreeding).

By comparing the group average in Tables 1, 2 and 3, it can be seen that the top Fertility sires in Table 2 lag behind the other groups except for FI and PL. Also note that the Feed Efficiency sires in Table 1 are generally equal to the top 10 proven sires in Table 3. And except for fertility (FI) the genomic sires in Table 3 are the highest indexing group.

Sires to Select

The first sort of sires available should be the top fifty sires for NM$ or gTPI®. A few bulls that may qualify for their total merit and are significant improvers for FE and FI are listed below:

Proven Sires

Facebook (2366 gTPI & 512 NM$)
Denim (2356 gTPI & 615 NM$)
Robust (2504 gTPI & 767 NM$)
Manifold (2286 gTPI & 575 NM$)
Altaphonic (2262 gTPI & 539 NM$)

Genomic Sires

Supershot (2675 gTPI & 848 NM$)
Rubicon (2718 gTPI & 864 NM$)
Hotshot (2661gTPI & 815 NM$)
Delta (2709 gTPI & 873 NM$)
Draco (2642 gTPI & 810 NM$)

Polled Sires

Powerball-P (2534 gTPI & 653 NM$)
Multitude-P (2249 gTPI & 418 NM$)
Ewing-P (2229 gTPI & 510 NM$)
Yahtzee-P (2408 gTPI & 588 NM$)
Ladd Man-P (2201 gTPI & 365 NM$)

Red, RC and high PTAT sires do not rank high for either feed efficiency (FE) or fertility (FI). One exception is Mogul at 2.84 PTAT who received 142 for FE however his FI is only slightly above average at 0.3.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Breeding for feed efficiency is closely related to breeding for increased production. However breeding for increased milk yield is counter-productive to increasing the genetic merit of females for reproductive traits. Based on our study of the new indexes for feed efficiency and fertility, we recommend that breeders select bulls that are over 80 pounds for fat and protein combined and that are over 1.0 for FI.

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

Dairying Breeding in 2025

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Monday, December 1st, 2014

Almost weekly, there are news updates on what dairying will be like in the next quarter year or the next year. Just recently, there have been some significant alarms surrounding the farm gate milk price in the immediate future. Supply will exceed demand, and the milk price has already dropped to below the cost of production for UK dairymen. In the United States, the farm gate prices will be lower in 2015 than they have been in 2014. Yet in Australia, according to a leading A.I. manager, the strong demand for Australia milk in SE Asia could continue to keep the farm gate price level.

However, strategic planning on dairy farms and in dairy cattle breeding must look much further into the future than 3 to 24 months. We here at the Bullvine decided to consider global circumstances that will determine the genetics that will be needed in 2025 in order to assist breeders as they transition from their current breeding programs.

The future milk market will be vastly different than it is today:

Market Size – There will be one billion more people by 2025. FAO predictions are that the demand for milk protein from dairy animal sources, including cows, goats, buffalo and sheep, will be in strong into the future. Market size could well be over 25% above what it is today. To keep pace with that expansion, breeders will need to increase production by 2.5% per year for the next ten years. Whether that is by increasing average cow production by 2.5%, cow numbers by 2.5% or a combination of both, will be a decision that each manager will need to make. Making no change in output will mean that the farm will fall behind. Not a good situation as the margin of revenue over costs narrows.
Milk Production Location –Two current global trends will continue – urbanization everywhere and significant global population increases in Asia and Africa. An increase in milk production will need to occur on those two continents; otherwise considerable expense will be incurred in moving dairy products from the countries where production exceeds demand. Many developing countries have recognized the need for increased milk production and have already initiated programs to domestically produce a higher proportion of their milk. Breeders in developed countries cannot automatically expect to expand their volume of production in order to meet the demands for milk from Africa and Asia.
Milk Products – The vast majority of milk will not be consumed in a liquid unprocessed form – it will be eaten. The trend toward consumers wanting natural products will continue. Consumers will know the product source and product composition in exacting detail. Breeders will need to be produce milk that has attributes for which they have not previously been paid. Processors will want to know more than the fact that the milk they buy is 4% butterfat and 3% protein. Processors will base their payment to producers on the level of specific proteins and/or fatty acid composition. Since breeders currently do not have genetic information on the composition of the protein or butterfat that their animals produce, they will be at a disadvantage compared to the processor. A2A2 milk in Australia (Read more: 12 Things You Need to Know about A2 Milk) already receives a premium farm gate price. Breeders there are already using sires genetically tested to be A2A2.

Dairy farming will be different as well:

Herd Size – In developed countries a minimum of 300 – 500 cows will be needed to cover the cost for the purchase of technology. Breeders in those countries will design their operations based on their strengths and specialties. While in countries with developing dairy industries herd size will vary from a few cows per owner in village herds to very large herds that are located in close proximity to cities and that buy all their inputs. Breeding decisions will be made by groups of cows and not on an individual cow basis.
Automation – There is no doubt that dairying, like all other modern industries, will undergo very significant changes in the degree of mechanization that will occur. Cows will be electronically monitored for a multitude factors. Managers will be focused on managing systems and will have much less time to attend to problem animals. The traditional definition of a breeder’s cow sense will be replaced by breeders using facts, figures, and information on which to base decisions. (Read more: The Future of Dairy Cattle Breeding Is in the Data and Robotic Milking: More than just automation it’s a new style of herd management.)
Feed – Forages and human food processing bi-products will form the majority of the animal diets. Dairy cow diets will be more finely tuned and balanced on a profit generated basis, instead of on a production level basis. Managers will make the investment to obtain expert advice.
Genetic Merit –The level of the genetic ability of the general population of dairy cows for their ability to return a profit to their owners will need to be 25-30% higher than it is today. Breeders, over the next decade, will need to invest in the genetics that return their farms the most profit.
Animal Welfare – Big strides will continue to be needed in animal welfare. Cow comfort and cow mobility will be continuously monitored and will be essential to herd profit. Consumers will demand that cows be polled, not be confined to a tie stall and treated humanely. Breeders will need to use genetic information to help address some of these issues.

Beyond the farms, other factors will affect dairy farming:

The Environment – Practices that are detrimental to the environment will not be tolerated. The current list of factors including greenhouse gas levels, GMOs, carbon footprint, and damaging product residues is only a short list of what farm managers will have to keep on top of in 2025.
Research / Education – Research and Development (R & D) will be an integral part of every business decision. Some farms will produce milk as well conduct R & D. Ownership of intellectual property will be closely guarded, which will be a new approach for many parts of dairy farming. Continuing education will be something farm managers will consider important to keep current with on a daily or weekly basis.

What will this all mean for animal breeding?

There will be no looking back. Cows will need to be different and genetically improved from what they have been in the past and what they are today. The changes in the TPI™ and NM$ formulae that will be implemented on December 2^nd will not be progressive enough for 2025.

It will take research and development to change the genetics of our cows. It could even go as far as the need to develop a new breed or new strains of cows. Breeders will need to take action. Breeders, their leaders and the suppliers of genetic products and services need to be taking time right now to understand how the genetic profiles of the cows of 2025 will need to be different than the genetic profiles of today’s cows.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

It cannot be assumed that someone other than breeders will address the challenges of developing the cows best suited for 2025. A vibrant, viable and sustainable dairy breeding industry in 2025 is not guaranteed, but it is possible. The payoff will be that the breeding industry will be able to shape its best future.

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8 Steps to Choosing What Sires to Use

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Thursday, November 27th, 2014

Selecting sires for use in a herd can take many approaches. In all cases, it depends on the goals of the owner. Furthermore, any bull can be both a saint and the worst sire to ever have semen frozen. For instance, for show oriented breeders, Goldwyn is a saint, and they are still using Goldwyn semen or purchasing Goldwyn daughters or embryos. Yet for some breeders participating in The Milk House, Goldwyn or Goldwyn in the pedigree is to be avoided, in a significant way, due to his daughters’ inability to compete in group housing with other top sires when it comes to milk yield and lack of body condition at the time of breeding. The opposite can be said for Oman bloodlines. Show breeders avoid them. Milk production focused herds regard him almost as a recent Holstein breed saviour, when it comes contributing to herd profit. Tuesday December 2^nd in the United States, when there is a base re-adjustment for all genetic evaluations, will be a good time for all breeders, no matter what they focus their sire selection on, to re-evaluate the bulls or the breeding plan that they use in their herds.

Where is Your Focus?

Not every breeder has a focus or has taken the time to think through the attributes needed by the cows that they plan to work with five to ten years in the future. Why talk about cows five to ten years from now? Well, that is because breeding strategy decisions made today will take five years before they become the majority of the cows a herd is made up of. So the first question you need to answer before you pick up the phone or send an email to your semen supplier on December 2^nd is “What genetics in my herd will provide me with the most profit in the future?”

What are Your Choices?

It comes down to three overall indexes:

Bottom Line Farming – Net Merit $
Balanced Approach – TPI™
Show Type – PTAT, with added emphasis on Stature and Rump

Both NM$ and TPI™ have been revised effective with this December 2^nd index release. NM$ has increased the emphasis on production to where production traits receive almost half the emphasis (Read more: The New Net Merit Formula – The Winners & The Losers and US Genetic Evaluation Changes: Are You Keeping Up?) Breeders can expect the Dec ’14 NM$ values to be between 130 and 150 lower than in the August ’14 genetic evaluation run due to the base adjustments. TPI™ has also increased the emphasis on production and developed a Fertility Index that includes conception rates. For breeders wishing to know more about the revised TPI™ Holstein USA has placed on YouTube a Webinar lead by Dr. Tom Lawlor (Holstein USA Webinar: December 2014 TPI™ & Base Change). Breeders not wanting to increase the stature of their cows will be interested in Dr. Lawlor’s comments on TPI™ now moderating the emphasis on stature. When looking at the TPI™ values on December 2^nd, breeders need to be aware that bulls above 2138 TPI™ are the ones that are the real breed improvers. The webinar does an excellent job of outlining the changes and reasons for the changes in TPI™.

What about Other Considerations?

There are numerous other genetic indexes or genetic approaches that breeders may wish to use when selecting sires. Included in the list are Fluid Merit $ and Cheese Merit $, produced by CDCB / USDA-AIPL, and they will be joined by a new Grazing Merit $ Index. Full details on GM$ can be found on CDCB’s website. Other genetic based indexes are issued by breeding organizations, and they place different degrees of emphasis on traits than do NM$ or TPI™. Non-genetic index approaches to rating sires exist and, for those ratings, breeders do not need to acquaint themselves with the formula or base change that will occur on December 2^nd.

8 Steps to Choosing Sires to Use

Select a website where you can find all the facts on all sires. That site can be a breed association, an A.I. organization or an information site for the latest proof information. Breeders wishing information for sires outside the USA can go to their national organizations. The focus for this article is the sires in the USA as that is where the base and new ranking formula changes are being made.

Decide if you want proven or genomic sires or a combination of both. Many breeders have taken strong positions on which approach to use. Open minded breeders will look at both lists and balance accuracy and superiority in making their choices.

Identify the top 10 to 30 sires for NM$, TPI™ or PTAT. Do not be concerned about other attributes or deficiencies that sires may have. This first sort is to get the overall breed leaders. Using the best there is should be the goal of all breeders and milk producers. Other breeds have other indexes that are their overall total merit index comparable to TPI™.

From the top 10 to 30 listings, eliminate bulls with deficiencies you consider important. Be certain that your deficiencies are truly important to your breeding plan. Fertility and health should be on every breeder’s list.

Breeders wanting Polled in all breeds and Red in Holsteins will need to be prepared to sacrifice some NM$, TPI™ or PTAT to get their list. Other factors, such as Inbreeding Level (Read more: The Truth About Inbreeding, 12 Outcross Sires to Help Control Inbreeding, Stop Talking About Inbreeding) may also factor into decisions. However, always be aware that the more restrictions that are placed on sires means that the sires chosen for use will not be genetically advancing your herd as fast as other breeder’s herds.

Price of semen, unless over $100, should not be a sort criteria. Some breeders will not agree with this, but given that semen costs are less than 1% of a farm’s expenses and that a blend price of less than $50 is possible, the focus should be on genetic merit not on cost of semen.

If A.I organization loyalty is important, be sure not to sacrifice genetic improvement for loyalty. I. organizations want their customers to be successful and achieve their goals.

Breeding advisors or A.I. technicians need to recommend or use the sires that meet the herd’s genetic needs. Often herd owners leave the sire selection entirely to their advisor or technicians. In which case there needs to be a defined and documented plan for what the herd owner wants for his farm. (Read more: Flukes and Pukes – What Happens When You Don’t Have a Plan, Are you a hobby farmer or a dairy business? and What’s the plan?).

Who will Win?

Breeders who follow closely the breed toppers will have anticipation for which sires will top the lists come December 2^nd. Will Mogul’s daughter proven proof place him ahead of Facebook who strongly came to the top of the gTPI™ list in August? Will there be a sire to go ahead of Robust on the NM$ list? Of course, breeders can expect to see new sires at or near the top of the genomic lists. Tuesday has the promise for many new sires for breeders to choose from.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

In the end, the winners will be the breeders that use the elite sires and correctively mate them to the females in their herds. Remember to select sires for their strengths and not eliminate them for minor deficiencies.

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10 Steps to Increase the Profitability of Your Dairy Herd

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Thursday, November 20th, 2014

The key to profit on a dairy farm is always a combination of steps and in making decisions and in taking actions in the order of their relative importance.

Let’s leave genetics aside and consider how effective management can contribute to profit. The source for this article is the results from the Ontario DHI project called ROF (Return over Feed Costs). It formed the basis for comparison for producer management clubs run for over the five years prior to 2010. I had the opportunity to run a number of these clubs, where the herds ranged from 50 to 2000 cows. The producer club members set goals and openly shared their results and ideas on how to help other club members improve their dairy operations. Participants were able to increase their ROF for their milking cows by $1.00 to $4.50 per cow per day. On average an hundred cow herd increased their return over feed costs by $180 per day or over $65,700 per year.

Ten Proven Profit Builders

In order of their importance to dairy farmers the profit building steps were:

Highest Priority Step

Step 1.: Increase Production Per Cow Per Day
Club members all started by fine tuning their rations which included ration balancing, ration preparation and number of feedings per day. Once production levels increased, they were able to cull low end, problem or non-pregnant cows. Increases of 7-10 pounds of milk and .3 to .4% fat were common among club members. In the end these producers were able to milk 10% fewer cows. That was significant and resulted in increased production being the #1 profit builder.

Very Important Steps

Step 2: Improve Feed Intake
Before joining the club, producers seldom were aware of their cows DMI (Dry Matter Intake). Most herds were in the 44-45 lbs range at the start but after fine tuning and changing, most herds were over 50 – 52 lbs DMI. The old saying ‘more feed in – more milk out’ proved to be very true. Many producers increased the forage percent of their diets from 60% to over 80% and saw significant monetary returns to their bottom lines. Almost all producers changed the varieties of alfalfa or corn grown or how they harvested their forages. Three producers that were either increasing their herd sizes or that were needing to replace their haylage storage facilities went to harvesting their alfalfa as dry hay to save on harvesting equipment costs and to give them less rushed schedules at harvest time. These three were all able to achieve the production they required, they required less labor for harvesting and achieved increased profit. Club members often brought their feed advisors to the club meeting and that helped all club members.

Step 3: Enhance Reproduction
Almost every herd changed their heat detection program. Some did it by staff training, or focusing observation on cows 50 – 125 days in milk (which included re-organizing cow groups) and others did it by purchasing heat detection services or equipment. Some herds reduced average days in milk from over 200 to less than 150. The reduction in average days in milk paid off royally in increased average pounds of milk per cow per day and in reduced number of days in dry pens. Holding club meeting on-farm gave club members ideas on what they should do differently. Veterinarians or reproduction specialists were used as meeting speakers. It was amazing to see how club members picked up on ways to tweak their home reproduction program.

Influential Steps

Step 4: Expand Transition Cow Program
It is every producer’s desire to have cows and heifers transition from dry to milking with ease and without problems. Great success was seen by club members that monitored and recording and implemented a three stage program of far-off, close-up and fresh cow (0 to 21 days) groups. As farms do not run comparisons of transition programs it is not possible to know exactly their increased profit but the saving on calving problems and getting cows well started into lactation were often mentioned by participants as being very important.

Step 5: Focus on Finances
At every meeting there were discussions on how changes club members had made impacted their bottom lines. Participants saw increased profit by: 1) having their crops custom harvested, thus saving on having to invest in machinery: 2) purchasing feed inputs instead of growing them; and 3) by focusing their capital purchases or improvements on items that they used every day or that helped their staff to do a better job. At some club meetings accountants or bank managers were included as speakers and their outside the industry eyes added greatly to the discussions.

Step 6: Re-Work Heifer Program
About 1/3 of club members did a total re-work of their heifer rearing programs. Major benefits were seen in less illness and calving up to 3 months earlier. Many producers penciled out that they saved as much a $400 for every heifer raised.

Step 7: Enhance Animal Environment
The vast majority of members made changes to their facilities or how they handled their animals. Some went as far are making major facility changes. One matter that received considerable attention was cow comfort including both stall design and cow cooling during hot weather. Producers that monitored there before and after cow comfort saw increases of 5 or more pounds of milk per day and improved pregnancy rates.

Other Noteworthy Steps

Step 8: Improve Records / Software / Devices
After participating in the club, members often stated that they had not realized how important good records were for being able to improve profitability. All members had kept breeding and production records but, once they started keeping and using feeding records and linking all records to finances, they were very pleasantly surprised to see the increased profit. A note of caution here. Recording is the first step but the information obtained needs to be acted upon.

Step 9: Increase Labor Efficiency
Labor costs can range from 10 to 20% of total farm costs. The club members that changed to having custom operators provide one or more service saw considerable savings in labor costs. They were able to focus their staff on caring for animals. Most participants reported that they personally were able to spend more time managing, planning and spending time with family, once their operation used labor more effectively and more efficiently.

Step 10: Set Aside Time for Planning / Goals
Participants were encouraged to spend one day a month in planning and goal setting. Many frowned on the need to do that in the beginning. However, after seeing how planning and goal setting helped other club members increase their profits, members freely shared their own goals, plans, actions and results.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Of course every farm and farm manager operates differently. But in all cases records and data are needed to make the best possible decisions. The ten profit builders provided here can be used as a guide for dairy farm managers to use to set their priorities and make their plans. Few managers want to be average and all want to enhance their bottom lines. Perhaps one club member put it best when he said that, by attaching priorities and using these ten steps, he was able to “ Significantly drive-up his revenue, keep his costs under control and to have a life outside of his farm operation’.

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Understanding Genetic Indexes – Keep It Simple Stupid

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Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

Go to any purebred dairy cattle sale and listen to the pedigree person. What are they saying? Usually is an exhortation to buy the animal in the ring because it has a gTPI of 2700 or her dam was Grand Champion at prominent show or she comes from eight generation of Excellent dams. In essence what we are being told is that this animal is at the top of the breed and you should buy it. So does dairy cattle breeding work by identifying one number, one show or one family and only using that information to make decisions on. I think we all know the answer to that question … and the answer is…. “NO”! But let’s step back and, regardless of a breeder’s focus, look at how the understanding of all the numbers could be simplified when it comes to genetic information on sires.

The Information We See

Three times a year after each index run, breeders are bombarded with fliers, proof sheets, and fancy sire catalogues with numbers, numbers, numbers and cover girl like photos that make you wonder why the classifier only made the pictured first lactation cow GP 80. Was the classifier blind? Is the photo an accurate depiction of the cow? Maybe The Bullvine is right about photo ethics (Read more: Dairy Cattle Photography: Do You Really Think I am That Stupid?, Dairy Cattle Photography – Over Exposed, Introducing the Dairy Marketing Code of Conduct).

But let’s get back to the numbers, numbers for sires.

So many of them. Often expressed differently. What is good and what is not so good? What’s this thing about a base roll on December 2^nd and what does it mean for dairy cattle breeders? Why oh why can’t the brainy folks who compile the numbers make them so breeders can quickly look at a number for a proven or genomic bull and know if he is a standout, middle of the road, an also ran or an out-and-out loser. Don’t the genetic types know that bottom-line focused milk producers want quick and simple answers on bull rankings as they plant and harvest crops, handle manure, feed and manage cows, coach 4-H or FFA and yes, educate their children.

What is #1? Does it Matter?

However at the same time that milk producers are asking for simplification, many breeders are striving to have Mr #1 Sire. First it was 2500 gTPI and now it is 2700 gTPI. Or first it was 1000 NM$ and now it is 1150 NM$. Can the difference between 2600 and 2700 gTPI be quantified when it comes to mating cows? If a breeder has a cow that needs improvement in protein yield and feet and legs which sire should he use? Is a sire with 39 lbs of protein and 1.81 for Feet & Legs Composite good enough? Bottom line focused breeders need a universally expressed number for all traits so they can say to their genetic advisor whether to include a sire in the mating program. Of course having a breeding plan that includes needs and priorities is needed for a mating program to be successful. (Read more: What’s the plan?)

Percent is Universal

Every student is trained to understand that 100% is the best mark possible, 75% shows good proficiency and 50% is just a passing grade. So why couldn’t the same thing apply to genetic evaluation results? That way breeders would not need to know what is the very best value, how to distinguish if this is on the new or old base or where a sires daughters are inferior.

Breeders Want to Know

Breeders do not want to carry several files on their electronic device on what is top, good, okay or bad for each trait. All they want to know for the sire they are looking at is – what are his strengths and weaknesses relative to his contemporaries?

Breeders expect their nutritional advisors to know the fine details about balancing rations. As well they expect their genetic advisors to know all about how to improve their cows and herd from a genetic perspective. In both cases breeders expect their advisors to use the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid. (Read more: gPs– Genetic Profile Systems – Dairy Cattle Breeding Made Simple)

Does This Fit Breeders Needs?

The following charts are provided so Bullvine readers can consider if breeding the females in their herds would be easier for them if sire indexes were expressed on a percent basis. A percentage of what the very best contemporary’s index is.

Table 1 – Top Ten gTPI Daughter Proven Sires (Aug ’14) Expressed as a Percent*

Segment	#	Avg. LPI	Avg. Sale Price	Price/LPI Point
>3000LPI	80	3286	$60,021	$18.26
>2000 LPI <3000	164	2589	$16,384	$6.51
<2000 LPI	56	1637	$8,879	$5.42
R&W	26	2093	$24,600	$11.75
Polled	26	2275	$37,076	$16.30
Show Heifers or All-Canadian Pedigree	52	2005	$17,154	$8.56

* Percent of the index for the #1 sire for the trait within the category

A quick review of Table 1 shows:

Facebook achieves the #1 position based on his high production and good type classification conformation
Dorcy, AltaGreatness and Large daughters have the udders
AltaGreatness, AltaFairway and Junior are below average compared to their marketed contemporaries for Feet & Legs
As a group all these sires can be expected to produce daughters that are very high for gTPI
Breeding on gTPI only will miss the fact that sires have strengths and limitations
Using only the top gTPI sires is not likely to produce show winners

Table 2 – Top Ten gTPI Genomic Sires (Aug ’14) Expressed as a Percent*

RANK	NAME	# OF DAUGHTERS	PTAT	Udder Comp	F&L Comp	Body Comp	Dairy Comp	Stature
1	BRAEDALE GOLDWYN	55	3.03	2.59	2.56	1.93	2.03	3.1
2	REGANCREST ELTON DURHAM-ET	21	2.47	2.31	2.13	1.7	1.98	2.13
3	KHW KITE ADVENT-RED-ET	19	2.53	2.24	1.6	2.04	1.65	2.41
4	REGANCREST DUNDEE-ET	18	2.06	2.18	0.75	1.29	1.55	1.18
5	GEN-MARK STMATIC SANCHEZ	14	3.07	2.17	2.44	3.34	2.83	3.91
6	WILCOXVIEW JASPER-ET	11	2.89	1.94	0.73	2.56	2.52	3.22
7	ERBACRES DAMION	8	3.2	2.22	3.17	2.83	2.72	2.76
7	MAPLE-DOWNS-I G W ATWOOD-ET	8	4.16	3.41	3.46	3.44	2.97	4.31
9	PICSTON SHOTTLE-ET	6	2.66	1.97	1.79	2.42	2.3	2.71
9	ROYLANE JORDAN-ET	6	2.07	1.94	0.32	1.53	2.06	1.93

* Percent of the index for the #1 sire for the trait within the category

A quick review of Table 2 shows:

Very little separates #1 and #10 on the list. Remember that genomic bulls are 70% Rel.
Within individual traits there is considerable variation among these sires
The percentages identify that every sire has one or more limiting factors
As is always recommended use several genomic sires instead of one or two
Supershot, Delicious Coin, Delta and Rubicon are high for production
Alta1stClass, Kingboy and Monterey stand out for conformation

Table 3- Top Ten NM$ Daughter Proven Sires (Aug ’14) Expressed as a Percent*

Segment	#	Avg. LPI	Avg. Sale Price	Price/LPI Point
>3000LPI	80	3286	$60,021	$18.26
>2000 LPI <3000	164	2589	$16,384	$6.51
<2000 LPI	56	1637	$8,879	$5.42
R&W	26	2093	$24,600	$11.75
Polled	26	2275	$37,076	$16.30
Show Heifers or All-Canadian Pedigree	52	2005	$17,154	$8.56

* Percent of the index for the #1 sire for the trait within the category

A quick review of Table 3 shows:

The vast majority of these sires will have daughters that produce high volumes of fat and protein
Yano, Erdman, Marian944 and Twist stand out for Productive Life
Robust is in a league all his own for Daughter Calving Ease
Twist claims #3 position on NM$ and has high PL, SCS and DPR.
SCS needs to be interpreted carefully as sires with poor SCS are not returned to active service

Table 4 – Top Ten NM$ Genomic Sire (Aug ’14) Expressed as a Percent*

Segment	#	Avg. LPI	Avg. Sale Price
Picks	74	2789	$28,622
Heifers	203	2528	$24,588
Cows	23	2330	$46,839
Total	300	2476	$27,289

* Percent of the index for the #1 sire for the trait within the category

A quick review of Table 4 shows:

Percentages make it quick and easy to identify both strengths and limitations for a sire
Delta, Supershot and Dozer do not have significant limitations
Eight of the sires have over 80% for Productive Life
SCS, DPR and DCE percentages vary quite a bit but that’s to be expected for sires that do not have milking daughters

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Understanding index values is important but having multiple ways of expressing the results of genetic evaluations can result in breeders saying “Too much information. Give it to me in terms I can quickly comprehend”. Being a good dairy farmer requires that managers know a great deal about many disciplines. A good dairy farmer understands that effective breeding requires equal parts art (cow sense) and science (number crunching). Simplifying the expression of genetic evaluation results could be a step forward for all breeders.

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

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The Truth about Inbreeding

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Thursday, October 30th, 2014

Should breeders be concerned about the increasing rate of inbreeding in today’s dairy cattle? Articles are regularly published about the need to lower the rates of inbreeding by such means as cross-breeding. However for purebred breeders planning to remain competitive in advancing their herds genetically, to increase the inventory value of their herds and to maximize the profit from their dairy operations, the matter of increased rates of inbreeding is more than a single item issue.

Breeder Attention to Inbreeding is Limited.

As I follow breeders’ comments on The Milk House (link) and other Facebook posts, I see little breeder concern or perhaps even awareness of any negative impact from focusing on a limited number of bloodlines that are more inbred than the general population.

Showmen often identify Atwood, a Goldwyn son, as the next great sire to follow Goldwyn as the Holstein breed champion in the show ring. Already, before they even receive their first official daughter proofs in December, I hear breeders talking about the attributes, including breed leading TPIs or LPIs of the many daughters they already have in their herds from two unproven bulls, Mogal and Uno. Supersire may not receive an official proof in December but, in time, all three of these sires will enter into the club of very, very extensively used sires that will lead to a further narrowing of the global diversity of Holsteins. That is what happened with Elevation, Astronaut, Blackstar, Shottle, Goldwyn, Planet and Oman in the past.

The Question is ……

Dairy breeders need to be asking themselves “How do I balance genetic improvement, dairy enterprise profit and increasing rates of inbreeding as I mate my herd?”

What is Inbreeding?

In simplest terms, inbreeding is the mating of related animals. The more closely a bull and cow are related, the higher the frequency that their common genes will be passed on to their resulting progeny. Animals that do not meet the breeding goals of breeders do not get the opportunity to have their genes passed on. As a result, the genetic diversity of the population decreases. In short, focused selection contributes significantly to decreased diversity. It is a double-edged sword.

Varying Degrees of Inbreeding.

The Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (a proactive organization of professionals interested in enhancing reproduction through technology) has produced the following helpful chart to demonstrate the varying degrees of inbreeding.

Some interesting facts can be extrapolated from this chart. Line breeding has been used by dairy cattle breeders to fix the good genes in their herds. But it can also accentuate any negatives associated with the breeding lines used. Selection within a breed has, by far, been the tool of choice for genetic improvement especially since the introduction of artificial insemination. Its contribution to increasing rates of inbreeding has come through the very extensive use of the top sires. Inbred crosses within species has been promoted by some as a solution to the increasing rates of inbreeding but very often the benefits quoted are for single traits and not for total lifetime profit of the resulting generations.

Level of Inbreeding

For North American Holsteins from 1960 to 2010, the levels of inbreeding have gone from zero to 7% to 8%. Moreover, it is continuing to increase at about 0.3% per year.

Impact of Inbreeding in Dollar Terms

Based on USA studies it is estimated that for each 1% increase in inbreeding there is a loss in lifetime net income of $23.11. That equates to a difference of $96.44 for a 9% inbred cow compared to a 5% inbred cow. Canadian and Irish crossbreeding studies show slight lactation losses for milk, fat, and protein yields, but gains for fertility and health traits when breed crossing is practiced. However, neither study reports a net lifetime profit figure comparing breeding pure to crossing breeds.

The question when making a mating decision comes down to correcting for the loss due to inbreeding between the sires under consideration. A sire with an Inbreeding Coefficient of 8% would need to have a NM$ value of about $70 more than a sire with 5% Inbreeding Coefficient for them to be considered equal.

It is more than looking at the Inbreeding Coefficient (IC)

An animals IC tells the degree to which the animal is inbred. However in breeding it is the degree to which the progeny of a mating is inbred that needs to be considered. That means that a sire will not likely produce calves with similar ICs for every mating in your herd. It all depends on a sire’s varying degrees of relationship with your females.

In the USA and Canada information is provided for every sire on how he will mate with the national population of females as to inbreeding level. In the USA the terms used in Effective Future Inbreeding (EFI) and Genomic Future Inbreeding (GFI), while in Canada the term used is Relationship Percent (%R). In all cases, they are general guides to which sires will produce more or less inbred progeny.

What is the Ideal?

The are no perfect numbers for EFI, GFI or %R. It depends on both the genetic merit and inbreeding percent of the resulting progeny. Generally speaking, EFIs and GFIs over 10.0% and %R over 15% of the progeny should be avoided by using an alternate sire that is less related to the dam.

Sound Advice

Dr. Nate Zwald of Alta Genetics provides two thoughts relative to inbreeding:

Will the use of genomic sires speed up the rate of inbreeding? – “Yes on a breed level it will, but we are also increasing the rate of genetic gain in an incredible way. So our goal should not be a ‘less inbred’ cow but, instead, the most profitable cow. Over the past 25 years, we have created more inbreeding but also more profit. The same is true now with genomics, except that we should now expect both inbreeding and genetic gain to increase at a rate two to three times what we experienced in the past.”
Does this mean we can soon expect to get to 10 percent inbreeding level on a breed-wide basis? “Yes says Zwald. Geneticists are working on ways to balance the inbreeding level with genetic gain on a breed-wide basis, as a producer you should only be concerned with inbreeding versus genetic gain in your own herd.”

Ways to Select Bulls to Use in Your Herd

In summary, there are basically three ways to address both genetic gain and increased inbreeding:

Use Outcross Sires that are low for EFI, GFI or %R. (Read more: 12 Outcross Sires to help Control Inbreeding)
Use a herd mating program that takes into consideration inbreeding. Most AI studs have such a service.
Use sires that optimize your breeding program that are not closely related to your herd (i.e. GFI below 10% or %R below 16%) (Read more: What’s the plan?)

The Bullvine Bottom Line

As long as breeders plan to rapidly increase the genetic merit of their herds an increasing rate of inbreeding will be with us. Remember when mating a cow and bull it is the genetic merit and inbreeding percent of the resulting progeny that is the focus and not the parents’ values. One breeding program will not suit every breeder, but basing decisions on profit should be part of every plan.

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US Genetic Evaluation Changes: Are You Keeping Up?

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Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

There is an old saying about “Keeping up with the Joneses”. The term is often attached to things that happen in high society, but it can also be attached to the purchase of material things. Three decades ago it was installing a home swimming pool. Ten to fifteen years ago it was making sure that your children were introduced to the use of a computer. Recently it has been joining Facebook? Well, dairy cattle breeding is not exempt from change. Today The Bullvine wishes to overview and provide some comments about keeping up with the changes in genetic indexes for December 2014 recently announced by the Council On Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB). For readers interested in exact details, they can go to https://www.cdcb.us/New/News.htm.

Weekly Genomic Evaluations

The first thing to take note of is that genomic indexes will be available every Tuesday (8 am Eastern Time) for animals that have had their analysis completed in the past week. These weekly released indexes will be approximate as they will not be a full run of the evaluation system. Then once a month the full evaluation will be done and released on the first Tuesday of the month. Some breeders will ask ‘Why do an approximation? Just release the results monthly’. There are two reasons for this move: 1) The work flow at the analysis lab can be evened out throughout the month; and 2) Breeders can select, sell or cull animals (or embryos) earlier thereby minimizing the expense of raising calves.

Be Clear About the Release Date

For buyers, using genomic evaluation results, it will be important that they ask for the date of release of the results. It is entirely likely that this change to weekly genomic releases will create confusion until breeders are aware that weekly releases are approximations and until CDCB irons out any wrinkles there may be at the start. As well buyers interested in knowing how close to the top of an elite list that an animal is will need to do extra checking. I think we all knew that in time there would be more and more frequent reporting of animal’s genetic indexes. Dairy cattle breeding is faster every year that’s what happens when genetic advancement is rapid. Breeders need to make sure that they ask if an animal tops the list at the time of the official releases in Dec, April or August, or at the time of the nine other monthly releases, or on a weekly release. Make sure you ask for the release date.

Base Roll

Every five years the base to which all animals are compared is updated. In December, the base will change to all cows born in 2010 from all cows born in 2005. On the CDCB website, the changes for all traits and all breeds are listed. Table 1 lists are some of the changes in indexes breeders can expect for Holsteins and Jerseys both of which have made significant genetic improvement from 2005 to 2010.

Table 1 – Index Changes That Will Occur in December 2014

	Holstein	Jersey
Net Merit $	-184	-124
Protein (lbs)	-12	-12
Fat (lbs)	-17	-19
Milk (lbs)	-382	-327
Productive Life (months)	-1	-0.8
SCS	0.07	-0.04
DPR	-0.2	0
CE	0.4	n/a
DCE	1.6	n/a
UDC	-0.92	-0.33
FLC	-0.78	-0.15
BDC	-0.61	-0.15
Final Score	-0.99	-0.53

Breeders can expect that bulls and cows will have their genetic indexes lowered. The relative rank of animals, of course, will not change. All animals will be affected to the same degree. Bulls that were $700 NM will now be $516 NM. A base change time is an excellent time for breeders to re-evaluate the minimum values they will require bulls or replacement females to meet.

NM$ Index

Based on the up-to-date facts on genetic merit of the USA dairy populations and the economics of dairy farming in the USA, researchers at USDA-AIPL have fine-tuned the Net Merit index formula. Table 2 provides a comparison of the traits included and their weights for the formula used from 2010 to 2014 and the new formula for 2015.

Table 2 – Traits and Weights * in NM$

	2010	2015**
Milk	0	-1
Fat	19	22
Protein	16	20
PL	22	19
SCS	-10	-7
UDC	7	8
FLC	4	3
BDC	-6	-5
DPR	11	7
CCR	0	2
HCR	0	1
CA$	5	5

* A negative value indicates that a higher rated animal impacts negatively on NM$
** Indexes that will be issued on December 02, 2014

The changes may not seem major, but it should be noted that the emphasis on production traits are increasing from 35% to 43%. This is similar to the change in emphasis that will occur in TPI in December (link to MSH’s article on changes for TPI). Breeders can expect that there will be re-ranking of bulls for NM$ especially for bulls that either excel or are below average for their production traits indexes. Animals that excelled for SCS, PL and DPR, can be expected to fall back relative to other animals in the breeding population. Breeders should take time to go through the new rankings in December before ordering semen, purchasing embryos or replacement females.

A New Grazing Index

Based on breeder requests, CDCB will be producing a fourth total merit index called Grazing Merit (GM$). The three previous total merit indexes, Net, Cheese and Fluid will remain in place. GM$ will take into account the needs of grazing herds and reflect the need in those herds for high fertility and seasonal calving cycles. With the move, in some regions or countries, to have the cows harvest their own forage and the production of milk during the growing season, this index is sure to get serious consideration.

Fertility Indexes

As noted in Table 2 heifer and cow conception rate genetic indexes are now included in the NM$ formula. The rationale is, of course that a conception must take place before there is a pregnancy. Fertility will no longer be solely DPR. As well the methodology for determining DPR will change with more information incorporated into the calculation. Breeders can expect that for some sires, there may be changes in their DPR as the correlation between the previous and the December DPR proofs is only 0.97.

New Genetic Evaluation Software

The new software has been used for calculating all fertility indexes since December 2013. This change in software will not be as obvious to breeders. The software in use previously was implemented in 1989. Since then, computational strategies and methodologies have been significantly enhanced. Extensive comparisons have shown that, for the daughter proven sires, the correlation between the evaluation results for the new and old software is 0.995. That is very high. However for cows and genomically and parent average evaluated animals, there may be some changes due to a software change.

Sign Up to Learn More

Holstein USA wants all breeders, regardless of which breeds they have in their herd, to have the latest details before December 02. They will be doing that by hosting a webinar on November 13 at 1 pm Eastern Time. Details on the webinar can be found by going to http://www.holsteinusa.com and on the home page will be found a link to the webinar. Click on the link – people wishing to participate in the webinar will need to register. Interested people should register early.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

It is recommended that breeders take the time after the indexes are released on December 02 to go through the official listings with the goal of objectively selecting the animals, especially sires, which best meet their breeding plan. (Read more: What’s the plan?). We say objectively because it could well be that a sire you were using this fall no longer ranks high enough for you to continue to use him. However, it is not only sires that we must be objective about. Some previously high donor females may also drop. However, there will also be animals that go up in their rank position in their breed.

Even though our first reaction may be to say that the new index is wrong, we must remember that the researchers have worked hard to bring the industry more accurate information so dairy breeders can continue to move their herds forward genetically — as rapidly as possible! Making it possible to keep up with the Joneses!!

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Best Practices when Buying New Technology for Your Dairy Operation

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Monday, October 13th, 2014

Last week, while, at World Dairy Expo, I took the opportunity to attend a seminar presented by Jeffrey Bewley from the University of Kentucky. His topic was New Monitoring Technologies May Help Manage Cow Reproduction and Health. Before Dr. Bewley started I wondered what his take home message would be and if it would have been better for me to attend another seminar on breeding for feed efficiency. With more than one topic of interest going on simultaneously and not being able to clone myself, it meant that a choice had to be made. I will need to catch up on the materials shared on feed efficiency via electronic means however the ideas shared by Dr. Bewley struck a desirable note for me.

New Technologies Leading Change

Dr. Bewley started his presentation by stating “Technologies are quickly changing the shape of the dairy industry across the globe. In fact, many of the new technologies being applied to the dairy industry are variations of base technologies used in larger industries such as an automobile or personal electronic industries. These new technologies will continue to change the way dairy cattle are managed, bred and fed.”

Dr. Bewley’s presentation focused on numerous devices that are being connected simultaneously to cows in the University of Kentucky herd to measure performance, reproduction and animal health. Individual cows have more than one device attached to them so that the data captured can be inter-related. He strongly stressed that knowing single observations without knowing other measurements on a cow does not make the dairyman’s job easier. In fact, it makes it harder. Lots of data but no way of linking a piece of information from one device to another does not help make better decisions. In Dr. Bewley’s words “data is only useful if it translates into meaningful actions that herd managers can apply”.

Which Device(s) to Invest In?

The number of devices mentioned, by Dr. Bewley that the team at the University of Kentucky are testing was overwhelming. However, Dr. Bewley did provide thoughts on criteria for dairymen to use when deciding on equipment.

Ideal Technology

Must be cost effective not just something that is nice to have.
Needs to be flexible, robust and reliable (barns are harsh environments).
Best if device is simple to use and the data captured is solutions focused.
Information needs to be quickly available and user-friendly.
Equipment supplier needs to be available 24/7 to troubleshoot.

Limitations

New technology is not a fit for every dairy. Trial it before you buy it.
Some devices are brought to market before they are fully field tested.
Software is not always user-friendly. Test if it works for you.
Some devices are developed and sold without consideration for work patterns on farm.
Avoid stand-alone devices that cannot be linked to other on-farm technology.

How to Judge Benefits

Will the information produced be more accurate than was previously available?
Will the information provided save on labor costs?
Will the information provided lead to increased profit per cow per day?
Will the information result in improved product quality?
When using the device will there be minimal environmental impact?
Will your cows be healthier, have improved reproduction and be more profitable?
Will managing the herd be easier and less time-consuming?
If a device cannot provide at least two of the above benefits then don’t buy it!

Lessons Learned

Dr. Bewley and his team of researchers have focus on Precision Dairy Farming. Some of the lessons they have learned include:

Be cautious about buying early stage technologies.
Take the time to thoroughly learn how to use the technology and interpret the results.
Integrating the data from the various on-farm technologies takes an expert.
Having qualified customer service available is crucial.
Give priority to buying devices that will have the largest impact on profit.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The application of precision dairy farming technologies is important as herd size increases and margins narrow. A good place to get an objective view on technologies that apply to health and reproduction is the University of Kentucky website. Of course, another good source of information are breeders that have already installed the technology. Ask them both what’s good and what’s not so good about the device. By all means identify where your operation can be improved and then pencil out the cost – benefit of each technology. Applying technology will be a leading contributor to profitability and sustainability on dairy farms in the future.

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5 Things You MUST Know about the Future of the Dairy Breeding Industry

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Wednesday, September 10th, 2014

As I attend dairy events and communicate with other breeders, I hear varied reactions to the ever increasing rate of change in the dairy cattle improvement industry. Some want things to stay the way they are or go back to the way they were. Others want a slower rate of change. While others say – “Bring it on!” Most often the last group are the new entrants and those that are expanding and buying the new technology. As a result of all these interest groups having different viewpoints, organization serving breeders receive mixed messages on how they are to operate and what they need to do to lead us into the future. But one thing is for certain, the future will not be the past or the present. Here are a few topics that we all need to mull over.

Criticism and Fault Finding Don’t Work

When was the last time you pointed a finger at others and said ‘They are wrong!’? Well maybe they are but then again maybe they are not. It seems that folks in the dairy industry waste energy on pointing out deficiencies instead of accepting others and moving forward to make the overall better. Every parent knows that when they complement and build up their children, the end result can be over the moon. There is a people management theory that talks about bosses finding employees doing things right and rewarding them for that instead of focusing on the things done wrong. Future and fault both start with an ‘f’, but they do not both belong in the same sentence.

Needed – Futuristic Organization Leaders

When you vote for your rep to an organization do you vote for the one that has the time to serve or the one that will put in place the policies and direction so that staff can develop the programs and services needed for five and ten years down the road. Often we hear “He or she would make an excellent director, but they are too busy developing their own business to take the time to serve on a board of directors.” The truth is that those ideas are exactly what progressive boards need. There are ways to get their creative input into policy and direction and it does not mean that they need to attend unnecessary and unproductive meetings. Big companies operate very well under policy and direction boards – so too can the dairy improvement industry. Our futures may depend entirely on the type of leaders breeders elect and how those leaders are encouraged to operate. (Read more: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables)

Dynamic Organizations

Frequently these days we hear about mergers, take-overs, consolidations and elimination. Often our initial reaction is negative to any or all of these. Nevertheless the industry moves on afterwards. Our industry needs to move continually on too new and higher heights. Protection, of jobs, programs, services or organizations, is a time, energy and resources waster.

Traditionally we have had individual organizations providing animal identification, animal tracking, milk recording, type classification, data storage, data analysis, research and technology transfer. If we were starting from where we are at today to create new, would we still need all these centers? Avoiding the costs of duplication and providing the best information to breeders in 2020 are opportunities that must be taken.

Most often we think nationally. But in this ever increasingly global world we need to consider if there are opportunities for more success if we were to have multicounty or worldwide organizations. International organizations for providing services such as genetic evaluations, data storage, research and technology transfer need to be considered. (Read more: The Future of the Dairy Cattle Breeding Industry – United we Stand, Divided we Fall!)

Automation Has Just Begun

Something new in robotic or drone technology comes on the scene for dairy farmers almost every month. Initially, it was machines replacing labour but it has quickly expanded to be more data captured that is significantly improving cow, herd and business management. The day is coming where every input is tested and measured and every output is measured, tested, monitored and documented for consumer awareness.

Our traditional concept of what’s official and what is not will not be necessary. Milk weights will be captured at every milking and on a routine schedule other tests, including components, will be performed.

But that is not all – animals will be continually monitored and have the results retained from birth to death. As herd size expands and the cost of technology decreases, breeders will fine tune their genetics, their nutrition programs, their management and how they market their products. If we call the current time the “information age” then I am sure, we’ll need to call it the super information age in ten years’ time. (Read more: Robotic Milking: More than just automation it’s a new style of herd management)

One Cow Will Not Suit All

In the past, we have defined the ideal cow and strongly encouraged every breeder to breed for that ideal. Well, that’s not what will happen in the future. Yes, every breeder will want and breed for the profitable cow but the definition of profitable will be very much breeder specific. With more on-farm software and more on-farm testing, programs like milk recording or type classification could well be replaced. It could very well be that automatically captured photos will be all that is needed as far as conformation assessment is concerned. Want to know how a cow moves? Then watch her move in real time. Want to know the mobility of a sire’s daughters, analyse the videos. When genomic indexes reach 80+% accuracy, then the need for third party verification of performance will be much less important than it has been in the past. Furthermore with most breeders deriving the vast majority of their revenue from the sale of milk and with cow input costs captured individually, net returns will determine which cows stay or go, not their performance. (Read more: The Secret to Breeding the Dairy Cow of the Future… )

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Our industry’s future success depends on the attitude and approach taken by breeders. Collaboration amongst breeders and support for new information and concepts is necessary. The leaders, we elect, need to be business oriented visionaries. Communication from breeders to their leaders and organizations and back to the breeders must be continuous. Information and data will determine profit or success. Where once breeding was considered primarily an art form, in the future cattle breeding will depend upon science and business. One thing is for sure, pulling together is not an option, it is a must have.

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The Secret to Breeding the Dairy Cow of the Future…

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Thursday, August 28th, 2014

As breeders we seldom give thought to the new milk products that consumers will want in the future. We assume that the composition of the milk we ship will not be different from what our cows currently produce. So we continue to select for the proportions of fats and proteins that have existed, wellalmost, forever. But our assumption of no composition change may not be correct. Let’s dig deeper.

Value Added Is the New Game

Some breeders have not been willing to accept the generic approach and average price for the milk they ship. To that end we see A2 milk taking market share in some countries, butter making a comeback (Read more: 12 Things You Need to Know About A2 Milk) and breed specific milks also catching market share. All in an effort to generate more revenue. It takes effort but the rewards appear to be well worth it.

The growth in milk’s market share of the food dollar will come from new specialty, health or pleasing to the palate products. Cold fluid milk in not currently the drink of choice in countries where the population growth will occur and it cannot be priced above other beverages.

To get new value added products will take something other than the milk our cows have been producing. This has been talked about for some time but until genomics came on the scene it had only been talk, as we had no way of linking genetics to products. (Read more: The Dairy Industry – Past, Present and the Future, “Got Milk” is becoming “Got More” and MILK MARKETING: How “Got Milk?” BECAME “Got Lost”)

Takes Shareholder Collaboration

For the vast majority of milk produced, the customers next in line for the milk producers sell, are the processors. So to garner the maximum farm gate price, breeders will need to supply their processor with the milk that can be used to yield the value added product. But it’s not a simple thing.

Changing Milk Composition – Possible or Impossible?

What we are talking about is genetically changing for instance the protein composition of the milk cows produce. It is possible to feed cows a special diet or grow feeds on a certain soil type and relatively quickly alter composition to produce a specific product. It takes time to identify the desired parents, select for and then produce the cows that will produce the milk with unique composition.

A study currently underway in Scandinavia is collecting genomic data on individual cows and three breeds for the proportions of casein and whey proteins they produce. The Jerseys have higher concentrations of kappa casein known to be favourable for cheese making. The Swedish Red have a higher concentration of genes not as favourable to cheese making and the Holsteins have the highest relative composition of beta casein. However, within each breed, there are cows that have the ‘good’ genetic make-up, favorable for increased cheese production. The next steps of the study will be to actually quantify relationships and, once the results are available, refine selection for increased cheese production. The good news is that producers wishing to receive increased returns for the milk they sell for cheese, will be able to develop herds that allow them to do that.

Can Breeders Get Started Now?

At present the tools to identify animals with the ‘good’ genes are not available. However that should not stop breeders wishing to develop bloodlines that will give them more cheese. Selecting for protein yield or CM$ (Cheese Merit Dollars) are good starting points. Instead of using NM$ (Net Merit Dollars) or FM$ (Fluid Merit Dollars) for sire or dam selection, breeders should use CM$. To maximize on-farm profit, selecting for CM$ is superior to using single trait selection and selecting for protein yield only. As more information relating genomic profiles with cheese production becomes available, breeders will be able to fine tune their selection.

Sires that Stand Out

At the present time genomic and daughter proven sires that stand out for CM$ include the following:

Mr Mogul Delta 1427 (203HO01468) CM$ 1115
Cogent Supershot (224HO02881) CM$ 1099
MR Shot Dozer (151HO00696) CM$ 1067
Roylane Socra Robust (7HO10524) CM$ 921
Clear-Echo Nifty Twist (20HO14335) CM$ 885
Kings-Ransom Erdman CRI (1HO09880) CM$ 856

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Breeders wishing to position themselves for having breeding stock and producing milk that is favourable to cheese production need to get started on using sires in their breeding program that have CM$ values over $1000 CM$ for genomic sires and $800 CM$ for daughter proven sires.

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Genomic Testing – Are You Missing Out?

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Thursday, August 21st, 2014

When The Bullvine mentions genomic testing to production oriented breeders, we frequently get the reaction “Oh, that’s just for herds that sell high priced animals. I focus on running a profitable milking operation. I don’t need to spend money on testing my animals.” Well, in fact, that is not an accurate assessment of the benefits available from using this tool at the present time. If you are among those not using genomics, Stop Procrastinating! It is a tool that everyone breeding their herd to improve it genetically should not be without.

Only Very Moderate Uptake – So Far

Currently, there is an 8% uptake of genomic testing of all Holstein heifer calves. The total is less in other breeds. We have barely scratched the surface. Half a century ago, official milk recording was at the same low level. Today it is recognized as a much-needed toll both on-farm and in the national herd. Obviously the question that breeders need answers to is ‘How will I benefit from genomic testing all my heifer calves?’

Known Benefits

Much has been written about benefits and opportunities available to breeders who are submitting samples for DNA testing. Those range from selecting the best mates for your females, … to parentage verification, … to how to manage your heifer herd, … to deciding which heifers to breed and which ones to cull or implant, … to polled or not polled, …to finding the genetic outlier of an individual mating, …to an aid in marketing heifers in sales.

Just recently Holstein USA and Zetas launched an exciting service called Enlight. Breeders that submit their samples to Zoetis can through Holstein USA’s website summarize and analyze their heifers for their genetic qualities. This is the first, and no doubt other breeds will establish similar services in the future. Breeding to get the genetics that work best for you and then managing them in the best way possible is definitely important.

At the industry level, genomic testing has also proven beneficial. Alta Genetics, a few years ago, working with large herds in the USA, parentage verified all young sire daughters. It was a significant step forward in accuracy of sire proofs so they could guarantee their product to their customers. Companies like Zoetis and Neogen initiated genomic testing services so they could help producers and also as complementary to their other products. A.I companies have been able to restrict their young sires sampled to only top genomically evaluated young sires, thereby saving millions for themselves by not sampling the bottom enders and millions for breeders that did not have to raise, calve in and milk the lower genetic merit daughters of the bottom end bulls. All of these benefits are leading to cost savings in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

However six years into using genomics we are only starting to reap the rewards.

Genomics Will Make the Future Brighter

Breeders often mention that they want sires to use and females in their herd that are superior to what is available today for traits that are difficult or impossible to measure. Here are some thoughts and facts that may help breeders to decide to use genomic testing so they can have animals that are even more profitable than their herd is today. It does however require that genomic testing becomes routine (Read more: Why 84% of Dairy Breeders Will Soon Be Using Genomic Sires!).

Heifers:

Investigation, at the farm level, is being done in beef heifers on growth rates, diets tailored to genotype, immunity to common diseases and age at first estrus. The results of those studies will be able to be applied to dairy heifers since little similar research is being conducted for dairy heifers. Already breeders can test for the genetically inferior heifers, so they do not need to be raised. Up to $500 per heifer in rearing cost could be saved by having the retained heifers calving by 22 months of age. Remember that it is age at first estrus that is important, for which we have very limited farm data. First breeding depends on a breeding actually occurring. With heifers genotyped and selected for first estrus significant savings will be possible.

Feed Efficiency:

Two major research projects, one in USA and The Netherlands and one in Australia and New Zealand, will identify the cows that are genetically more efficient at converting their feed to milk. Within a couple of years, we can expect to see reports relating genomic information to feed efficiency. This type of research is costly and not currently practical at the farm level, but using research herds this investigation is well underway. Reducing feed costs by 5-10% through genetic selection would result in many millions in savings. That is likely to be crucial to the dairy cattle breeding industry as dairy competes to feed a hungry world. (Read more: Feed Efficiency: The Money Saver and 15 Strength Sires That Will Still Fit In Your Stalls)

Inbreeding:

CDCB already makes available the inbreeding level of genomically tested animals based on their genomic results. No doubt further research results will provide numbers associated with inbreeding. Think about it. In the past the inbreeding level for two full sisters, based on pedigree, has been considered the same. However, by using their genomic profiles the level of inbreeding can be much more accurately known for each sister. A recent report from CDN, for the time period 2010 to 2013, shows that inbreeding rates are increasing not decreasing. Even though breeders are aware that inbreeding is a negative to future profit, they continue using fewer sire lines. More in-depth study of presence or absence of genes that negatively affect the viability of our cattle take time. Why do we always expect someone else to take responsibility for the level and rates of inbreeding? (Read more: 6 Steps to Understanding & Managing Inbreeding in Your Herd and Stop Talking About Inbreeding…)

Disease Resistance:

The list is long on diseases that breeders want their animals to be resistant to. Many research projects are underway to relate the genotype to particular types of mastitis, respiratory diseases, wasting diseases and even production limiting diseases like milk fever. CDN and Canadian milk recording agencies have been capturing field data for a number of years now on eight production limiting diseases. In time, the relationships between genetic lines and these diseases will be better-known. So that selection can be carried out to avoid problem bloodlines. When more animals are genomically tested, and bloodlines prone to diseases are identified great steps forward will be able to be made. It takes considerably more than 8% of the population genomically tested to move breeding for disease resistance to reality. (Read more: Genomics – Opportunity is Knocking)

Reproduction:

Failure to get animals to show good heats, to produce good oocytes and conceive when bred is the leading frustration on most dairy farms. The role that genetics plays in that frustration is now receiving attention by many researchers and organizations. In the past, the capturing of useful data to do genetic analysis relative to reproduction has been a significant problem. The relating of genomic results to reproduction holds out considerable hope. Early embryonic death, haplotypes that negatively impact reproduction, genetic difference between animals for cystic ovaries and many more are all areas of concern for breeders. Once again both genomic and on-farm data are needed to move forward. (Read more: 10 things dairies with great reproduction do right and Are Your Genetics Wasting Feed and Labor?)

Misconception:

I hear breeders say “Genomic indexes are just like production indexes.” However, that is not so. There are genomic indexes for production traits, conformation traits and management traits. Genomics is a dynamic science. It is best if breeders know not only the genomic values for the animals currently in their herds but also their ancestors. To build the genomic history for a herd necessitates that testing start as soon as possible. Genomics is a tool every breeder will benefit from using no matter what their selection goals are. (Read more: Better Decision Making by Using Technology and FACT VS. FANTASY: A Realistic Approach to Sire Selection)

In Another World

Outside the world of dairy cattle but totally related to DNA analysis, there is a study just under way in the United Kingdom, where 100,000 people with cancer or rare diseases are being genotyped to better understand people’s ability to avoid or resist cancer and disease. One of the terms used in the news release was that before there was DNA profiling this work would not have been possible. Relating that back to dairy cattle, if we do not have the DNA information for animals we will be limited in our ability to eliminate deleterious genes from our cattle.

Will Genomic Testing Pay?

The question for breeders appears to have been one of cost – benefit. “What will I get for the fifty dollar cost of doing a low-density test?” The fact is that, to date, milk producers have not taken the opportunity for more rapid genetic advancement by testing all their heifers. However, the tide is about to change. With new information coming out almost weekly on how the genetic (aka genomic) make-up of an animal relates to profitability, breeders without genomic information on their herd will not be in a position to know which sires to use or how to manage or feed their animals. Genomic testing needs to be viewed as an investment rather than a cost. Invest $50 shortly after birth to save hundreds over the cow’s lifetime.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Every journey requires that a first step be taken. The first step is that breeders submit samples for DNA analysis. Every breeder will benefit by knowing the genomics of their herd. No doubt the cost of testing will come down as more breeders participate. Future success in dairying will require genomic testing, just as current success depends on capturing and using performance information. Are you prepared for using genomic information to assist in creating your future success in dairying?

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The New Net Merit Formula – The Winners & The Losers

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Thursday, August 7th, 2014

For over twenty years USDA-AIPL and now CDCB have been publishing Net Merit (NM$) values for dairy cattle with US genetic evaluations. Over those twenty years five revisions have been made to the formula, the last in 2010, as new traits have been added, new genetic evaluation methodologies have been developed, and the economics of dairy farming has changed. The next change in the formula will occur in December 2014.

It is important that breeders consider the impact of the coming changes as they review the sire, cow and heifer NM$ indexes on August 12^th. Breeder consideration is needed because the matings that are made this fall will have offspring born in 2015 when the new formula will be in place. Obviously the changes in the formula will not affect how the new future animals will perform but it will, however, affect where the animal ranks for marketing purposes and where a herd’s genetic level for NM$ is relative to other herds.

Let’s dig deeper and see what changes are to take place and how that may affect current breed leading NM$ sires.

Significant Changes Coming In December

The following table compares the weightings, 2010 to 2014 (December), for the components of the NM$ formula.

TABLE 1: Comparison of Relative Emphasis for Traits in NM$ Index

Name	Lbs. Milk	PL	SCS	CE	NM$	PTAT	UDC	F&L C	TPI
DE-SU OBSERVER-ET	1602	7.2	2.76	6	792	2.7	3.02	0.89	2332
HONEYCREST BOMBAY NIFTY-ET	236	7.2	2.62	7	553	-0.46	-0.13	0.97	1810
POTTERS-FIELD KP LOOT-ET	1004	7.2	2.68	7	650	0.08	1.71	-0.24	1954
KELLERCREST BRET LANDSCAPE	81	7.1	2.36	8	506	0.65	1.27	1.16	1838
WHITMAN O MAN AWESOME ANDY	202	6.9	2.55	5	754	0.32	-0.17	1.21	2063
ZIMMERVIEW BRITT VARSITY-ET	410	6.8	2.62	6	668	0.71	-0.47	1.55	2013
CLEAR-ECHO NIFTY TWIST-ET	942	6.8	2.62	8	748	-0.32	-0.42	1.17	2039
KED OUTSIDE JEEVES-ET	355	6.8	2.83	10	515	1.37	0.97	1.74	1913
ENSENADA TABOO PLANET-ET	2216	6.7	2.98	6	721	1.93	1.44	-0.47	2176
GOLDEN-OAKS GUTHRIE-ET	1078	6.7	2.78	6	535	-1.15	-1.24	0.36	1728
DALE-PRIDE MANFRED ALFIE	519	6.6	2.96	6	461	-0.63	-0.36	-0.01	1702
LAESCHWAY JET BOWSER 2-ETN	200	6.5	2.84	7	455	1.62	2.03	1.83	1940
ELKENDALE DIE-CAST-ET	-872	6.5	2.72	6	370	0.68	1.85	1.99	1718
LAESCHWAY JET BOWSER-ET	200	6.5	2.84	7	455	1.62	2.03	1.83	1940
BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE	1236	6.4	2.7	5	779	1.57	1.6	2.87	2292
CABHI AUSTIN POTTER-ET	151	6.4	2.81	6	520	0.05	0.41	0.02	1766
CABHI MOOSE-ET	45	6.4	2.64	6	373	0.18	0.3	1.11	1625
SILDAHL JETT AIR-ET	1118	6.3	2.64	6	644	2.88	2.26	2.91	2168
SPRING-RUN CAMDEN	-67	6.2	2.91	7	433	0.57	1.79	0.6	1762
KERNDT MAXIE GOLDSTAR-ET	199	6.2	2.57	6	449	-1.28	-0.61	-0.96	1631

Thoughts on the changes include:

The emphasis on production will increase by 31%, to where production traits account for almost half the weighting. That is a considerable change.
Milk and fat yields get all the increase for production.
Some breeders have been commenting that milk yield needs to be given more attention given that, in many herds, diets contain a high percent of forage.
It is somewhat surprising that protein is dropped slightly, especially when you recognize that cheese holds a big future for marketing milk.
To compensate for the increased emphasis on production other traits were reduced. PL (86%), SCS (70%), Type (88%) and Reproduction (88%).
More reduction in SCS that other traits is likely justified given the progress made in SCS to the point where sires over 3.00 do not get used. (Read more: SCC vs. Mastitis Resistance – Which one fits your breeding goals? and FACT VS. FANTASY: A Realistic Approach to Sire Selection)
Reduced emphasis on Body Composite, -4 from -6, follows our thinking here at The Bullvine that size does not matter as much as we have thought necessary for high production (Read more: She Ain’t Pretty – She Just Milks That Way!, Does Size Matter?, 5 Things You Must Know About Secretariat, Lung Capacity and Dairy Cattle and 15 Strength Sires That Will Still Fit In Your Stalls)
Reduced emphasis on DPR, 5 from 11, also follows the Bullvine research which showed the accuracy of prediction for DPR genomic indexes is only 50% (Read more: The Genomic Roller Coaster – Hold on it’s going to be a bumpy ride)
As getting conceptions is crucial, the addition of CCR and HCR is desirable (Read more: gPs– Genetic Profile Systems – Dairy Cattle Breeding Made Simple)
The reduction for PL from 22 to 19 may be questioned by some however, in proportion, it is no greater than reductions for other non-production traits. (Read more: Breeding for Longevity: Don’t believe the hype – It’s more than just high type, Are Your Genetics Wasting Feed and Labor?and Let’s Talk Longevity)

3 Proven Sires Favored by New Formula

Three currently (April 2014) high NM$ proven sires will gain from the new formula. They are: Roylane Socra Robust; Den-K AltaGreatest; and Mainstream Manifold. They are all high production sires, and the new formula will favour them. All three, Robust, AltaGreatest and Manifold will also benefit from less emphasis on their average traits – SCS and DPR.

Breeders can expect to see sires that have production indexes below 1500 lbs for milk and 65 lbs for fat drop relative to other sires for NM$. Sires over 2200lbs milk, 80 lbs fat and 55 lbs for protein will rank higher for NM$ come December 2014. Breeders that use NM$ in sire selection should consider discontinue using, after August 12^th, sires with low production indexes.

2 Genomic Sires Going Up!

Two currently (April 2014) high NM$ genomic sires will be rated higher with the new formula. They are: Cogent Supershot; and Uecker Supersire Josuper. They are outstanding for production. Supershot – 2528 lbs milk, 100 lbs fat and 85 lbs protein. Josuper – 2971 lbs milk, 118 lbs fat and 92 lbs protein. Supershot has good ratings for the other traits so will remain to standout for NM$. Josuper will benefit from less emphasis on traits where he is breed average.

Many current relatively high ranked NMS genomic sires will fall back if they have only moderate milk indexes. Breeders should consider discontinuing the use of genomically evaluated sires below 1600 lbs milk, 85 lbs fat and 60 lbs protein.

The Effect on Polled Sires

Current marketed polled proven sires are not highly rated for production, so will not fair well with the new NM$ formula. On the genomic sire side, two high production sires standout as sires that should increase in their relative NM$. They are Bryhill Socrates P (1914 milk 99 fat and 65 protein) and Pine-Tree Ohio Style P (2033 milk, 64 fat and 57 protein). Other sires that will do relatively well under the new NM$ formula are Kerndtway Eraser P, Da-So-Burn MOM Earnhardt P and Pine-Tree Ohare P. Many polled sires have below 1000 lbs of milk and can be expected to drop significantly in NM$ come December.

1 Star Sires of Sons

One sire of sons stands out as benefiting, in a significant way, from the new NM$ formula. That sire is Seagull Bay Supersire. His high production numbers put him in an elite status – 2434 lbs milk, 111 lbs fat and 78 lbs protein. The reduced emphasis on SCS and DPR, in the new formula, will also help Supersire, as he is average for those traits.

Other genomically evaluated sires of sons, heavily used over the past couple of years, often have been only moderately high for production traits. Included in this category are sires such as Mountfield SSI Dcy Mogul, De-Su BKM Mccutchen and Amighetti Numero Uno. These sires do have some outlier high production rated sons but, on average, the majority of their sons will drop for NM$ come December.

Be Prepared to Avoid Inbreeding

With both Robust (sire) and Supersire (son) in heavy use and both benefiting from the new NM$ formula, it will require that top outcross sire and female lines be identified and used in order to avoid inbreeding. That can be accomplished by breeders using both corrective mating and genomic testing.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The changes coming for the NM$ formula in December 2014 are not just minor tweaks. Breeders that use the NM$ index in sire selection should be prepared to set aside sires that in the past have had high NM$ ratings but were only average to slightly above average for their production indexes.

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Are Your Females Reproductively Ready?

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Thursday, July 31st, 2014

It matters not whether you are breeding or implanting heifers or cows in your herd; the question is are they cycling and are their uteruses in the state that they can receive a fertilized egg and establish a pregnancy. It’s big bucks off the bottom line if your females are not cycling when they should. It means carrying more animals than necessary, extra feed costs, extra labour, semen and embryos down the drain. We all know that the number one reason for culling is reproductive failure. It all comes down to being proactive rather than reactive when managing for reproductive success.

On Being Prepared

I was reminded of how important this is when I visited a very successful 200 cow dairy on a hot (90F) and steamy (80% humidity) day in August of last year. I was impressed to see that the cows were producing, on average, 5.7 pounds of fat plus protein per day. What really drew their reproduction program to my attention was when the owners showed me a fifth lactation cow that was almost eight years old. She was producing 120 pounds of 4.0% fat and 3.5% protein milk having calved 83 days previously and at that moment she was in standing heat.

The purpose for my visit was to study the equipment the herd was using to monitor the health and reproduction in their herd (Read more: Better Decision Making by Using Technology and Robotic Milking: More than just automation it’s a new style of herd management.). My take away from that visit was that it takes being prepared for both the cows and heifers to be ready and able to get pregnant. Furthermore, the heifers in the herd were starting to be bred a 12 months of age and on average were calving at 22 months. They were breeding their heifers by weight. As the owners told me their success story, they were not stressed about getting animals in calf although they were looking for information so they could do an even better job on their reproduction program.

Beyond the Feed

Every nutritionist, worth their salt, carefully considers and advises dairymen on how to best feed their animals from birth to herd removal in order to achieve reproductive success. Semen handling, insemination and implantation techniques and sire, cow and heifer conception rates are topics that vets, reproduction specialists and semen sale people advise owners and staff on. Moreover, now geneticists are producing genetic indexes for fertility, pregnancy rate and body condition scores. And the staff working on the reproduction in herds are continually being trained on how to achieve success.

But it goes further than that in order, as Sue Brown of Lylehaven Holsteins (Read more: LYLEHAVEN: Developing the Dream) told us, for the vet to report the great news “She’s Pregnant”.

The Britt Theory

In 1992, Dr. Jack Britt, well know and very respected veterinarian from North Carolina State, published an article entitled Impacts of Early Postpartum Metabolism on Follicular Development and Fertility. Don’t let the title frighten you. This paper comes from a vet that grew up with dairy cows, judged cows in college, conducted research and educated students at Michigan State, NC State and U of Tennessee and has spoken extensively to breeder groups about reproduction in dairy cattle.

In short, Dr. Britt brought to the attention of all of us that the follicles that are available for ovulation, at the time of heat, were produced 60 – 80 days before a heat. The state of the female’s health and wellbeing when the follicle started to be formed is very important. Dr. Britt’s paper reported that “If follicles are exposed to adverse conditions such as severe negative energy balance, heat stress or postpartum disease during the initial stages of growth, this could affect gene expression, resulting in impaired or altered development. Such an impairment could result in the formation of dysfunctional mature follicles, which produce poor oocytes and result in the formation of weakened corpora lutes”. In other words, poor follicles won’t develop properly, and the resulting egg will not conceive. End of story.

Although Dr. Britt’s paper was published over twenty years ago, all breeders should ask themselves if it has relevance for their dairy operation.

Britt Theory Supported

Numerous other researchers have supported Dr. Britt. Their work includes more detailed study of the effect of NEB (Net Energy Balance) on embryo development, stressed cows and follicular development, follicular development and the ET donor, environmental factors that disrupt oocyte function and much more.

Beyond the Cow Herd

It does not start and stop with the milking cows. Heifer breeding in a herd likely makes up 25% of the breedings on a farm. Having healthy, well grown heifers able to conceive at 12 months of age takes both a plan and follow through action.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Conception will not just happen. Drugs alone won’t solve the problem. As breeders, we need to dig deeper and truly know what goes on in our herds reproductively. Success takes having a plan. Success takes a team approach – vet, nutritionist, technician, repro specialist, owner and staff. Are you ready?

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15 Strength Sires That Will Still Fit In Your Stalls

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Wednesday, July 30th, 2014

For the vast majority of Holstein breeders, success is not about winning first prize at a cattle show. What they do want are heifers and cows in their herd that efficiently convert high forage based diets into growth and milk products that consumers will buy. For those breeders tall animals are not the ideal. In fact many breeders are saying that they want cattle that have more heart and lung capacity (Read more: 5 Things You Must Know About Secretariat, Lung Capacity and Dairy Cattle) and less stature to go along with high production, improved reproduction and functional udders and feet and legs. (Read more: Feed Efficiency: The Money Saver)

Moderating Frame

Since size, stature and strength are some of the more heritable type traits in the North American type classification evaluations; it is possible to moderate stature and increase the capacity of chest and heart and lungs depending on the sires used. The challenge is to do that while placing major emphasis on production, health and reproduction traits. As udders and feet and legs have been improved significantly over the past twenty years in herds focused on producing milk, there is less need to place as much emphasis there. As always there are no perfect sires, so it takes careful corrective mating. Instead of generation after generation of breeding for increased stature, it may require that breeders use some sires that are negatively rated for frame traits. (Read more: Are Today’s Holstein Cows Too Tall?) Today the majority of sires have high ratings on stature than on strength (USA) or chest width (Canada). To increase strength and capacity the sires used need to have higher indexes for strength or width than for stature.

Sire Suggestions

If your dairy breeding model is about production, efficiency and functionality from heifers that are 1150 pounds and 55 inches, calving at 21 months and cows that are up to 1600 pounds and 58 inches at fourth calving, then here are some sires that may suit your needs. The first requirement for making this list was that the sire have a high CM$ value. Cheese Merit was selected instead of Net Merit as the increased global demand for milk will likely come from the protein content.

Bryhill Science P

(200HO06584, Uno x Shottbolt x Goldwyn x September)

Science will be attractive to breeders wanting to introduce the polled gene into their herd. For a polled sire, he has high ratings for CM$ 756 and gTPI 2297 (71%Rel). His stature (+1.79) and strength (+1.20) ratings are moderate so, except for tall and large framed cows, he will hold but not decrease those traits. His inbreeding is slightly above average given his sire stack. His strengths are udders (+2.50), fat (89) and protein (42) yields with good Productive Life (+4.1) and PTAT (+2.75). His pins are high, but his DPR is +0.8 otherwise he has no significant limiting factors.

Bush-Bros Mog Fairfax

(14HO07349, Mogul x Freddie x Lancelot x Nitro)

Fairfax has a high rating for CM$ 974 with a moderately high rating for gTPI 2359 (71% Rel). His stature (+0.49) and strength (+0.24) ratings are breed average which leads to a lower gTPI given his fat (73) and protein (42) yields. He excels for DPR (2.4), SCS (2.66), PL (7.0) and Calving Ease (5.6). Breeders who are wishing to have average framed cattle that have good udders (+2.36) with non-traditional sires back in his sire stack and desirable management trait ratings should look up Fairfax’s proof sheet.

Cogent Supershot

(224HO02881, Supersire x Robust x Shottle x Aerostar)

Supershot has been a very popular sire for IVF programmed females over recent months. At CM$ 1110 (highest on this listing) and gTPI 2625 (71% Rel), he is at the very top. Currently, his semen price is very high but breeders willing to wait can expect it to decrease. His stature (+1.07) and strength (+1.01) ratings indicate he will leave moderate framed cattle. His strengths are milk (2528), fat yield (100), protein yield (85), PL (7.4) and DPR (1.9). He has no negatively rated type traits, but neither does he excel for type (PTAT 2.2).

Co-op Bosside Massey

(1HO09527, Mascol x Bret x Manfred x Megabuck)

Massey in one of the few sires where his strength proof (1.54) exceeds hi stature proof (+0.94). These ratings along with his 96% Rel gTPI proof (2260) and CM$ 838 make him a sire that breeders wanting strength and production should definitely consider. His sire stack is quite different from other sires in North America. With over 700 daughters in his proof, breeders can expect that his proofs will hold up over time. His SCS proof is excellent (2.52) and he has good ratings for PL (3.7), DPR (0.9) and Udders (2.21). He needs to be protected for high pins and straight rear legs.

Denistier Discovery

(147HO02479, Mogul x Bowser x Toystory x Outside)

Discovery fits the mould well for sires that commercial dairymen wanting less frame should consider using with stature (+0.52) and strength (+0.07). His sire stack is enough different so as to not be a concern about inbreeding. He has excellent ratings for Management Traits – CE 5.5, DCE 5.4, PL 7.4, SCS 2.63, DPR 2.9, and Rump Angle 1.94 and good indexes for milk (1512), fat (65), protein (51) and feet & legs (2.49). In total, he has a very high CM$ 950 rating and a relatively high gTPI 2415 (72% Rel). He will need protection for straight rear legs (-2.25).

De-Su LTM Rodgers 11379

(7HO12023, Lithium x Russell x Wizard x Mtoto)

Rodgers has an uncommon sire stack and excels at CM$ 1008, and his gTPI is high at 2450 (72% Rel). With stature at 0.86 and strength at 0.12 his daughters can be expected to be medium for frame. As with other sires in this listing, he has very high Management Trait indexes – PL 7.7, SCS 2.65 and DPR 2.7. His Maternal Calving Ease at 3.9 is excellent, and his Calving Ease at 5.8 is very good. His milk (1626), fat (86) and protein (57) are also very good. His overall type. PTAT 1.68, is only slightly above average yet he has no serious type weaknesses.

EDG Rubicon

(151HO00681, Mogul x Robust x Planet x Bolton)

Although Rubicon’s sire stack contains many heavily used sires, his CM$ 1004 and gTPI 2531 (72% Rel) standout with moderate ratings for stature (1.50) and strength (1.15), and it warrants his inclusion in this listing. PTAT 2.68, UC 2.41, FLC 2.54 and PL 6.3 say that his daughters should be trouble free cattle. Breeders desiring medium framed cattle with all other traits well above average should look up Rubicon.

Farnear Alfalfa

(29HO17516, Supersire x Freddie x Shottle x Buckeye)

Alfalfa’s indexes for stature (-0.26), strength (-0.07) and body depth (-0.72) make him the kind of bull breeders wanting to genetically decrease the frame of their cattle should consider using. He has high indexes for CM$ 935, gTPI 2354 (73% Rel), Milk 1622, Fat 71, Protein 49, PL 8.9, DPR 1.3 and MCE 4.6. His full brother Farnear Admiral (7HO12233) has very similar ratings and could also be considered.

Gillette SGO Myspace

(200HO10003, Mogul x Planet x Bolton x Shottle)

Breeders wishing to breed medium framed cows, but not wanting to move away from the breed’s popular sires might consider Myspace. With stature at 0.69 and strength at 0.22, he fits this listing. He has high indexes for CM$ 913, gTPI 2402 (73%), Milk 1805, Fat 82, Protein 58, PL 6.9, MCE 5.5 and SCS 2.68. He has good ratings for PTAT 2.46 and DPR 1.0, and he indexes are all positive except for very slight negatives for teat length and set of rear legs, side view.

Mainstreet Manifold

(200HO00042, Oman x BW Marshall x Emory x Adan)

Manifold is a 97% Reliability sire with a unique breeding pattern. Strength at 1.53 and stature at 0.59 says that his daughters are stronger than they are tall. He is just the type of sire that breeders who are wanting to breed for strength, but not for stature should be considering. He is a calving ease specialist (3.7) with good ratings for CM$ (761), gTPI (2188 (97% Rel), PL (4.3) and DPF (1.2). Breeders should expect to get daughters that are average for type (PTAT +1.18).

MR Mogul Delta 1427

(203HO01468, Mogul x Robust x Planet x Elegant)

Although Delta is rated slightly higher for stature (+0.81) than strength (+0.04), he is just breed average for both of them. He makes this listing because of his extremely high ratings for CM$1076 (second on this listing) and gTPI 2567 (73% Rel) even though he is only average for frame traits. His strengths that get him highly rated for total merit include milk (1643), fat (93), protein (60), PL (7.8) and SCS (2.60) His DPR is 1.2 and, beyond the frame traits, he is positively rated for all type traits (PTAT 2.75).

MR Moviestar Mardi Gras

(534HO00025, Mogul x Planet x Shottle x Oman)

Mardi Gras is slightly higher for stature (+1.31) and strength (+0.78) than most sires in this listing, these traits are rated much lower for his other type ratings. His specialties are CM$ 926, gTPI 2467 (72% Rel), udders +2.96, PL 6.9 and DPR 2.3 with good rating for all other evaluations. His sire stack contains extensively used sires, but his EFI is not high.

RH Superman

(200HO07846, Supersire x Man-O-Man x Baxter x Durham)

Superman is not yet a year old and semen is not yet available but he is a bull to watch for in the future. His Canadian indexes include Stature +2 and Chest Width +8 which would indicate that he would be the type of sire that needs to be included on this listing. He is rated at 3525 for gLPI (65% Rel) which puts him at the very top. Other traits with 99%RK ratings include Milk 2564 kg, Fat 126 kg, and Protein 96 kg. Traits with 98%RK ratings are CONF 11, Herd Life 113 and DCA 110.

River-Bridge Co-op Troy

(1HO11056, Mogul x Freddie x Mascol x Trent)

Troy is another top sire with CM$ 1057 (third highest on this listing) and gTPI 2508 (72% Rel) that is only average for strength (0.34) and stature (1.06). His strengths include PL 8.6, SCS 2.50, DPR 2.7, UC 2.37 and FLC 2.50. His only limiting factor is straight rear legs -2.07.

Westenrade Altaspring

(11HO11437, Mogul x Gerard x Mascol x Laudan)

Altaspring is the highest rated type sire (+2.82) on this listing yet he is only above average for strength (1.10) and stature (1.62). He is high for CM$ 967 and very high for gTPI 2546 (71% Rel). He is an all-round bull with no significant weaknesses in all his indexes.

There’s a Pattern

Eleven of the fifteen sires on this listing are sired by Mogul (8) and Supersire (3). That should not be a surprise given that for frame traits these two sires are not highly rated. Mogul is rated (USA) Stature 1.59 and Strength 0.79 and (Canada) Stature 1, Chest Width 1 and Height at Front End -6. Supersire is rated (USA) Stature 1.25 and Strength 0.91 and (Canada) Stature 0, Chest Width 5 and Height at Front End -4.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

As Mogul and Supersire have been used extensively as the sires of A.I. bulls in the past few years, breeders can expect to have more strength bulls available in the future than there have been in the past ten years. Breeding for width and strength are likely to be topics that discerning breeders will be breeding for in the years ahead.

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5 Things You Must Know About Secretariat, Lung Capacity and Dairy Cattle

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Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

Breeding the next generation cattle is always a combining of the females we have in our herds with the breed leading sires to obtain even more profitable herd in the future. How big our Holstein cattle need to be and how their bodies function are important matters that future focused discerning breeders are asking about and discussing with fellow breeders.

How Do You Measure Size?

Many different yardsticks exist in dairy cattle to measure size. It can start at the muzzle and goes all the way to the pins. For some breeders, it starts at the ground and goes to the top of the cow. In the perfect cow it a combination of everything – front to back and top to bottom. However, are all areas that measure capacity of equal importance? Alternatively, are there some areas that are more important than others?

Type classification programs and the show ring deal with many areas relative to width, depth and total mass. There are many areas, but I seldom hear reference made to the lung capacity that an animal has. Sometimes we hear mention of width of heart, as a measure for the size of the lungs. However, do we know, for sure, if animals that have more width of chest and heart actually have a greater lung capacity?

Do You Consider Lung Capacity?

We know that in humans the ability to take in air and add oxygen to our systems is essential for every person especially physical workers, mountain climbers or Olympic athletes. Do cattle breeders consider the capacity of their animals’ lungs? If they do, how do they know if animals have more or less lung capacity? As in human environments, dairy cattle are subjected to high altitudes, high temperatures and airborne diseases and our cattle are expected to perform no matter what. Every breeder knows that calves that have had severe pneumonia will not reach their genetic potential to produce milk. So less lung capacity due to loss definitely has an effect on performance. In cows, the more milk produced, the more blood that must flow to the udder. Every drop of blood requires oxygen. Larger lungs facilitate the addition of more oxygen to the blood.

Measuring Lung Capacity

One question that remains unanswered for me is this: “By breeding taller and taller Holsteins with narrow and narrower width between their front legs and also less width side to side in the heart region, have we decreased the lung capacity of our breed?”

I know from hands on experience that cows in hot climates differ in their ability to cope with sweltering weather. Especially when the temperature does not drop during the night. It’s hot sometimes for weeks on end. I have seen, in such an environment, wide chested cows able to produce 100 pounds (45 kgs) of milk in 113F (45C) temperature days. Moreover, in the same herds small heart and narrow chested cows have froth dropping to the ground from their mouths. They are panting, and even when cold mist is sprayed on their backs they can barely produce 80 pounds (36 kgs). In large herds, the managers do not often choose to take the steps necessary for the narrow cows to be comfortable. It’s a matter of economics not animal treatment. Trained staff are often not available on the farm. The narrow cows self eliminate from the herd.

During physical exams, people often blow into a device to measure their lung capacity. It’s not so easy to get a measure of an animals’ lung capacity. Somehow we need to know more about lung capacity and its impact the productive ability of our dairy cattle.

More Thoughts on Lung Capacity

There may be a way to physically measure lung capacity in dairy cattle but then to collect enough data to do genetic evaluations is a very costly task. Could an animal appraisal be done on heifers at weaning for a number of traits? Besides lung capacity, additional traits could include weight, feet, height, vigour and rumen function. After all, we need the type of weanling that will grow into heifers able to calve at 20 months and then quickly become productive and profitable member of the milking cow herd. Herd replacements are the third biggest cost item on dairy farms yet we often do not track and manage the heifer herds as well as we should.

It would be possible if we knew both lung capacity and genomic make-up of a sample group of heifers to develop a genetic evaluation system to breed for lung capacity without having to directly measure lung capacity on every animal.

Lessons from Secretariat

Let’s let our thinking move beyond dairy cows to race horses. For those breeders not familiar with Secretariat, he was perhaps the greatest racehorse in history. He won every race in the Triple Crown, the three biggest races that horse greatness is judged by. Not only did he win all the races, but he won that last one by 31-lengths. Destroying the competition. Charles Hatton of Daily Racing Form comments on Secretariat as follows “ Secretariat had depth of barrel, with well-sprung ribs for heart and lung room …. with the big rear end, the straight legs, huge lung and blood-pumping capacity, and his great size, he was a phenomenon waiting to happen ….. He lost only five times in his career … He was on the threshold of track or stakes records in most of his races and he broke them in his Triple Crown races … after his death, at 19 years, in 1989 post mortem examination revealed that his heart was two-and-a-half times the size of a normal heart for a horse his size. Not enlarged. Just big. There’s an equine gene for it. He had that too.” If there’s a gene for heart size in horses then likely there is a gene for lung capacity in dairy cattle.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Breeders select and care for their animals so they can maximize their lifetime profit. We know and are learning more every year about the genetic makeup of our dairy animals. It is time to think about how our animals’ lungs operate in order to complement the balanced nutrition, sound management, high-calibre genetics and cow friendly environments that we provide. Maximizing oxygen intake is important.

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SCC vs Mastitis Resistance – Which one fits your breeding goals?

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Monday, July 7th, 2014

Dairy farmers want to avoid mastitis. It’s expensive – antibiotics, lost milk, extra staff time and lost genetics. Furthermore every dairy operations targets to have the food safety and milk product quality that consumers want and deserve. When SCC testing through DHI and subsequently SCC sire proofs became available significant improvement tools were available to dairy cattle breeders. Breeders knew from experience that some cows and cows families were more prone to getting mastitis. Although somatic cell information was a great first step, it wasn’t the total answer. Breeders questioned if SCC could be too low and if very low SCC cows actually have less ability to fight off infectious agents that cause mastitis. So breeders asked the researchers to investigate further.

Canadian Stats Lead to First Mastitis Resistance Ratings

At CDN, breeders and researchers put their heads together in 2007 and decided to ask breeders to report on eight cow health events (Read more: Is Animal Health Important to You?) to get the necessary field information on incidences. For more than five years, 40% of Canadian milk recorded herds have been reporting if a cow has had mastitis and any of the other seven health diseases since her last test day. That information plus her somatic cell scores and genomic profile were combined to develop animal genetic ratings for mastitis resistance that will be released for the first time by CDN (Read more: Mastitis Resistance Selection: Now a Reality!) on August 12, 2014. By using the negative of a mastitis case plus the actual facts on SCC and genomic profile, a new tool will be in the hands of breeders to use in making their selection decisions.

The study of the data collected showed that Mastitis Resistance has a heritability of 12%, similar to the heritability of an important trait like feet and legs and therefore it is possible to improve it genetically. As many discerning breeders suspected, the study showed only a moderate association between a positive genetic rating for SCC and incidence of clinical mastitis in first lactations (44%) and later lactations (58%). SCC genetic indexes are an indication of few mastitis cases but a considerable distance from the accuracy breeders expect.

Mastitis Resistance Sire Proofs

After developing the formula calculating genetic evaluations for mastitis resistance, CDN researchers then compared the results to existing known facts. It was found that Sire Proofs for SCC have a correlation of 80% with Sire Proofs for Mastitis Resistance. That is moderately high but not perfect. And Sire Proofs for Mastitis Resistance were strongly associated with incidence of mastitis in first lactations (85%) and later lactations (90%). Note that the associations for first and later lactations are closer for Mastitis Resistance than they are for SCC.

When CDN publishes the genetic indexes in August, the scale will be 100 for average with a standard deviation of +/- 5. The following table produced by CDN is very interesting.

Source: Mastitis Resistance Selection:
Now a Reality! CDN July 2014

This table provides for breeders some information details for both clinical mastitis (actual mastitis cases) and sub-clinical mastitis (SCC). On a population wide basis breed average bulls (100) for Mastitis Resistance will have 92% healthy daughters with an average SCC of 178,000 in their first lactation. In later lactations an average bull will have 88% healthy and an SCC of 226,000 in second lactation and 292,000 in third lactation. It should be noted that if a bull is used that only has a 91 rating, breeders can expect his third lactation daughters to average 400,000 SCC. In many countries 400,000 is now, or soon will be, the maximum allowable for milk to be accepted for shipment off-farm. As mentioned the numbers in this table are for an average herd. Individual breeders with less mastitis incidence can expect healthier animals and lower SCC average. However herds, with higher than average mastitis incidence, can expect poorer results.

In August Mastitis Resistance sire proofs will be published by CDN for Ayrshire, Holstein and Jersey breeds. Due to the large number of Holstein bulls with proofs and genomic profiles, CDN will publish genomic evaluations for Mastitis Resistance for the Holstein breed.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

CDN Mastitis Resistance genetic indexes will increase the accuracy of selecting animals for their ability to avoid the significant cost of udder disease. It is the tool that breeders have been asking for. It came about when breeders, researchers and genetic evaluation officials collaborated. Look for bulls or cows that are 105 or higher before considering them to be significant breed improvers.

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Sire vs. Dam – Which has a Greater Impact on Your Herd’s Genetic Improvement?

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Monday, June 16th, 2014

Too many people say that dairy breeding is an art. If they manage their herds this way, they will be unable to compete in an industry that grows with science. Art places value on the ‘family’ and sees both parents contributing equally shared value to their offspring. In practicing the science of dairy cattle breeding parents are not equal when it comes to which one is the most important when deciding upon a herd’s genetic improvement plan (Read more: What’s the plan? And Flukes and Pukes – What Happens When You Don’t Have a Plan, and Pick The Right Bull – Your Future Depends on The Decisions You Make Today!).

3 Factors Determine Genetic Advancement

On a simplified basis, the rate of genetic advancement in a dairy herd is primarily a function of three factors: 1) the superiority of parents; 2) the accuracy of the parent’s genetic indexes and 3) the generation interval expressed as the time between the birth of the parent to the birth of the calf. Dairy cattle breeders have, in the past, placed a priority on intense selection, but today with genomic information generation interval is necessary.

Four Pathways for Improvement

In a population of dairy cattle there are four groups, commonly called transmission pathways that are considered when determining the overall population rate of improvement. These pathways are: 1) the Sires of Bulls (SB); 2) the Sires of Cows (SC); the Dams of Bulls (DB); and the Dams of Cows (DC). Breeders do not have equally accurate information on each pathway and definitely do not apply equal selection intensity for each pathway.

Which Breeding Scheme is the Best?

The following table outlines the importance of the different pathways for three improvement schemes when animals are ranked and selected using total merit indexes like TPI, NM$ and LPI.

Comparison of Genetic Improvement Schemes

Pathway	Selection %	Accuracy	Generation Interval	Relative Emphasis
1. Traditional Progeny Testing Program
Sires of Bulls (SB)	5	0.99	7	44%*
Sires of Cows (SC)	20	0.75	6	22%
Dams of Bulls (DB)	2	0.6	5	31%
Dams of Cows (DC)	85	0.5	4.25	3%
Relative Total Merit Genetic Gain per Year = 100%
2. Genomic Testing Program
Sires of Bulls (SB)	5	0.75	1.75	34%
Sires of Cows (SC)	20	0.75	1.75	23%
Dams of Bulls (DB)	2	0.75	2	40%*
Dams of Cows (DC)	85	0.5	4.25	3%
Relative Total Merit Genetic Gain per Year = 185% to 200%
3. Genomic Testing Program with IVF
Sires of Bulls (SB)	5	0.75	1.75	30%
Sires of Cows (SC)	10	0.75	1.75	20%
Dams of Bulls (DB)	2	0.75	2	36%*
Dams of Cows (DC)	10	0.62	2	14%
Relative Total Merit Merit Genetic Gain per Year = 225% to 250%

* Pathway of most importance The Bullvine appreciates the assistance of Dr. Larry Schaeffer, University of Guelph, in providing information for the above table. Further details can be found in Dr. Schaeffer’s 2006 paper “Strategy for applying genomic-wide selection in dairy cattle,” Volume 123 of Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics.

Progeny Testing has Served Breeders Well

Breeders have been successful when they used the results of the traditional A.I. progeny testing programs. That is when only elite sires are used to produce bulls (SB) for progeny testing, each year newly proven sires are used to produce the heifer calves (SC), Dams of Bulls (DB) are elite indexing milking females and the bottom 10-15% of the cows in the herd are not used to produce replacement heifers. (Read more: Why you should get rid of the bottom 10% and 8 Ways DNA PROFILING Your Whole Herd Will Improve Your Breeding Program) most important pathway, by quite a distance, is the Sires of Bulls (SB) at 44%. Combined the sire pathways (SB & SC) account for 66% of the total genetic progress. That is opposite to what many breeders say ‘Sires are not as important as cow families. The cow family, in a herd, dominates.’

Genomics gives 185 – 200%

Over the past five years, breeders have become familiar with the program whereby the genomic indexes on young animals are used for animal selection. Even though this program is much discussed, it has been implemented on less than 10% of the farms in North America. In Holsteins, less than 7% of calves registered are genomically tested. Breeders are obviously not confident with the lower accuracies and the much shorter generation intervals. So let’s dig deeper to see what the facts are when it comes to rates of genetic improvement. With the genomics program the relative importance between pathways shifts to where the Dams of Bulls (DB), at 40%, is the most important followed next by the Sires of Bulls (SB) at 34%. Again in this program, as in progeny testing, very limited selection pressure is applied to Dams of Cows (DC), pathway resulting in only 3% of the total progress. The relative ratios of improvement from sire and dam pathways is 57:43. The telltale important fact is that by using a genomic program the rate of annual genetic gain is 185% to 200% of what can be achieved by using the traditional progeny testing program. Another important difference between these two programs is that considerable money can be saved by only having to progeny test less than half as many young bulls with the genomic testing program.

Adding IVF gives 225 – 250%

Some breeders add IVF to their genomic selection program however due to costs and the challenge of mating carefully to avoid inbreeding it is not for everyone. The accuracies of this program match those of the genomic testing program, but the selection intensities are increased for the Sires of Cows (SC) pathway and greatly increased for the Dams of Cows (DC) pathway. For all pathways the generation intervals are short, something many breeders state as being a concern. These farms use IVF on maiden heifers to produce all of the next generation of animals. Again the most important pathway is the Dams of Bulls (DB) at 36%. However, the differences between emphasis on the pathways is narrowed. The ratio of emphasis sires to dams is 50:50. Farms employing this program can have annual rates of genetic gain of 225% to 250% compared to what is possible for herds using a progeny testing program. To fund this more expensive program breeders often sell surplus embryos or animals.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Determining which parent pathway is the most important rests with which testing and selection program a breeder wants to follow. For breeders using the traditional progeny testing program by far the most important animals are the sires of the young bulls (SB) that enter A.I. progeny testing programs. For breeders wanting to advance their herds at a faster rate by using the less accurate genomic information and shorter generation intervals, the dams of the bulls (DB) is the most important pathway. No matter which program a breeder chooses it is important to have a plan and always use the best available animals.

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Dairy Breeders – STOP Using Inferior Bulls

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Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

Using sires that are inferior for economically important traits is no longer necessary or advisable. In herds using conventional semen over 90% of herd genetic improvement comes from sires. Which sires are used can mean a significant loss in a herd’s future earning power. But still, in this time of rapid genetic advancement, there are sires being used that are inferior.

The Bullvine was able to obtain the lists of sires with the most registered daughters for the Canadian Ayrshire, Holstein and Jersey breeds for 2013. We decided to dig deeper and analyze the top ten sires with the most registered daughters. Other breeds only made up 0.6% of all registrations, so those breeds were not studied. The Bullvine is quite certain that similar sire usage patterns exist in other countries as we have also studied sire usage in US Holsteins and the results were very similar. (Read more: Top Sires North American Holstein Breeders Used in 2013)

Top Ten’s in 2013

The first portion of our study looked at the bulls for LPI and for the components of LPI – Production, Durability and Health & Fertility. Every animal on the CDN database receives and can be looked up for a rating for their genetic merit for the three components of LPI. This is a very handy tool for breeders to assist them in their breeding decisions.

The top ten most used Ayrshires sires (Table 1) were moderately high but not the best there is. These top ten sires accounted for 44% of all registrations, however only four sires had a percentile rank over 90% for gLPI and five sires were below average, less than 50%RK, for at least one of Production or Health & Fertility. Six sires had more than 200 daughters registered. One sire, EBay, was a progeny test sire and he ranked #10 in usage. The sire on the list with the highest gLPI was Burdette coming in at #4 in usage. On average, the sires were moderate at 80%RK of gLPI and 81%RK for Durability. Less attention was given to Production, 66%RK and it is disappointing see that Health & Fertility, on average, only received a 59%RK. Breeders definitely placed their emphasis elsewhere when the top sire, Dreamer, only has 41%RK for Production and 47%RK for Health & Fertility

Table 1 Canadian Ayrshire Sires with Most Registered Daughters – 2013

Name	Milk	Fat	Prot	SCS	Conf	Rel	BPI
GILLETTE MOGUL CARREL	1056	107	64	2.67	15	0.66	100.0%
STANTONS MCCUTCHEN 1174 AGREE	2101	103	81	2.59	19	0.65	98.7%
VELTHUIS S G SNOW EVENING	2859	103	95	2.83	16	0.7	97.6%
VELTHUIS SG SNOW EVENT	2859	103	95	2.83	16	0.7	97.6%
LOOKOUT PESCE PONDE KREED	1826	94	84	2.86	14	0.65	97.1%
MAPEL WOOD SUDAN LICORICE	2326	108	97	2.7	12	0.67	96.3%
LOOKOUT PESCE EPIC HUE	1888	93	83	2.88	18	0.65	94.5%
STANTONS SNOW ELAISKA	2268	85	98	2.81	13	0.66	92.2%
STANTONS MCCUTCHEN PROFIT	2203	94	87	2.88	12	0.65	91.5%
OCONNORS LIVING THE DREAM	2228	88	87	2.79	16	0.64	91.0%

In Holsteins (Table 2) the top ten, most used, sires made up 22.5% of all registrations, eight sires had a gLPI above 90%RK and 233 sires had more than 200 registered daughters. However, four of the ten sires are extremely lowly rated for Health & Fertility. In fact, the second and third most used sires were only ranked 18%RK and 19%RK for Health & Fertility. Canadian Holstein breeders place their primary focus on type with the average being a 93%RK for Durability. Production lags at 76%RK and Health and Fertility just barely exceeds average (54%RK). Dempsey has the highest gLPI of all the sires and was the eighth most used sire. Fever and Jordan, in addition to Dempsey, are sires that have at least 70% for all of gLPI, Production, Durability and Health & Fertility. None of the sires in the top ten most used were bulls being progeny tested in 2013. That is different than in the USA were a few genomic sires are receiving considerable use. The recommendation to breeders is that they not use one genomic sire to an excessive degree.

Table 2 Canadian Holstein Sires with Most Registered daughters – 2013

Name	Milk	Fat	Prot	SCS	Conf	Rel	BPI
MAPEL WOOD LADD LEAH P	1509	81	67	2.92	12	0.65	86.4%
VENTURE MCCUTCHEN SATIN P	1029	72	47	2.72	15	0.61	86.3%
VENTURE EPIC SCARLET P	1189	69	46	2.75	12	0.65	85.5%
BRYHILL ONE SASSY P	1262	96	50	2.58	13	0.63	85.4%
BRYHILL SS SASHA P	2160	100	74	2.72	13	0.61	84.8%

In Jerseys (Table 3) 25% of all female registrations were for the ten sires with the most registered daughters. Six of the ten sires had over 90%RK for gLPI and four sires had over 200 registered daughters. Two of the top ten sires were on a progeny testing program, although those two were not the most highly rated of a genomic sires for gLPI. Overall, the ten sires had an 88%RK for gLPI however there is definitely a lack of attention to Health and Fertility when half the bulls have below average ratings for that component of LPI. Topeka, the 4^th most used sire, had the highest gLPI and he was being progeny tested in 2013. With the wide ranges among the ten sires in the %RK rating for all the parts of LPI and six sires that fall below 50%RK in at least one area, it indicates that Canadian Jersey breeders do not use sires that cover all bases.

Table 3 Canadian Jersey Sires with Most Registered Daughters – 2013

Name	LPI	Sire	Dam Name
MAPEL WOOD SUPER GOOD LOOKING	3525	SUPERSIRE	OCONNORS PLANET LUCIA
BOMAZ ALTAOAK 6013	3490	ALTAOAK	BOMAZ OBSERVER 5406-ET
SULLY MAN-O-SHAN MARTHA-ET	3487	SHAN	SULLY PLANET MANITOBA-ET
GILLETTE SUPERSIRE DRIVE	3481	SUPERSIRE	GILLETTE M O M DRIVE
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1719	3454	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
SIEMERS MCCUTCH ROZ-ET	3441	MCCUTCHEN	CHERRY CREST MANOMAN ROZ
EDG LACI SHOTGLASS 766-ET	3437	SHOTGLASS	FARNEAR-TBR-BH LACI-ET
AIJA SUPERSIRE MAKEA	3435	SUPERSIRE	AIJA MAN O MAN NAOMI
RI-VAL-RE EHARDT NIK-ET	3434	EARNHARDT P	RI-VAL-RE OBSRVR NIKKI-ET
BOMAZ ALTAOAK 6023	3433	ALTAOAK	MS ROSYLANE OBSERVR5048-ET
EDG DAHLIA MOGUL 2257	3425	MOGUL	LADYS-MANOR S DAHLIA-ET
COOKIECUTTER AOAK HAWAII-ET	3422	ALTAOAK	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
EDG 4858 MOGUL 2240-ET	3411	MOGUL	PINE-TREE 4233 OBSRV4858-ET
MS DELICIOUS CASHCALL	3405	CASHCOIN	MISS OCD ROBST DELICIOUS-ET
WISSELVIEW SUPER S CHEVELLE	3388	SUPERSIRE	LARCREST CHEVELLE-ET
AIJA SUPERSIRE NATALIA	3379	SUPERSIRE	AIJA MAN O MAN NAOMI
COMESTAR LAUSY SUPERSIRE	3377	SUPERSIRE	COMESTAR LAUTAMIRE PLANET
S-S-I MOONRY LEIGHA 9081-ET	3369	MOONRAY	S-S-I KRAMER LOY 7675-ET
RI-VAL-RE SYMP VIVIAN-ET	3369	SYMPATICO	SONRAY-ACRES SOC OBSERVR VI
EDG RUBY EARN 2259	3366	EARNHARDT P	SANDY-VALLEY ROBUST RUBY-ET
SIEMERS S-SIRE ROZANNE-ET	3364	SUPERSIRE	SIEMERS WINDBK ROZANNE-ET
DUHOVENT SUPERSIRE LOVE ME ET	3363	SUPERSIRE	GEN-I-BEQ EVOLVE LOVELY
MORMANN MOGUL TATUM 2307	3358	MOGUL	FARNEAR-REGAN M TEBBI-ET
GREENLANE SUPERSIRE SAIGE	3356	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS OMAN SATIN
STE ODILE LIGHTSNOW PLAISANCE	3356	LIGHTSNOW	STE ODILE MANOMAN MOD PLATINE
SUNNYLODGE SUPERSIRE SCARLETT	3356	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS OMAN SATIN
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1720	3355	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
EVELINA	3352	SUPERSIRE	NOVA SHOTTLE EVELYN-ET
MS DELICIOUS CASHDAY	3352	CASHCOIN	MISS OCD ROBST DELICIOUS-ET
DESLACS SUPERSIRE PETUNIA	3345	SUPERSIRE	FARNEAR-TBR WANNA PARTY-ET
MS KOOL COIN 2291	3335	CASHCOIN	MS C-HAVEN OMAN KOOL-ET
GREENLANE SUPERSIRE SUSANNA	3334	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS OMAN SATIN
COOKIECUTTER LETIT HAVED-ET	3331	LET IT SNOW	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
FARNEAR HEADLINER 1722	3328	HEADLINER	FARNEAR-TBR-BH MADDY-ET
MS KOOL CC 2279	3327	CASHCOIN	MS C-HAVEN OMAN KOOL-ET
MS KOOL COIN 2286	3325	CASHCOIN	MS C-HAVEN OMAN KOOL-ET
COOKIECUTTER LETIT HAIKU-ET	3323	LET IT SNOW	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
EDG SHAKER DAY 2276	3323	DAY	MS MOVIESTAR SHAKER-ET
ROORDA MAY MCBABY 15866-ET	3318	MAYFIELD	ROORDA OB MCKENZIE 15267-ET
MS DELICIOUS CASHTREE	3317	CASHCOIN	MISS OCD ROBST DELICIOUS-ET
EDG LORETTE MASC 2230-ET	3317	MASCALESE	VELTHUIS SNOWMAN LORRETTE
LATUCH SUPER LABELLA-ET	3313	SUPERSIRE	LATUCH MAN O LEMMON
COOKIECUTTER PRED HAZARD-ET	3313	PREDESTINE	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
CEDARWAL SUPERSIRE BALTI	3308	SUPERSIRE	CEDARWAL GERARD BALI
EDG LACY COIN 2293	3307	CASHCOIN	KELLERCREST MANOMAN LACY-ET
HEBERTVIEW SUPERSIRE DELIGHT	3304	SUPERSIRE	NAU CALIBER AMEWILL
FLINT-VILLE UNO YESTER-ET	3300	NUMERO UNO	COYNE-FARMS OBSERVER YES-ET
DESGRANGES MOGUL OBSESSION	3297	MOGUL	DESGRANGES MAN O MAN OBAMA ET
MS AMERICA LAITICIA-ET	3296	LATIMER	SEAGULL-BAY MISS AMERICA-ET
LARCREST COLLAGE-ET	3289	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CALE-ET
FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASE 2273	3285	SHOTGLASS	LARCREST CASE-ETS
DONNANDALE HEADLINER JAZZFLUTE	3284	HEADLINER	DONNANDALE MANOMAN JAKARTA
BOMAZ MOGUL 6010	3281	MOGUL	BOMAZ BOOKEM 5402-ET
LARCREST CICADA-ET	3278	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CALE-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN PAMMY-ET	3278	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO PAMMY MAN-O-MAN
EDG CAITLYN DOORMAN 2274	3278	DOORMAN	MS CHASSITY SNOW CAITLYN-ET
BRYHILL SUPLEX MYSTIQUE-ET	3273	ALTASUPLEX	SULLY ROBUST 720-ET
EDG LORETTE MOGUL 2260	3269	MOGUL	VELTHUIS SNOWMAN LORRETTE
SIEMERS HLINER ROZ-IS-IT-ET	3267	HEADLINER	CHERRY CREST MANOMAN ROZ
MAPEL WOOD MASCALESE LUXURY	3266	MASCALESE	OCONNORS PLANET LUCIA
SULLY MAN-O-SHAN MAE-ET	3265	SHAN	SULLY PLANET MANITOBA-ET
EDG SATURN SHOT 2238-ET	3262	SHOTGLASS	SEAGULL-BAY SHAUNA SATURN
SIEMERS SSIRE ROZANNERAE-ET	3262	SUPERSIRE	SIEMERS WINDBK ROZANNE-ET
EDG CHRISTA LATIMER 2226-ET	3259	LATIMER	LANGS-TWIN-B CHRISTA-ET
AIJA SUPERSIRE MARLO	3257	SUPERSIRE	AIJA MAN O MAN NAOMI
MOREL IREN	3257	LEXOR	ELDORADO
LARCREST CIABATTA-ET	3251	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CALE-ET
BUTLERVIEW LET IT SHINE-ET	3251	LET IT SNOW	VISION-GEN SHO A12024-ET
BOMAZ ALTAOAK 6014	3249	ALTAOAK	BOMAZ OBSERVER 5406-ET
WILLSBRO MOGUL S AMBER	3248	MOGUL	RIVERDANE SHOTTLE AMBER
GANDY OBSERVER PARADISE ET	3246	OBSERVER	GANDY COLETTE ET
EDG BYSHA CC 2258	3243	CASHCOIN	REGANCREST DGR BRYSHA-ET
AMMON FARMS STG MYALEXIS-ET	3243	SHOTGLASS	AMMON FARMS OSVR MYLILAC-TW
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1705	3243	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
MATT-DARI SUPERSI MAIZIE-ET	3240	SUPERSIRE	FUSTEAD AL MARSH-MELLO-ET
BLUMENFELD RAN BRIZA CRI-ET	3237	RANSOM	DA-SO-BURN OBS BANEAT-ET
DE-SU MOCHA 2702-ET	3232	MOCHA	DE-SU 1140-ET
ALL.NURE SUPERSIRE ALEXIA ET	3231	SUPERSIRE	ALTA ET
WILLSBOR MOGUL AMBER	3231	MOGUL	RIVERDANE SHOTTLE AMBER
BOGHILL MOGUL S FAITH ET	3230	MOGUL	BOGHILL SUPERSTITION FAITH ET
GENERVATIONS MASCALESE LOLITA	3229	MASCALESE	GENERVATIONS MOM LOLA
TJR ARITA MCCUT 2256	3229	MCCUTCHEN	MS ARIEL MOMAN ARITA-ET
WALKERBRAE SS BETHANY	3228	SUPERSIRE	FRIESO SHOTTLE APPLE BLOSSOM
EDG ETTY MOGUL 2248-ET	3226	MOGUL	WELCOME BOOKEM ETTY-ET
S-S-I MOONRY LEONIE 9082-ET	3223	MOONRAY	S-S-I KRAMER LOY 7675-ET
ROYAL HILL MCCUTCHEN SPARKY	3223	MCCUTCHEN	ROYAL HILL MANOMAN SPARKY
MS DELICIOUS SINGER 764-ET	3223	SHOTGLASS	MISS OCD ROBST DELICIOUS-ET
RICKLAND SUPERSIRE 4593-ET	3221	SUPERSIRE	HAMMER-CREEK SNO KASSIE-ET
ZIMMERVIEW MORGAN BRINA-ET	3221	MORGAN	ROCKYPATH-HO MN BARBARA-ET
ALL.NURE SUPERSIRE ASIA ET	3220	SUPERSIRE	ALTA ET
CO-OP SPS PRUDENCE 7080-ET	3218	SUPERSIRE	MS M-P DOLCE PRUDENCE-ET
NH SUPERSIRE REALTIME	3218	SUPERSIRE	KALB
RI-VAL-RE SUPERSIRE NADOLA	3217	SUPERSIRE	RI-VAL-RE DOLCE DESTINY-ET
MORMANN LAT TABINE 2297-ET	3214	LATIMER	FARNEAR-REGAN TALSA-ET
MS AMERICA BRENDA-ET	3213	BEN	SEAGULL-BAY MISS AMERICA-ET
FARNEAR CASHCOIN 1718	3212	CASHCOIN	FARNEAR ALICE OF ADEEN-ET
EDG LACY SHOT 2232-ET	3212	SHOTGLASS	KELLERCREST MANOMAN LACY-ET
PREMIERWEST SUPERSIRE CANCUN	3207	SUPERSIRE	LARCREST CHEVELLE-ET
BOMAZ SUPERSIRE 6005	3207	SUPERSIRE	BOMAZ IOTA 5423-ET
HIGHERRANSOM COIN STITCH-ET	3206	CASHCOIN	BRU-DALE MOM STARLY-ET
EDG ESTHER EARN 2245-ET	3206	EARNHARDT P	MILLER-FF BOOKEM ESTHER-ET
EDG LORETTE MASC 2225-ET	3205	MASCALESE	VELTHUIS SNOWMAN LORRETTE
HOS-COT RANSOM PEARL-ET	3204	RANSOM	WELCOME MAN-O-MAN PAYOUT-ET
CCC MOGUL SPECIAL	3203	MOGUL
CO-OP SPS PRUDENCE 7079-ET	3200	SUPERSIRE	MS M-P DOLCE PRUDENCE-ET
BUTLERVIEW TJR SNOW 13	3199	LET IT SNOW	ROCKING-P BOWSER LUNA-ET
SPRUCE-HAVEN MCCUTCHEN 14660	3198	MCCUTCHEN	SPRUCE-HAVEN SUPR S13158-ET
	3198	EARNHARDT P	PINE-TREE 2149ROBST 4846-ET
ALEXERIN MASCALESE 1366	3198	MASCALESE	ALEXERIN OMAN 993
DES-Y-GEN HUNTER SAVANA	3197	HUNTER	DES-Y-GEN PLANET SILKY
WISSELVIEW SUPERSIRE COSMO	3197	SUPERSIRE	LARCREST CHEVELLE-ET
WISSELVIEW SUPERSIRE DELILAH	3197	SUPERSIRE	LICKBER-I RMH GOLD DAHLIA
BOMAZ SUPERSIRE 6008	3197	SUPERSIRE	BOMAZ OMAN 3512
FARNEAR NUMERO UNO 1704	3196	NUMERO UNO	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
S-S-I OLYMIC EBONY 9079-ET	3191	OLYMPIC	S-S-I SHAMROCK ELI 7694-ET
EDG CASHBUST DOORMAN 2284	3191	DOORMAN	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHBUST-ET
GOLDEN-OAKS UNO CARLENE-ET	3191	NUMERO UNO	RUGG-DOC OBSV CARMINDSAY-ET
SAN-DAN SHAN LEONA 2306	3189	SHAN	RICHMOND-FD AL LORELEI-ET
EDG LACY SHOT 2246-ET	3189	SHOTGLASS	KELLERCREST MANOMAN LACY-ET
BRABANTDALE LET IT REIGN	3188	LET IT SNOW	SPEEK-NJ MAN OMAN ROCKET-ET
BRABANTDALE LET IT REPEAT	3188	LET IT SNOW	SPEEK-NJ MAN OMAN ROCKET-ET
SIEMERS MCUTCH REAL-GIRL-ET	3188	MCCUTCHEN	CLEAR-ECHO OBSERVER 2283-ET
EDG JALA MOGUL 2267	3188	MOGUL	BUTLERVIEW SR JEVEN JALA-ET
S-S-I OLYMP LATONYA 9073-ET	3188	OLYMPIC	TIGER-LILY SHAMROCK LENA-ET
ALNA SUPERSIRE BEATRICE	3187	SUPERSIRE	SIEMERS SNMAN BEJEWELED-ET
MAPEL WOOD MCCUTCHEN LOGAN	3186	MCCUTCHEN	OCONNORS PLANET LUCIA
SANDY-VALLEY SUPRSIRE BO-ET	3185	SUPERSIRE	SANDY-VALLEY BODACIOUS-ET
EDG ESTHER LEXOR 2285	3185	LEXOR	MILLER-FF BOOKEM ESTHER-ET
COMESTAR LAMADONA DOORMAN	3185	DOORMAN	COMESTAR LAUTAMAI MAN O MAN
WILLSBRO MOGUL PAMMY	3185	MOGUL	WILLSBRO NIAGRA PAMMY
GOLDEN-OAKS MAY MAJESTA-ET	3185	MAYFIELD	GOLDEN-OAKS ROBUST MABEL-ET
SUNNYLODGE SPOTTIE	3184	LET IT SNOW	MISTY SPRINGS MAN O MAN SATIN
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1707	3183	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
EDG STITCH COIN 2295	3182	CASHCOIN	GRAN-J RUSSELL STITCH-ET
CO-OP SPS SIBELLA 7122-ET	3180	SUPERSIRE	FUSTEAD SIBELLA CRI-ET
EDG LACY SHOT 2253	3179	SHOTGLASS	KELLERCREST MANOMAN LACY-ET
TJR ARITA MCCUT 2270	3179	MCCUTCHEN	MS ARIEL MOMAN ARITA-ET
MATCREST GALAXY CHARLEE-ET	3178	GALAXY	MATCREST IOTA COLORADO-ETS
HARTFORD ELECTN SARA 423-ET	3178	ELECTION	GNAT-HILL ROBUST ANDREA-ET
ALPHAGEN MCCUTCHEN MARINA	3174	MCCUTCHEN	GITOISE JAKE MARIZA
SNOWBIZ SYMPATICO SYLVANA	3174	SYMPATICO	GEN-I-BEQ SNOWMAN SPRING
SIEMERS HLINER ROZ-THE-1-ET	3174	HEADLINER	CHERRY CREST MANOMAN ROZ
EDG LORETTE MOGUL 2251	3173	MOGUL	VELTHUIS SNOWMAN LORRETTE
MORSAN UNO CRIMSON	3173	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CINERGY-ET
MS SUPERSIRE B 3432-ET	3173	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS SHOTTLE BREEZE
CO-OP BOXER TOPAZ-ET	3170	BOXER	MS PRIDE PLNT TASKET 788-ET
EDG GIN RANSOM 783	3169	RANSOM	SULLY HART GERARD 147-ET
SUNNYLODGE SUPERSIRE SOPHIA	3168	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS OMAN SATIN
WELCOME SUPERSIRE LEOTA	3166	SUPERSIRE	WELCOME BAXTER LAILA-ET
OCONNORS MCCUTCHEN LUSCIOUS	3166	MCCUTCHEN	OCONNORS PLANET LUCIA
SIEMERS SSIRE ROZANNEMAE-ET	3165	SUPERSIRE	SIEMERS WINDBK ROZANNE-ET
MS SIZZLE CASHCOIN 772-ET	3165	CASHCOIN	VENTURE SHOTTBOLT SIZZLE P
EDG DAHLIA MOGUL 2264	3164	MOGUL	LADYS-MANOR S DAHLIA-ET
MATT-DARI SUPERSI MARNI-ET	3163	SUPERSIRE	FUSTEAD AL MARSH-MELLO-ET
S-S-I MSCLS MADELENA9089-ET	3161	MASCALESE	S-S-I COBRA MADIGAN 7614-ET
CEDARWAL NUMEROUNO CHROME	3161	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CALLAWAY-ET
SNOWBIZ MASCALESE LILA	3160	MASCALESE	CALBRETT SNOWMAN LANDI
MORMANN UNO ARABIA-ET	3160	NUMERO UNO	VISION-GEN SH FRD A12304-ET
	3160	EARNHARDT P	WEIGELINE OBSERVER 1869-ET
NO-FLA MAURICE SAR 35024-ET	3160	MAURICE	NO-FLA OBSERVER SANDY 30510
CO-OP SPS 6292 7118-ET	3157	SUPERSIRE	CO-OP CLARK YOYO 6292-ET
EDG ABYSS DOORMAN 2288	3156	DOORMAN	RMW SNOWMAN ABYSS-ET
DG FANATIC LORRY-ET	3156		VEN DAIRY LIDIA 4
INTENSE OBSERVER 1239-ET	3154	OBSERVER	COMYN-PBCD SPLENDID-ET
BOMAZ MOGUL 5979	3154	MOGUL	BOMAZ BOOKEM 5402-ET
CLAYNOOK DRESSY SYMPATICO	3153	SYMPATICO	OCD PLANET DIAMOND-ET
SULLY RANSOM MARLY-ET	3153	RANSOM	SULLY PLANET MANITOBA-ET
MS LATIMER MUSICAL-ET	3152	LATIMER	MISS TMK ROBUST MUGSY-ET
CEDARWAL SUPERSIRE SWEET	3152	SUPERSIRE	CEDARWAL SUGA MOMMA
EDG ABYSS UNO 779	3150	NUMERO UNO	RMW SNOWMAN ABYSS-ET
SANDY-VALLEY KRNCH TOPSY-ET	3148	KRUNCH	SANDY-VALLEY IOTA TOPAZ-ET
	3148	PREDESTINE	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
548077799-ET	3147		VEN DAIRY LIDIA 4
SUNNYLODGE SHARLENE	3147	LET IT SNOW	MISTY SPRINGS MAN O MAN SATIN
EDG GERARD LITHIUM 2252	3145	LITHIUM	SULLY HART GERARD 147-ET
WILLSBRO YORIK PAMMY	3144	YORICK	WILLSBRO PAMMY MAN-O-MAN
RI-VAL-RE SUPERSIRE DAY-ET	3144	SUPERSIRE	RI-VAL-RE SUPER NADINE-ET
BRYHILL SUPLEX MADALENA-ET	3143	ALTASUPLEX	SULLY ROBUST 720-ET
EDG ESTHER EARN 2247-ET	3143	EARNHARDT P	MILLER-FF BOOKEM ESTHER-ET
SANDY-VALLEY SWEETDREAMS-ET	3142	SUPERSIRE	SANDY-VALLEY DAY DREAM-ET
MORSAN SS ELLA	3141	SUPERSIRE	LOOKOUT PESCE SM ELLA
CLAYNOOK BRADLEE DOORMAN	3140	DOORMAN	MISTY SPRINGS M O M BACARDI
GREENVALLEY K&L MO DORIA	3139	MOGUL	REGAN-ALH PLANET DELORIA-ET
MARBRI MASCALISE BRISTLE	3138	MASCALESE	MARBRI BAXTER BREEZE
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1706	3137	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
WEBB-VUE PREDESTINE 6909-ET	3137	PREDESTINE	WEBB-VUE DOMAIN RHONDA-ET
MS SUPERSIRE B 3423-ET	3137	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS SHOTTLE BREEZE
BO-IRISH-RN SS CHARTER	3137	SUPERSIRE	BO-IRISH-RN SUPER CHARM-ET
PREMIERWEST MOGUL CAMELLIA	3136	MOGUL	LARCREST CHEVELLE-ET
FARNEAR CASHCOIN 1717	3136	CASHCOIN	FARNEAR ALICE OF ADEEN-ET
T-SPRUCE SUPERSIRE 7472	3136	SUPERSIRE	LANGS-TWIN-B PEARL-ET
WELCOME-TEL MASSEY LIOLA-ET	3135	MASSEY	KELLERCREST SUPER LIESL-ET
SNOWBIZ SYMPATICO SAL	3135	SYMPATICO	GEN-I-BEQ SNOWMAN SUMMER
S-S-I PRED MADDIE 9088-ET	3133	PREDESTINE	S-S-I PEOTI MASH 7739-ET
COOKIECUTTER ALOAK HALEX-ET	3133	ALTAOAK	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
EDG STITCH CC 2280	3133	CASHCOIN	GRAN-J RUSSELL STITCH-ET
EDG BRYSHA COIN 2262	3133	CASHCOIN	REGANCREST DGR BRYSHA-ET
MILLER-FF HEAD ELLIE-ET	3133	HEADLINER	MILLER-FF RAVISH ELINOR-ET
CEDARWAL LET IT EXPLODE	3132	LET IT SNOW	WABASH-WAY BOLTON EMERY-ET
RI-VAL-RE SYMP ESCAPADE-ET	3132	SYMPATICO	RI-VAL-RE SOTO ESCAPADE-ET
COOKIECUTTER PRE HANDFUL-ET	3132	PREDESTINE	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
GO-FARM ECSTASSY ET	3131	FERNAND	GO-FARM ESTER ET
WSA COSMO-ET	3131	MOGUL	AJDH ASMARA
EDG TRAC SHOT 2261	3131	SHOTGLASS	TRANQUILLITY AC DREARYS TRACE
AMMON FARMS MASEY MYLASS-ET	3130	MASSEY	AMMON FARMS OBSVR MYLILY-TW
MORSAN HUNTER M ROBIN	3130	HUNTER	ROCKYMOUNTAIN METEOR ROBIN
FABEL MARIE CIEL MOGUL	3130	MOGUL	SYMA IOTA MARIE LUNE
EDG ADEEN MASCALESE 2148	3129	MASCALESE	FARNEAR READY FOR ADEEN-ET
WEBB-VUE SHOTGLASS 6913-ET	3129	SHOTGLASS	WEBB-VUE SHAMROCK KAYLA-ET
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1721	3129	MASCALESE	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHER-ET
MORSAN SUPERSIRE M ALICIA	3128	SUPERSIRE	MORSAN MANOMAN G ALICIA
MISS MCCUTCHEN JAMACIA-ET	3128	MCCUTCHEN	MACLAND ATWOOD JULIET
TIGER-LILY SHAMROCK LENA-ET	3128	SHAMROCK	TIGER-LILY DEANN LEANN
TRUSTMORE MOGUL LISA ET	3127	MOGUL	VELTHUIS PLANET LIZZY
KINGS-RANSOM SHAN DIXA-ET	3126	SHAN	KINGS-RANSOM IOTA DRAMA-ET
CONNY	3126	SHAMROCK	MON-COPABOKA
BOMAZ MOGUL 5983	3125	MOGUL	BOMAZ FREDDIE 5368
EDG STITCH COIN 2290	3124	CASHCOIN	GRAN-J RUSSELL STITCH-ET
MORMANN LAT TRANGA 2301	3120	LATIMER	FARNEAR-REGAN TALSA-ET
MS AMERICA BINETTE-ET	3118	BEN	SEAGULL-BAY MISS AMERICA-ET
EDG CASHBUST SNOW 2237-ET	3118	LET IT SNOW	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHBUST-ET
G M R DORCY ROZIE	3116	DORCY	CHERRY CREST MANOMAN REBECA
ALL.NURE NUMERO UNO PIA ET	3116	NUMERO UNO	ALL.NURE SUPER POLLY ET
GOLDEN-OAKS MAY MADNESS-ET	3115	MAYFIELD	GOLDEN-OAKS ROBUST MABEL-ET
EDG RUBY EARNHARDT 2242-ET	3114	EARNHARDT P	SANDY-VALLEY ROBUST RUBY-ET
RIVER-BRIDGE SAJAC RACH-ET	3113	SAJAC	CO-OP RB OBSR RACHEL-ET
EDG MIKI SNOW 2118-ET	3113	LET IT SNOW	AMMON-PEACHEY SUPER MIKI-ET
KINGS-RANSOM PRED DEBBIE-ET	3112	PREDESTINE	KINGS-RANSOM DORC DEXTRA-ET
LARCREST CINNABAR-ET	3112	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CALE-ET
	3112	EARNHARDT P	PINE-TREE 2149ROBST 4846-ET
MORMANN MOGUL TIMELY 2315	3110	MOGUL	FARNEAR-REGAN M TEBBI-ET
SAN-DAN SHAN LIZA 2298	3108	SHAN	RICHMOND-FD AL LORELEI-ET
MALIC PONDE ELISA	3107	LITHIUM	PONDE FREDDIE EMIE
BOMAZ MOGUL 5978	3107	MOGUL	BOMAZ BOOKEM 5402-ET
APRILDAY-CG SS LARAINA-ET	3107	SUPERSIRE	TIGER-LILY LAUGH PP-RED-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN AMBER-ET	3107	MERIDIAN	RIVERDANE SHOTTLE AMBER
EDG HALLE MCCUT 2117-ET	3107	MCCUTCHEN	B&Z PLANET 7807 HALLE-ET
FARNEAR-TBR-BH BRONO 2172	3106	BRONO	B-ENTERPRISE SUPER GIGI-ET
ZAHBULLS OAK ETA	3105	ALTAOAK	BLUE-HORIZON PLAN EDITH-ET
SAN-DAN MOGUL SASSY 2312	3104	MOGUL	UFM-DUBS SHERUN-ET
MS AMERICA LAILA-ET	3103	LATIMER	SEAGULL-BAY MISS AMERICA-ET
BOMAZ ALTAOAK 6016	3103	ALTAOAK	BOMAZ OBSERVER 5406-ET
WESTENRADE CARRERA 1-ET	3102	MOGUL	WESTENRADE CARRERA
EDG BRYSCHA MOGUL 2263	3102	MOGUL	MS FARNEAR BRCDE BRYSCHA-ET
MARIE MCCUTCHEN CHANEL	3102	MCCUTCHEN	GILLETTE IOTA CORVETTE
ROSYLANE-LLC MAURICE5975-ET	3101	MAURICE	MS ROSYLANE OBSERVR5109-ET
ALL.NURE NUMERO UNO PAULA ET	3100	NUMERO UNO	ALL.NURE SUPER POLLY ET
BONACCUEIL EARNHARDT KATHE	3098	EARNHARDT P	BONACCUEIL SNOWMAN CASSIE
BOMAZ ALTAOAK 6017	3098	ALTAOAK	MS ROSYLANE OBSERVR5048-ET
MORSAN UNO CINERGY	3097	NUMERO UNO	LARCREST CINERGY-ET
AMMON-PEACHEY LR MISS PRISS	3097	LATIMER	AMMON-PEACHEY B MISCHIEF-ET
WILLSBRO UNO CLASSY	3095	NUMERO UNO	KOEPON SUPER CLASSY 70
WILLSBRO MOGUL N PAMMY	3095	MOGUL	WILLSBRO NIAGRA PAMMY
CO-OP SPS 6292 7124-ET	3093	SUPERSIRE	CO-OP CLARK YOYO 6292-ET
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6570-ET	3092	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD DOMAIN 4510-ET
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6565-ET	3090	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD DOMAIN 4510-ET
	3090	FRANKINSTEIN	WEIGELINE OBSERVER 1869-ET
S-S-I MYSTIC KACI 9075-ET	3088	MYSTIC	S-S-I CONSTANTINE O 7628-ET
RI-VAL-RE SYMP AUBURN-ET	3087	SYMPATICO	SONRAY-ACRES SOC OBSERVR VI
WILLSBRO S MERIDIAN PAMMY-ET	3087	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO PAMMY MAN-O-MAN
DINOMI LTMR SARA 9735-ET	3086	LATIMER	DINOMI PLANET SEXY
JEANLU UNO BEAUTY	3086	NUMERO UNO	FARNEAR BROCADES BEA-ET
LESPEREE ETERNITY GERRY	3084	ETERNITY	LESPEREE MANIFOLD GESTRIE
EDG BRYSHA COIN 2265	3082	CASHCOIN	REGANCREST DGR BRYSHA-ET
JK EDER COOSJE-ET	3082		JK EDER CINDERELLA
CO-OP LEXOR SAMARA 7120-ET	3081	LEXOR	WELCOME-TEL OBSER SAMARA-ET
MS SUPERSIRE B 3420-ET	3081	SUPERSIRE	MISTY SPRINGS SHOTTLE BREEZE
GOLDEN-OAKS-I MAYFIELD CARMEN	3080	MAYFIELD	RUGG-DOC OBSV CARMINDSAY-ET
SPRINGHILL-OH M WHISPER-ET	3079	MORGAN	SPRINGHILL-OH DORCY WANDA
CLAYNOOK DRAMA SYMPATICO	3078	SYMPATICO	OCD PLANET DIAMOND-ET
SNOWBIZ MCCUTCHEN DEE	3078	MCCUTCHEN	BROEKS DAISY-ET
SAN-DAN LEXOR CRUSH 2320-ET	3078	LEXOR	MS CHASSITY OBS CRYSTAL-ET
STE ODILE LIGHTSNOW PLEIADES	3077	LIGHTSNOW	STE ODILE MANOMAN MOD PLATINE
SPRUCE-HAVEN LEXOR 14682	3076	LEXOR	POTTERS-FIELD BOJA 9853-ET
BROEKS COTY-ET	3075	O-COSMOPOLITAN	BROEKS BETTY
MORSAN MAYFIELD M ROBIN	3075	MAYFIELD	ROCKYMOUNTAIN METEOR ROBIN
DES-Y-GEN LIGHTSNOW SANDY	3075	LIGHTSNOW	DES-Y-GEN WINDBROOK SLIKY
DUDOC EARNHARDT ACCOLADE	3072	EARNHARDT P	PARAMOUNT-MB OBSRV AKELA-ET
EDG STITCH CC 2278	3070	CASHCOIN	GRAN-J RUSSELL STITCH-ET
SAN-DAN LEX CANDICE 2318-ET	3069	LEXOR	MS CHASSITY OBS CRYSTAL-ET
ALPHAGEN MCCUTCHEN MARIZIE	3069	MCCUTCHEN	GITOISE JAKE MARIZA
JES-ET MOGUL PETUNIA	3069	MOGUL	MS C-HAVEN GERARD PANDA-ET
HOS-COT RANSOM PALE-ET	3068	RANSOM	WELCOME MAN-O-MAN PAYOUT-ET
BRYHILL SUPLEX MARLEE-ET	3068	ALTASUPLEX	SULLY ROBUST 720-ET
DPR EARNHARDT PARTY P	3067	EARNHARDT P	WINDSOR-MANOR ZSH PANDA-ET
CEDARWAL LET IT ELECTRIFY	3066	LET IT SNOW	WABASH-WAY BOLTON EMERY-ET
MS EMILY HARMONY-ET	3066	HEADLINER	TRAMILDA-N BAXTER EMILY-ET
GITOISE ETERNITY MAGUY	3065	ETERNITY	GITOISE JAKE MALY
CALBRETT MASCALESE LEAH	3065	MASCALESE	CALBRETT GOLDWYN LAYLA-ET
EDG BRYSHA EPIC 8090-ET	3064	EPIC	REGANCREST DGR BRYSHA-ET
FARNEAR-TBR-BH 2156-ET	3063	BRONO	B-ENTERPRISE SUPER GIGI-ET
ROSYLANE-LLC MAURICE5965-ET	3063	MAURICE	MS ROSYLANE OBSERVR5109-ET
VANHAVEN MASC R SANDIE	3063	MASCALESE	NAVS M SHARLA-ET
BRABANTDALE HDLINER ROCKLAND	3063	HEADLINER	SPEEK-NJ MAN OMAN ROCKET-ET
GLASSON NUMERO UNO G GLORA	3062	NUMERO UNO	GLASSON JD GOLDWYN GLORA ET
SAN-DAN SHEGULL 2314	3062	MOGUL	UFM-DUBS SHERUN-ET
CALBRETT MASCALESE LASS	3061	MASCALESE	CALBRETT GOLDWYN LAYLA-ET
QUIET-BROOK-D PRE HOTROD-ET	3058	PREDESTINE	COOKIECUTTER MM HALLMARK-ET
MATT-DARI MAURICE DARSANO	3058	MAURICE	MATT-DARI OBSERVER DOLLY-ET
GOLDEN-OAKS SPRS MARTINI-ET	3058	SUPERSIRE	SIEMERS EXPLD MARGARITA-ET
BOGHILL MOGUL S FAITH B ET	3057	MOGUL	BOGHILL SUPERSTITION FAITH ET
GILLETTE MASCALESE SNOOP	3055	MASCALESE	GILLETTE S PLANET 2ND SNOOZE
2371402530-ET	3055	MASSEY	HOOD M-O-M EVELYN
CO-OP SPS PRUDENCE 7081-ET	3051	SUPERSIRE	MS M-P DOLCE PRUDENCE-ET
COOKIECUTTER ELECT HOXIE-ET	3051	ELECTION	COOKIECUTTER MOM HULA-ET
JOSEY-LLC EARNHART SILLY-ET	3051	EARNHARDT P	DES-Y-GEN PLANET SILK
MILLER-FF MASC EVADOO-ET	3051	MASCALESE	NOVA SHOTTLE EVELYN-ET
CALBRETT LET IT SNOW EVE	3050	LET IT SNOW	EVER-GREEN-VIEW ETA-ET
DE-SU DAY 2688-ET	3050	DAY	DE-SU 1112-ET
COOKIECUTTER AOAK HASLET-ET	3050	ALTAOAK	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET
MORMANN LAT TAFFY 2295-ET	3050	LATIMER	FARNEAR-REGAN TALSA-ET
NH MASCALESE FANTASTICA	3050	MASCALESE	NH SUPER FRANCHISE
SUNTOR SS LASHES	3049	SUPERSIRE	SUNTOR MAN O MAN LEANNE
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6298-ET	3049	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD RAMOS 3430
HAH SUDAN PATRON	3049	SUDAN	WELCOME BRONCO PATRON
COMESTAR LILACATE WORLDWIDE	3049	WORLDWIDE	COMESTAR LILACATHY SNOWMAN
RUH MERIDIAN ANIQUE	3047	MERIDIAN	AMIDA
JIMTOWN LEXOR NARTANA-ET	3045	LEXOR	JIMTOWN OBSERVER NIZAH-ET
VANHAVEN MASC R SHARLIZE	3045	MASCALESE	NAVS M SHARLA-ET
JOSEY-LLC EARNHART SPOCK-ET	3044	EARNHARDT P	DES-Y-GEN PLANET SILK
BOGHILL CM FAITH A ET	3043	CM	BOGHILL SUPERSTITION FAITH ET
BO-IRISH-RN MOG BIGWIG-ET	3043	MOGUL	REGANCREST GOLD BRETTA-ET
EDG ETTY MOGUL 2243-ET	3043	MOGUL	WELCOME BOOKEM ETTY-ET
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6319-ET	3042	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD RAMOS 3430
DREBERT MERIDIAN AZIMUT	3041	MERIDIAN	DREBERT MAGNETISM AZOULE
AIJA SUPERSIRE MYA	3041	SUPERSIRE	AIJA MAN O MAN NAOMI
DEER-BROOK PEOTI 3711	3040	PEOTI	DEER-BROOK GERARD 3204-TW
	3040	NUMERO UNO
	3040	NUMERO UNO
SYLVANSIDE LEXOR LISA	3040	LEXOR	FLEURY GEN BAXTER LISA
MS EMILY HYPER BALLAD-ET	3039	HEADLINER	TRAMILDA-N BAXTER EMILY-ET
BUTZ-HILL DOT MASSY 2249-ET	3039	MASSEY	SPEEK-NJ SNOW DOTTIE RAE-ET
WILLSBRO FERNAND LILA Z-ET	3039	FERNAND	WILLSBRO SHOTTLE HOW LILA Z
SNOWBIZ MCCUTCHEN CHLOE	3038	MCCUTCHEN	MS CHASSITY SNOW CARRIE-ET
KHW MOGUL AKAKO-ET	3038	MOGUL	KHW GOLDWYN AIKO-ET
BOMAZ LITHIUM 6002	3038	LITHIUM	BOMAZ ROBUST 5481-ET
EDG LILLICO MASC 2229-ET	3037	MASCALESE	BOLDI SNOWMAN LILLICO
CCC COSMOPOLITAN EXTRA	3037	O-COSMOPOLITAN
BRYHILL SUPLEX MICA-ET	3037	ALTASUPLEX	SULLY ROBUST 720-ET
WILLSBRO MOGUL DIOR RAE	3036	MOGUL	WILLSBRO PS DIOR RAE
MORSAN SG ALICIA	3035	SUPERSIRE	MORSAN MANOMAN G ALICIA
ZIMMERVIEW PARDISE SULLY-ET	3034	PARADISE	ZIMMERVIEW SUPER SIMONE-ET
STE ODILE SUPERSIRE MODEL JAVA	3033	SUPERSIRE	STE ODILE MANIFOLD MODEL JADE
ROSYLANE-LLC RANSOM 5968	3032	RANSOM	ROSYLANE BOWSER 5146
TELSTAR HUNTER DANELION-ET	3031	HUNTER	DINTYS PAUL DIGNITY-ET
CROTEAU GALAXY MELBA	3030	GALAXY	REGANCREST-I MILLION MELANNY
S-S-I SHTGLS SIRENA 9000-ET	3029	SHOTGLASS	FUSTEAD DOMAIN SHOPPER-ET
BACON-HILL PREDSTNE LEAH-ET	3029	PREDESTINE	GOLDEN-OAKS LATTE-ET
WILLSBRO MOGUL SHO AMBER	3029	MOGUL	RIVERDANE SHOTTLE AMBER
GILLETTE CARAMINATOR TINA	3028	CARAMINATOR	GILLETTE M O M TAHITI
BUTLERVIEW LET IT SUN-ET	3028	LET IT SNOW	VISION-GEN SHO A12024-ET
CANCO MERIDIAN LOREL	3028	MERIDIAN	AMITIES SHOTTLE LOVER
BLONDIN MCCUTCHEN AMAZING	3028	MCCUTCHEN	RWM SNOW ANGEL-ET
GO-FARM KAMERY ET	3027	MERCHANDISE	GEGANIA LONAR K
BROEKS ENEKEM-ET	3027	BOOKEM	MS RYAN-CREST ENERGIZE-ET
KAKOUNA GILLESPY CASPY	3027	GILLESPY	KAKOUNA DUPLEX CASMY
HIGHERRANSOM OAK SILLY-ET	3026	ALTAOAK	BRU-DALE MOM STARLY-ET
DURESEAU OBLIK BREWMASTER	3026	BREWMASTER	DURESEAU OTELLO BOLTON
LATUCH PETRONE LIGHT-ET	3026	PETRONE	LATUCH OMAN LIBERTY
SNOWBIZ SUPERSIRE LYNDSEY	3026	SUPERSIRE	CALBRETT SNOWMAN LEXIE
UNITED-PRIDE MANDORA 6506	3026	MANDORA	UNITED-PRIDE FREDDIE 4614
DONNANDALE DAY LUVA	3023	DAY	DONNANDALE WINDBROOK LYN
GEN-I-BEQ MASCALESE ANNSO	3023	MASCALESE	KHW-I AIKA BAXTER
NH MASCALESE ELENA	3023	MASCALESE	NH SNOW ELIGHT
ERBCREST PHOENIX MARLENE	3023	PHOENIX	ERBCREST DUPLEX MARVELLOUS
SYLVANSIDE LEXOR LILA	3023	LEXOR	FLEURY GEN BAXTER LISA
WELCOME MASCALESE LAUREL-ET	3023	MASCALESE	WELCOME O-STYLE LONNIE-ET
SUNNYLODGE SINDY	3022	LET IT SNOW	MISTY SPRINGS MAN O MAN SATIN
CO-OP BOXER APPLE 7069-ET	3022	BOXER	RICHLAWN SUPER APRIL APPLE
BOMAZ LITHIUM 6027	3022	LITHIUM	BOMAZ BOOKEM 5402-ET
INTENSE OBSERVER 1238-ET	3021	OBSERVER	COMYN-PBCD SPLENDID-ET
FILIALE MOGUL SMARY	3021	MOGUL	LESPERRON SHOTTLE SPLENDA
SANDY-VALLEY S BOONDOCKS-ET	3021	SUPERSIRE	SANDY-VALLEY BODACIOUS-ET
UFM-DUBS SHEROHE-ET	3021	HEADLINER	UFM-DUBS SHEROW-ET
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6415	3021	GALAXY	CO-OP TRIGG YANCIE 6309-ET
SAN-DAN LEXOR CASEY 2319-ET	3021	LEXOR	MS CHASSITY OBS CRYSTAL-ET
SNOWBIZ SYMPATICO SKY	3020	SYMPATICO	GEN-I-BEQ SNOWMAN SPRING
CO-OP UPD DAY 6430	3020	DAY	CO-OP UPD GWN 3502-ET
CO-OP DD GALAXY 40059-ET	3020	GALAXY	CO-OP TRIGG ABIGAIL 6402-ET
EDG ETTY MONARCH 2287	3019	MONARCH	WELCOME BOOKEM ETTY-ET
MS SIZZLE CASHCOIN 781-ET	3018	CASHCOIN	VENTURE SHOTTBOLT SIZZLE P
CO-OP PUZZL ROSETTE 7111-ET	3018	PUZZLE	CO-OP M-P ATWOOD ROSETTE-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN PLEDGE-ET	3018	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO EVOLVE PLEDGE
MS AMERICA LOTTERY-ET	3017	LATIMER	SEAGULL-BAY MISS AMERICA-ET
SPRUCE-HAVEN DESTINED *RC 1465	3017	DESTINED	SPRUCE-HAVEN ROB BS13135-ET
CO-OP 7119-ET	3017	MAURICE	CO-OP CALIBER MARA 6293-ET
CO-OP SPS RAPTUROUS 7082-ET	3016	SUPERSIRE	HARMONY-HO SIGNI RAPTUROUS
SANDY-VALLEY KRNC TOPEKA-ET	3016	KRUNCH	SANDY-VALLEY IOTA TOPAZ-ET
EDG RUBY GC REEBA 16	3015	GOLD CHIP	SANDY-VALLEY ROBUST RUBY-ET
FARNEAR CASHCOIN 1716	3015	CASHCOIN	FARNEAR ALICE OF ADEEN-ET
CREEK MCCUTCHEN HEIDI	3014	MCCUTCHEN	CREEK AL HILDA
LOTTI-ET	3014		JK EDER GOLDSTAR 2
LEOTHE SUPERSIRE LAURIE	3013	SUPERSIRE	LEOTHE BRETT LUCIDE
EDG CASHBUST¿GALAXY 2250	3012	GALAXY	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHBUST-ET
EDG JALA MOGUL 2266	3012	MOGUL	BUTLERVIEW SR JEVEN JALA-ET
GITOISE ETERNITY MAGGIE	3012	ETERNITY	GITOISE JAKE MALY
S-S-I MOONRAY LAURA 9072-ET	3011	MOONRAY	S-S-I KRAMER LOY 7675-ET
BLONDIN HEADLINER LAUZYA	3010	HEADLINER	LESPEREE METEOR LAUZI
WILLSBRO BREWMASTER LILA Z	3009	BREWMASTER	WILLSBRO PLANET LILA Z
DIANA	3009	MERIDIAN	DAGGI
GLASSON UNO G GLORA	3009	NUMERO UNO	GLASSON JD GOLDWYN GLORA ET
VEKIS ELSA QUEEN-ET	3008	MASSEY	ELTES
CEDARWAL SUPERSIRE EDGY	3008	SUPERSIRE	WABASH-WAY SHOTTLE ELLYN-ET
LOOKOUT PESCE NATASHA	3007	HEADLINER	GOLD-N-OAKS O NOVA2269-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN PLEDGE 35-ET	3007	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO EVOLVE PLEDGE
VICTORIA MASSEY KERRY	3007	MASSEY	VICTORIA SUPER KIRBY
HYDE-PARK MASSEY 4433	3007	MASSEY	HYDE-PARK ARMY 3584-TW
BONACCUEIL EARNHARDT PANAMA P	3006	EARNHARDT P	WINDSOR-MANOR ZSH PANDA-ET
AIMONETTA UNO LUCY ET	3005	NUMERO UNO	OWN GOLD LUCILLE
DE OOSTERHOF O HAPPY	3005	DADDY	DG EROSHINE FR
EDG CASHBUST DOOR 2289	3004	DOORMAN	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHBUST-ET
SAN-DAN MOGUL SHEMO 2302	3003	MOGUL	UFM-DUBS SHERUN-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN ATLEE-ET	3002	MERIDIAN	HEAVENLY MOM ATLEE
MORMANN LAT TUSKY 2294-ET	3002	LATIMER	FARNEAR-REGAN TALSA-ET
CASTEL MOGUL TALQUEE ET	3001	MOGUL	VIDIA DEMELLO RAVISANTE
IDILLY P2M	3000	LAVAMAN	G DILLY P2M
EDG ETTY UNO 770	3000	NUMERO UNO	WELCOME BOOKEM ETTY-ET
CROTEAU DAKKER SALSA	2999	DAKKER	GEN-I-BEQ GERARD SAMMY
LEOTHE HEADLINER LAURA	2999	HEADLINER	LEOTHE BRETT LUCIDE
SULLY LITHIUM MARY-ET	2998	LITHIUM	SULLY PLANET MANITOBA-ET
JEANRI PHOENIX PONPON	2998	PHOENIX	JEANRI BOLY PETALE
WELCOME-TEL PREDSTN LIZA-ET	2998	PREDESTINE	KELLERCREST SUPER LIESL-ET
JS MISS MADEIRA-ET	2997	DADDY	J.S. MISS MERIBEL
WELCOME-TEL RANSOM LEETA-ET	2997	RANSOM	KELLERCREST SUPER LIESL-ET
POM IERE	2996	NUMERO UNO	EGALE POM
AMMON FARMS MASY MYLAYLA-ET	2996	MASSEY	AMMON FARMS OBSVR MYLILY-TW
WILLSBRO N UNO O DOLLY ET	2995	NUMERO UNO	WILLSBRO ONWARD DOLLY
TRUSTMORE MOGUL LILAC ET	2995	MOGUL	VELTHUIS PLANET LIZZY
EDG BABY UNO 2228-ET	2994	NUMERO UNO	OCONNORS SUPER BABY
MATCREST SHAN CHESSA-ET	2994	SHAN	MATCREST RADON CRIMSON-ET
CLAYNOOK DOWRY SYMPATICO	2993	SYMPATICO	OCD PLANET DIAMOND-ET
JEANLU MOGUL FIESTA	2993	MOGUL	SPEEK-NJ OBSERV FANDANGO-ET
SPRUCE-HAVEN PAR SX14654-ET	2991	PARKER	SPRUCE-HAVEN OBS SX12849-ET
QUIET-BROOK-D MERID FALLAX	2991	MERIDIAN	QUIET-BROOK-D BRONCO FALI
WILLSBRO A N UNO PAMMY	2990	NUMERO UNO	WILLSBRO BAXTER PAMMY ET
GITOISE ETERNITY MAGIE	2990	ETERNITY	GITOISE JAKE MALY
	2990	PERRY
ALL.NURE MACALESE BELLINA	2990	MASCALESE	ALL.NURE SHOTTLE BLUEBELLE ET
A-L-H BETHANY	2989	LITHIUM	A-L-H PLANET BRIDGET
BOMAZ SUPERSIRE 5974	2989	SUPERSIRE	BOMAZ PARKER 5321-ET
SYLVANSIDE REGINA MOGUL	2987	MOGUL	SYLVANSIDE SHOTTLE REGINA
CO-OP LITHIUM 6287 7123-ET	2986	LITHIUM	CO-OP CLARK TASKET 6287-ET
	2986	SUPERSIRE	WELCOME JEEVES PERLY-ET
RI-VAL-RE EHARDT CHIPS-P-ET	2986	EARNHARDT P	RI-VAL-RE OBSRVR SALSA-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN E PLEDGE-ET	2985	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO EVOLVE PLEDGE
HOOD LEXIA	2984	LEXOR	MARWIL LM REBECCA
CALBRETT MASCALESE LILLIANNE	2983	MASCALESE	CALBRETT GOLDWYN LAYLA-ET
RI-VAL-RE DOLO OAKLEY-ET	2983	DOLO-P	RI-VAL-RE SUPER NIKE-ET
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6301-ET	2983	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD RAMOS 3430
SNOWBIZ GALAXY LUPIN	2981	GALAXY	SILVERRIDGE SNOW LIZZY
R-E-W LAYNE PINK CRI-ET	2981	LAYNE	WABASH-WAY EVES EASY PEA-ET
PELLERAT MOGUL SANDY	2981	MOGUL	PELLERAT BAXTER SARIE
WILLSBRO FERNAND HOW LILA Z-ET	2980	FERNAND	WILLSBRO SHOTTLE HOW LILA Z
MOREL IDOL	2980	LEXOR	ELDORADO
CO-OP GRAFEETI GABRIEL 7128	2980	GRAFEETI	JE-KO GABRIEL CRI-ET
CO-OP UPD PUZZLE 6484	2980	PUZZLE	COMYN-PBCD SUMMER CRI-ET
STE ODILE LIGHTSNOW PACIFICA	2980	LIGHTSNOW	STE ODILE MANOMAN MOD PLATINE
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN S AMBER-ET	2979	MERIDIAN	RIVERDANE SHOTTLE AMBER
EDG ABYSS DOORMAN 2281	2978	DOORMAN	RMW SNOWMAN ABYSS-ET
SANDY-VALLEY KRN TOPANGA-ET	2976	KRUNCH	SANDY-VALLEY IOTA TOPAZ-ET
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN SHO LILA Z-E	2975	MERIDIAN	WILLSBRO MOM SHO LILA Z
SIEMERS SHIMONE 19952	2974	SHIMONE	SIEMERS DORCY 16120
SIEMERS MASCALESE BOMBI-ET	2974	MASCALESE	GEN-I-BEQ SHOTTLE BOMBI
ST MAYFIELD MAKIO	2974	MAYFIELD	GOLDEN-OAKS ROBUST MABEL-ET
S-S-I PREDEST SINA 9091-ET	2974	PREDESTINE	HAPPYDANNY SNOW STORM-ET
ROXY	2974	MOGUL	BOUW MOM ROXY
K&K GAMES 8727	2973	MOGUL
BOMAZ LITHIUM 6031	2973	LITHIUM	BOMAZ BOOKEM 5402-ET
LEOTHE SUPERSIRE DAUPHINE	2973	SUPERSIRE	LEOTHE BAXTER DAPHNEE
DES-Y-GEN HUNTER SYLKIA	2972	HUNTER	DES-Y-GEN PLANET SILKY
MILLER-FF MASC EVIE-ET	2971	MASCALESE	NOVA SHOTTLE EVELYN-ET
CLAYNOOK DIOR SYMPATICO	2971	SYMPATICO	OCD PLANET DIAMOND-ET
HIGHERRANSOM PRED SALTY-ET	2970	PREDESTINE	BRU-DALE MOM STARLY-ET
RZH ADELAIDE	2969	MAYFIELD	KHW SUPER ADERYN-ET
BERGITTE HUNTER HELIA	2969	HUNTER	BERGITTE ASHLAR HAVARD
6217686931-ET	2968	MOGUL	FOTTO MAE
CALBRETT LET IT SNOW LIGHTLY	2968	LET IT SNOW	CALBRETT GOLDWYN LAYLA-ET
SPRUCE-HAVEN MASSEY 14691	2967	MASSEY	SPRUCE-HAVEN FRED A13182-ET
FABEL DELPHIE MERIDIAN	2967	MERIDIAN	SYTOMAX DORICE BAHAMAS
KINGS-RANSOM PREDES APPLE	2966	PREDESTINE	N-SPRINGHOPE NIAGRA ANNA-ET
KINGS-RANSOM CASHCN DELL-ET	2966	CASHCOIN	KINGS-RANSOM BAXTER DOLLY
KINGS-RANSOM KRUNCH EXPERT	2965	KRUNCH	KINGS-RANSOM MAN-O EPPIE-ET
KERNDTWAY ROBUST HEMI-ET	2965	ROBUST	KERNDTWAY POLD PLANET-ET
AARDEMA ANDERSON 1428	2965	ANDERSON
MS DOTTIE MASSEY 2254	2965	MASSEY	SPEEK-NJ SNOW DOTTIE RAE-ET
BONACCUEIL LET IT SNOW CAMILIA	2963	LET IT SNOW	GILLETTE IOTA CARMELA
FARNEAR-TBR-BH BEN 2227-ET	2963	BEN	B-ENTERPRISE SUPER GIGI-ET
WILLSBRO M YORIK G ROXY-ET	2963	YORICK	WILLSBRO GARRETT ROXY
BROWNTOWN LD MOGUL LIVELY	2963	MOGUL	FRUEH MAN O MAN LOOK AT HER
BROWNTOWN LD MOGUL LUCKY	2963	MOGUL	FRUEH MAN O MAN LOOK AT HER
SIEMERS MORGAN BLOOM	2962	MORGAN	SIEMERS EXPLODE BLOOM
CO-OP DD GALAXY 40058-ET	2962	GALAXY	CO-OP TRIGG ABIGAIL 6402-ET
CHARPENTIER DESTINED SPACE	2962	DESTINED	CHARPENTIER FBI SIERRA
WILLSBRO UNO GHOST	2961	NUMERO UNO	WILLSBRO GOLD GHOST ET
VICTORIA VITTEK DANELLE	2960	ALTAVITTEK	VICTORIA SUPER DANNI
ROYAL HILL PLANET SPARKME	2960	PLANET	ROYAL HILL MANOMAN SPARKME
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6342-ET	2959	GALAXY	CO-OP UPD RAMOS 3430
MATT-DARI MAURICE DESTRY	2959	MAURICE	MATT-DARI OBSERVER DARIA-ET
CO-OP UPD MOONBOY 6623	2959	MOONBOY	CO-OP FRANK ROBIN 6330-ET
DES-Y-GEN HUNTER SUBLIME	2958	HUNTER	DES-Y-GEN PLANET SILKY

The take home message, when all breeds are considered, is that purebred Canadian breeders consider type (durability) to be the most important area. Beyond that, they pay moderate attention to production and either they do not consider Health & Fertility as being important or they have yet to start to eliminate using bulls lowly rated for Healthy & Fertility.

Comparing to the Best

Further analysis showed that breeders, for whatever reason, did not use the most highly genetically rated sires. The following tables are comparisons of the most used sires and the breed’s top ten most highly rated proven and genomic sires from mid-2012, the time when the inseminations would have been made to produce the females that were registered in 2013. Note that the ranges for the averages are given following each average.

Table 4 contains the comparison for Ayrshire sires. The sires used were far superior for type (CONF) but were inferior for Milk, Fat, Protein, Protein %, SCS and DF (daughter fertility) to the top LPI proven sires. Breeders that do not receive significant income from type are foregoing the opportunity for gain in major traits if they place a high requirement on a sire’s CONF index. Note that there was not a CDN listing for genomic Ayrshire sires in 2012.

Table 4 Comparison of Ayrshire Sires Used and Sires Available (2013)

Name	Sire	GTPI*	Milk	Fat	Protein	NM$	PTAT	Owner	State/Ctry
EDG DAHLIA MOGUL 2257	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2591	2394	90	68	885	3.93	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
SULLY MAN-O-SHAN MARTHA-ET	LADYS-MANOR MAN-O-SHAN-ET	2589	1974	88	73	873	3.94	Mike Sullivan	Kasson , MN
COOKIECUTTER AOAK HAWAII-ET	PINE-TREE ALTAOAK-ET	2574	1854	108	76	864	3.55	Denise M. Dickinson	Hudson Falls , NY
GIL-GAR PREDES MERLOT-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2553	2355	82	77	930	2.89	Stelling Farms Inc.	Millville , MN
NO-FLA MCCUTCHEN 35646-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2549	1173	69	57	904	2.9	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
LARCREST CICADA-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2543	1683	84	63	838	3.78	Jon E. Larson	Albert Lea , MN
COOKIECUTTER PRED HAZARD-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2541	1534	108	63	909	3.16	Denise M. Dickinson	Hudson Falls , NY
WCD-ZBW SUPERSIRE LOVEY-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2536	2079	100	82	876	2.83	Kevin & Barbara Ziemba & Woodc	Lisbon , NY
WINROSS SUPERSIRE MINDY-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2527	2429	106	74	886	3.17	Steven S. Lantz	Leola , PA
MS LATIMER MUSICAL-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2517	1261	67	50	883	3.07	Trans-America Genetics	ST-HYACINTHE QUE , WI
LARCREST CIABATTA-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2516	1442	103	61	857	3.55	Jon E. Larson	Albert Lea , MN
MORMANN LAT TABINE 2297-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2515	1036	59	55	895	2.78	Jennifer Mormann	Farley , IA
JOOK MAURICE 9220-ET	MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE-ET	2511	1442	99	55	918	2.74	Lester C. Jones & Sons Inc.	Massey , MD
RICHMOND-FD GALPAL-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2507	1703	66	61	915	2.96	Chas A Jr & John L Richmond	North Collins , NY
EDG 4858 MOGUL 2240-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2507	1569	76	58	900	3.12	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
MS AMERICA LAITICIA-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2507	1914	96	69	907	2.74	Trans-America Genetics	St-Hyacinthe QC , WI
EDG RUBY EARN 2259	DA-SO-BURN MOM EARNHARDT P	2506	2012	96	72	884	2.98	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
WINROSS SUPERSIRE MARLA-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2495	1621	85	65	895	2.88	Steven S. Lantz	Leola , PA
FARNEAR HEADLINER 1722	SEAGULL-BAY HEADLINER-ET	2493	1891	83	54	844	3.18	T R & M Simon B & T Rauen &	Farley , IA
HARTLINE SS LOU-RAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2491	1152	81	55	867	3.09	Hartline Valley Farms Inc.	Marietta , OH
NO-FLA MCCUTCHEN 35703-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2488	1723	85	59	808	3.4	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
SIEMERS MCCUTCH ROZ-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2488	2267	81	73	795	3.32	Siemers Holstein Farms Inc.	Newton , WI
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1719	ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE-ET	2484	1358	83	58	833	3.23	Rick & Tom Simon B & T Rauen &	Farley , IA
RI-VAL-RE SYMP VIVIAN-ET	DYMENTHOLM S SYMPATICO	2477	1978	88	64	886	2.74	Aaron Jorgensen	Webberville , MI
HIGHERRANSOM COIN STITCH-ET	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN-ET	2472	1217	74	57	854	2.95	Jeffrey King & Fly-Higher Hols	Valley Falls , NY
SEAGULL-BAY DAY LIGHT-ET	MINNIGAN-HILLS DAY-ET	2469	1411	51	54	831	3	Seagull Bay Dairy Inc.	American Falls , ID
WINDY-KNOLL-VIEW PRINCESS	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2469	2163	59	68	875	2.48	James R. & Nina P. Burdette	Mercersburg , PA
LADIES-FIRST SS BLESSING-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2466	2644	108	79	938	2.25	Barbara Mountain & Ladies Firs	Rocky Ridge , MD
SULLY OAK MANDA-ET	PINE-TREE ALTAOAK-ET	2465	1889	77	66	817	3.26	Kyle Pundsack	Freeport , MN
WILLSBRO MERIDIAN PAMMY-ET	SULLY HART MERIDIAN-ET	2463	1613	51	54	730	3.93	Wills Bros	Wadebridge Cornwall ,
HARTLINE SS LIDA RAR-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2456	1857	72	63	818	3.14	Hartline Valley Farms Inc.	Marietta , OH
CO-OP SPS PRUDENCE 7079-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2455	2652	97	79	868	2.67	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
MORMANN MOGUL 1100-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2450	1768	67	58	845	2.88	Agri-Science Opportunity LLC	Durham , NC
ZIMMERVIEW PARDISE SULLY-ET	REGANCREST PARADISE-ET	2449	1557	66	41	853	2.89	Dean E. & Brent E. Zimmer	Marietta , OH
NO-FLA NUMERO UNO 35742-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2449	1527	92	50	800	3.27	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
LATUCH SUPER LABELLA-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2444	1824	104	76	788	3.01	Roger & David Latuch	Somerset , PA
STONEHURST SUPER CHRISTY-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2442	1309	89	50	807	3.16	Stonehurst Farm Dairy Sales	Strasburg , PA
INTENSE DAY SPRINKLE1274-ET	MINNIGAN-HILLS DAY-ET	2441	1726	62	54	829	3.02	Gregory W. Crouse	Sparta , NC
LARS-ACRES MOG TRIANGLE-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2439	1100	72	38	851	2.89	Larson Acres Inc.	Evansville , WI
FARNEAR NUMERO UNO 1704	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2437	1462	99	59	868	2.8	Rick & Tom Simon B & T Rauen &	Farley , IA
PINE-TREE DASHE OAK 5770-ET	PINE-TREE ALTAOAK-ET	2435	935	65	49	715	3.61	Matthew J. Steiner	Marshallville , OH
WILLSBRO UNO CLASSY	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2432	1222	55	49	804	2.91	Wills Bros	Wadebridge Cornwall ,
LARCREST COLLAGE-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2428	779	109	49	835	3.17	Jon E. Larson	Albert Lea , MN
LEADERWIN LEXOR MANDA	GENERVATIONS LEXOR	2426	1190	65	54	719	3.91	Steven S. Emanuel J.& James S.	Leola , PA
MS KOENEN NUMRO UNO 6034-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2425	1506	88	52	823	3.22	A Dykshorn D Kaufmann & G Koe	Ireton , IA
JOLICAP MORGAN DESIRE-ET	S-S-I BOOKEM MORGAN-ET	2423	1449	62	50	848	2.84	Ferme Jolicap Inc	Cap St Ignace PQ , CA
SIEMERS S-SIRE ROZANNE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2423	2244	107	78	808	2.62	Siemers Holstein Farms Inc.	Newton , WI
EDG BYSHA CC 2258	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN-ET	2422	1874	69	53	824	3.02	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
S-S-I MOONRY LEIGHA 9081-ET	DE-SU RB MOONRAY 11038-ET	2421	1742	90	71	806	2.84	Select Sires Inc.	Plain City , OH
COOKIECUTTER ALOAK HALEX-ET	PINE-TREE ALTAOAK-ET	2419	1845	98	73	772	2.75	Denise M. Dickinson	Hudson Falls , NY
EDG CHRISTA LATIMER 2226-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2417	1742	73	64	760	3.17	Jeffrey Jet Butler	Springfield , IL
WILLSBOR MOGUL AMBER	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2414	1457	83	52	746	3.44	Wills Bros	Wadebridge Cornwall ,
WOODCREST MERIDIAN LURK-ET	SULLY HART MERIDIAN-ET	2413	1455	55	53	682	3.96	Woodcrest Dairy LLC	Lisbon , NY
FLINT-VILLE UNO YESTER-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2413	1554	97	59	726	3.82	Lynford & Kevin Burkholder	Lebanon , PA
MAPLEHURST NUMBER ONE 2941	MISTY SPRINGS NUMBER ONE	2412	1625	104	61	803	3	Maplehurst Farm LLC	Cuyler , NY
MAPLEHURST EVEREST 2953	STANTONS EVEREST	2412	1643	98	57	821	3.02	Maplehurst Farm LLC	Cuyler , NY
HARTLINE SS LINA-RAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2411	1578	66	63	743	3.12	Hartline Valley Farms Inc.	Marietta , OH
MS CO-VISTA SUPRSIRE LEE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2410	2019	85	59	759	3.35	Russell M George	Arcade , NY
NO-FLA MAURICE RAE 35753-ET	MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE-ET	2408	1498	86	50	855	2.21	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
WEBB-VUE PREDESTINE 6909-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2406	1519	73	49	819	2.77	Robert A. Webb	Plymouth , WI
COOKIECUTTER PRE HANDFUL-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2405	1771	82	64	785	2.94	Denise M. Dickinson	Hudson Falls , NY
FARNEAR MASCALESE 1720	ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE-ET	2403	1775	98	67	736	3.33	Rick & Tom Simon B & T Rauen &	Farley , IA
BO-IRISH-RN SS CHARTER	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2401	1913	70	60	756	3.04	Gary Housner & Ronald Suhr	Elroy , WI
NORDIC-RIDGE SUPERS LEGACY	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2401	2276	109	69	749	3.21	Mitch Amundson	De Forest , WI
NO-FLA MAURICE SAR 35024-ET	MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE-ET	2399	1458	61	50	853	2.2	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
S-S-I MYSTIC KACI 9075-ET	S-S-I SHAMROCK MYSTIC-ET	2399	994	68	52	854	2.22	Select Sires Inc.	Plain City , OH
GLEN-D-HAVEN SUP BUMPKIN-ET	BLUE-HORIZON ALTASUPLEX	2399	1595	58	53	719	3.6	Paul & Jackie Glende	Altura , MN
HARTFORD ELECTN SARA 423-ET	EILDON-TWEED SUP ELECTION	2399	1102	54	41	806	2.99	Robert J. Eustice	Byron , MN
HARTLINE SS LELIA-RAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2398	1587	78	55	887	2.26	Hartline Valley Farms Inc.	Marietta , OH
BUTLERVIEW LET IT SHINE-ET	VELTHUIS LET IT SNOW	2394	1338	52	47	719	3.59	Jeffrey Butler	Chebanse , IL
MORMANN LAT TAFFY 2295-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2394	1455	66	61	763	2.98	Jennifer Mormann	Farley , IA
CO-OP SPS PRUDENCE 7080-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2394	2518	95	79	790	2.69	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
WELCOME SUPERSIRE LEOTA	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2392	2284	82	69	760	3.16	Welcome Stock Farm LLC	Schuylerville , NY
MATCREST GALAXY CHARLEE-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2392	1766	85	63	758	2.9	Matthew R. Johnson	Baldwin , WI
ESKDALE MOGUL EXCEL EMMA-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2390	1051	78	46	747	3.16	Eskdale Center Dairy	Eskdale , UT
KINGS-RANSOM PRED DEBBIE-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2387	1383	91	52	814	2.56	Kings-Ransom Farm LLC	Schuylerville , NY
NO-FLA GALAXY ZOEY 35590-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2386	1653	97	58	798	2.51	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
LATUCH PETRONE LIGHT-ET	WELCOME SUPER PETRONE-ET	2382	1579	58	57	787	2.5	Roger & David Latuch	Somerset , PA
R-E-W ELLYMAE-ET	O-COSMOPOLITAN-ET	2381	2246	76	72	688	3.47	Marc J. Wolf	Lebanon , CT
ST GENOMICPRO MUFFY	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2381	1910	73	55	802	2.41	Sexing Technologies	Navasota , TX
ZIMMERVIEW MORGAN BRINA-ET	S-S-I BOOKEM MORGAN-ET	2380	1228	97	54	804	2.67	Dean E. & Brent E. Zimmer	Marietta , OH
MISS HJ NUMEROUNO RICKI-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2380	1091	61	47	761	2.87	Ken Horn & Curtis Johansson	Loyal , WI
NO-FLA LITHIUM REE 35570-ET	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2379	1682	40	45	793	2.81	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
NO-FLA GALAXY LORA 35639-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2379	1279	93	52	764	2.72	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
MS GALAXY MURIEL-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2376	1147	64	47	793	2.73	Trans-America Genetics	St-Hyacinthe QC , WI
AMMON-PEACHEY LR MISS PRISS	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2375	1550	56	53	678	3.69	M & J Ammon & G S Peachey	Lewistown , PA
LADIES-FIRST SS BEVERLY-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2372	1220	88	51	837	2.51	Barbara Mountain & Ladies Firs	Rocky Ridge , MD
WINDY-KNOLL-VIEW PANCO-TW	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2372	1897	99	59	802	2.61	James R. & Nina P. Burdette	Mercersburg , PA
SPRUCE-HAVEN MASSEY 14691	CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY-ET	2372	1792	78	60	797	2.47	Doug Young & James Nocek	Union Springs , NY
LARCREST CINNABAR-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2371	810	87	49	710	3.39	Jon E. Larson	Albert Lea , MN
EDG ETTY MOGUL 2248-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2370	1165	95	54	782	3.06	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
BOGHILL MOGUL S FAITH ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2370	1088	66	39	819	2.66	Holstein UK	Herts WD3 3BB ,
BRYHILL SUPLEX MYSTIQUE-ET	BLUE-HORIZON ALTASUPLEX	2368	1578	68	59	786	2.85	Bryhill Farm Inc	Ormstown PQ , IA
JA-KNOLL MOGUL DAME-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2368	797	80	41	747	2.98	Ja-Knoll Dairy	Oronoco , MN
GUESE-PRTNS UNO RELISH-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2367	1032	63	48	766	2.48	Crossroads Dairy LLC	Postville , IA
SANDY-VALLEY KRNCH TOPSY-ET	HAMMER-CREEK FRED KRUNCH-ET	2367	2051	69	54	670	3.81	Dave Pat Frank Jr. & Greg B	Stevens Point , WI
LARS-ACRES MOGUL 14639	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2367	1461	52	40	713	3.52	Michael A. Larson	Evansville , WI
SULLY CASUAL MCKAYLA-ET	LARCREST CASUAL-ET	2367	1788	71	62	763	2.79	Kyle Pundsack	Freeport , MN
DINOMI LTMR SARA 9735-ET	GENERVATIONS LATIMER	2365	2046	74	59	790	2.8	Dino & Mike Migliazzo	Atwater , CA
WA-DEL-DM MCCUTCHEN CARA-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2365	1768	67	57	603	3.88	Darwin Gene Horst	Chambersburg , PA
ST GENOMICPRO OMYGOSH-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2365	1235	73	43	748	3.24	Sexing Technologies	Navasota , TX
QUIET-BROOK-D PRE HOTROD-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2365	1501	58	61	684	3.46	John & Denise Dickinson	Hudson Falls , NY
TJR ARITA MCCUT 2256	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2363	842	72	45	577	4.55	Adolf Langhout & Tim Rauen	Farley , IA
MAPLEHURST EVEREST 2960	STANTONS EVEREST	2362	611	74	33	845	2.12	Maplehurst Farm LLC	Cuyler , NY
548077799-ET		2362	1929	88	64	775	2.42	Eurogenes	Fair Play , MD
KERNDTWAY LITHIUM HEMI	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2361	1850	71	57	763	2.54	Regancrest Farms	Waukon , IA
EDG BABY UNO 2228-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2361	1387	57	45	707	3.35	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
RONELEE GALXY DESIREABLE-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2361	1878	74	57	751	2.75	Sherman Polinder	Lynden , WA
WA-DEL-DM MCCUTCHEN CORA-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2360	1932	51	54	633	3.79	Darwin Gene Horst	Chambersburg , PA
EDG LACI SHOTGLASS 766-ET	BUTZ-BUTLER SHOTGLASS-ET	2359	2387	76	62	754	2.72	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
CO-OP SPS 6292 7118-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2359	1781	60	51	710	3.31	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
SAN-DAN LEX CANDICE 2318-ET	GENERVATIONS LEXOR	2358	1600	76	58	765	2.89	Daniel & Sandra Mormann	New Vienna , IA
N-SPRINGHOPE SSIRE 2071-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2357	1512	68	61	871	1.82	J Kevin & Barbara Nedrow	Clifton Springs , NY
HOS-COT RANSOM PEARL-ET	DE-SU RANSOM-ET	2357	1115	72	58	708	3.03	Samuel C Cottrell	Hoosick , NY
T-SPRUCE SUPERSIRE 7472	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2356	2228	99	72	766	2.65	Arnold B. Gruenes	Richmond , MN
SEAGULL-BAY MAJIC DAY-ET	MINNIGAN-HILLS DAY-ET	2355	1220	51	47	736	3.01	Seagull Bay Dairy Inc.	American Falls , ID
PENN-ENGLAND GINGER 9730-ET	SOUTHERN-HILLS BAYARD-ET	2355	1664	68	61	731	3.05	Penn England LLC	Williamsburg , PA
AR-JOY SUPERSIRE FRITZY-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2355	1334	79	48	787	2.47	Duane & Marilyn Hershey	Cochranville , PA
ARMSON MOGUL EVELYN	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2354	1182	69	56	837	1.93	Armson Farms LLC	Pavilion , NY
S-S-I PRED MADDIE 9088-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2353	880	83	49	856	1.93	Select Sires Inc.	Plain City , OH
BACON-HILL PREDSTNE LEAH-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2352	1153	72	56	714	3.07	Bacon-Hill Holsteins LLC	Schuylerville , NY
SIEMERS SSIRE ROZANNERAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2350	1711	117	65	720	2.77	Siemers Holstein Farms Inc.	Newton , WI
MS EMILY HYPER BALLAD-ET	SEAGULL-BAY HEADLINER-ET	2350	1726	85	59	640	3.56	Trans-America Genetics	St-Hyacinthe QC , CA
MAPLEHURST SUPERSIRE 2957	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2348	1581	103	60	831	2.11	Maplehurst Farm LLC	Cuyler , NY
WEBB-VUE SHOTGLASS 6913-ET	BUTZ-BUTLER SHOTGLASS-ET	2348	1603	66	39	802	2.66	Robert A. Webb	Plymouth , WI
CURR-VALE SUPER DUCHESS-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2348	1812	59	59	715	3.11	Jessica Mae Currie	Tully , NY
RI-VAL-RE DOLO OAKLEY-ET	RI-VAL-RE OBSRVR DOLO-P-ET	2347	1352	61	48	772	2.65	Aaron Jorgensen	Webberville , MI
NO-FLA ANDERSON 35259-ET	VISION-GEN SHF ANDERSON-ET	2346	818	60	38	820	2.09	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
SIEMERS SSIRE ROZANNEMAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2346	1530	97	51	765	2.72	Siemers Holstein Farms Inc.	Newton , WI
KENMORE CLOUDLESS DAY-ET	MINNIGAN-HILLS DAY-ET	2346	1593	72	55	771	2.46	Kenneth H. Larson	Downing , WI
LOT-O-ROK SHAM TASHIA	LADYS-MANOR PL SHAMROCK-ET	2345	1601	67	53	744	3.03	Chamberlain Dairy Inc.	Moses Lake , WA
SANDY-VALLEY HUNTR JULIE-ET	COOKIECUTTER MOM HUNTER-ET	2344	2506	104	73	674	3.29	Dave Pat Frank Jr. & Greg B	Stevens Point , WI
HIGHERRANSOM PRED SALTY-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2343	897	75	51	780	2.36	Jeffrey King & Fly-Higher Hols	Valley Falls , NY
GOLDEN-OAKS UNO CARLENE-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2341	559	76	38	752	3.03	Golden Oaks Farms	Wauconda , IL
HIGHERRANSOM PRED SASSY-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2339	504	65	39	685	3.2	Jeffrey King & Fly-Higher Hols	Valley Falls , NY
TTM BRONO 30970-ET	REGANCREST-KF OBSV BRONO-ET	2338	964	67	47	827	2.05	Thomas T. Mercuro	Rocky Ridge , MD
RI-VAL-RE EHARDT NIK-ET	DA-SO-BURN MOM EARNHARDT P	2338	1818	89	84	686	2.75	Aaron Jorgensen	Webberville , MI
SPRUCE-HAVEN LEXOR 14682	GENERVATIONS LEXOR	2338	1241	100	66	752	2.61	Doug Young & James Nocek	Union Springs , NY
WOODCREST PREDEST LENTIL-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2337	585	85	42	768	2.85	Woodcrest Dairy LLC	Lisbon , NY
PINE-TREE 4187 TAPE 5753-ET	PINE-TREE BRIANNE TAPE-ET	2337	674	72	33	779	2.79	Matthew J. Steiner	Marshallville , OH
RICKLAND SUPERSIRE 4593-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2337	1908	70	57	749	2.65	Greg Rickert	Eldorado , WI
SEAGULL-BAY EHDT MAJIC-ET	DA-SO-BURN MOM EARNHARDT P	2336	1759	78	70	757	2.27	Seagull Bay Dairy Inc.	American Falls , ID
SPRUCE-HAVEN DESTINED *RC 146	CURR-VALE DESTINED-ET	2336	899	59	40	739	2.91	Doug Young & James Nocek	Union Springs , NY
LARS-ACRES PETRONE 14710	WELCOME SUPER PETRONE-ET	2335	1666	49	41	801	2.33	Michael A. Larson	Evansville , WI
APPEALING GALAXY HOOCHIE	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2335	2082	59	56	758	2.85	S. Scott & April D. Cooper	Delta , PA
KINGS-RANSOM SHAN DIXA-ET	LADYS-MANOR MAN-O-SHAN-ET	2335	1562	88	62	693	3.06	Kings-Ransom Farm LLC	Schuylerville , NY
C-HAVEN MOGUL 1395-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2333	1230	64	50	699	3.03	T. Priest & T T. Mercuro	Greencastle , PA
NO-FLA SUPERSIRE 35696-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2333	1619	76	59	822	1.63	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6319-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2332	734	59	40	875	1.61	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
VEKIS ELSA QUEEN-ET	CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY-ET	2330	1114	96	51	790	2.2	Eurogenes	Fair Play , MD
RI-VAL-RE SUPERSIRE NADOLA	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2330	1733	71	64	751	2.34	Aaron Jorgensen	Webberville , MI
S-S-I ARIWAMI OLEGANT DUSTY	UFM-DUBS OLEGANT-ET	2329	750	67	31	800	1.96	Brand Dairy Farm	Waterloo , IN
INTENSE LITHIUM 1275-ET	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2328	1676	50	53	768	2.34	Gregory W. Crouse	Sparta , NC
MS KOENEN NUMRO UNO 6022-ET	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO-ET	2328	1393	81	42	721	3.31	A Dykshorn D Kaufmann & G Koe	Ireton , IA
BO-IRISH-RN MOG BIGWIG-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2328	1261	83	51	680	3.35	Gary Housner & Ronald Suhr	Elroy , WI
JE-KO MAN GUESS CRI-ET	SULLY MANDORA CRI-ET	2328	815	61	43	717	2.78	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
SIEMERS HLINER ROZ-IS-IT-ET	SEAGULL-BAY HEADLINER-ET	2327	2071	90	68	631	3.39	Siemers Holstein Farms Inc.	Newton , WI
BRYHILL SUPLEX MADALENA-ET	BLUE-HORIZON ALTASUPLEX	2326	1666	49	57	720	2.76	Bryhill Farm Inc	Ormstown PQ , IA
S-S-I PREDEST SINA 9091-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2326	1892	87	54	747	2.72	Select Sires Inc.	Plain City , OH
AURORA SHOTGLASS 13899-ET	BUTZ-BUTLER SHOTGLASS-ET	2326	2385	62	67	735	2.7	Aurora Ridge Dairy LLC	Aurora , NY
KINGS-RANSOM PREDES APPLE	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2326	810	64	31	741	2.97	Kings-Ransom Farm LLC	Schuylerville , NY
CO-OP GRAFEETI GABRIEL 7128	LADYS-MANOR RD GRAFEETI-ET	2325	1532	70	44	782	2.35	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
BROEKS ENEKEM-ET	DE-SU 521 BOOKEM-ET	2325	1590	55	53	692	3.17	Broekhuis Vee & H.	Overijssel 7665 TV ,
SANDY-VALLEY SUPRSIRE BO-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2325	2022	82	62	722	3.19	Dave Pat Frank Jr. & Greg B	Stevens Point , WI
MATT-DARI SUPERSI MAIZIE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2325	2115	82	57	750	2.98	Matthiae Dairy Farm Inc.	Marathon , WI
NO-FLA CASUAL KYLA 35589	LARCREST CASUAL-ET	2324	1384	59	60	845	1.48	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
MS SIZZLE CASHCOIN 772-ET	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN-ET	2324	1314	81	47	733	2.86	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
GIBBS MCC FINITY	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2324	1268	54	50	623	3.35	Joseph J. Gibbs	Epworth , IA
EILDON-TWEED SS BELLA-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2322	1884	94	72	701	3.09	David R. Wood	Amsterdam , NY
NO-FLA SUPERSIRE 35747-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2322	1433	68	61	748	1.9	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
CO-OP LITHIUM 6287 7123-ET	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2322	1336	53	44	787	2.19	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
NO-FLA SUPERSIRE 35759-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2321	1837	84	58	783	2.27	North Florida Holsteins	Bell , FL
SPRUCE-HAVEN MCCUTCHEN 14660	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2321	1053	67	49	647	3.26	Doug Young & James Nocek	Union Springs , NY
RABUR MOGUL PICANTE-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2320	1094	79	37	730	3.14	R. Paul Buhr Jr.	Viroqua , WI
FARNEAR-TBR-BH BRONO 2172	REGANCREST-KF OBSV BRONO-ET	2320	2193	65	72	667	3.05	Rick & Tom Simon	Farley , IA
T-SPRUCE DADDY 7468	RONELEE SSI O DADDY-ET	2318	1675	36	50	641	3.54	Arnold B. Gruenes	Richmond , MN
HAR-DALE-ACRES-JP PAPER-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2318	1971	77	70	755	2.04	Fred & Matt Harder	Athens , WI
HILLS-END SS CURLEY SUE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2318	1376	95	50	754	2.74	Steven Conners	Lake , MI
BLUMENFELD RAN BRIZA CRI-ET	DE-SU RANSOM-ET	2318	497	83	42	768	2.27	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
EILDON-TWEED L CHASER-ET	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2317	1562	64	50	791	2.42	David R. Wood	Amsterdam , NY
EDG HALLE MCCUT 2117-ET	DE-SU BKM MCCUTCHEN 1174-ET	2317	1350	55	48	699	3	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
AMMON FARMS STG MYALEXIS-ET	BUTZ-BUTLER SHOTGLASS-ET	2316	2156	83	58	715	3.11	Michael & Jill Ammon	Lewistown , PA
COASTAL-VIEW MD DYLA 430-ET	SULLY MANDORA CRI-ET	2316	1707	47	44	791	2.29	Jo L Averill Farm	Tillamook , OR
EDG ETTY MOGUL 2243-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2316	961	75	47	719	3.13	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
WELCOME PARKER-P WHIT-ET	HICKORYMEA PARKER P-ET	2316	858	68	51	732	2.37	Welcome Stock Farm LLC	Schuylerville , NY
JOOK MAURICE 9224-ET	MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE-ET	2316	1309	65	45	717	2.68	Lester C. Jones & Sons Inc.	Massey , MD
CO-OP SPS SIBELLA 7122-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2316	953	90	48	756	2.6	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
BINDERWAY O DELICIOUS-ET	RONELEE SSI O DADDY-ET	2315	1622	64	51	596	3.87	Virgil Good	Stevens , PA
N-SPRINGHOPE SUPERSIRE 2076	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2315	1673	94	61	755	2.33	J Kevin & Barbara Nedrow	Clifton Springs , NY
DF LITHIUM BELLE A 1194-ET	S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM-ET	2315	1434	58	47	721	2.79	Daisy Farms LLC	Paris , TX
EDG ARMADA MERIDIAN 2107	SULLY HART MERIDIAN-ET	2314	1357	68	55	617	3.5	Elite Dairy Genomics LLC	Chebanse , IL
CO-VISTA ART DEZ-ET	MR AUBREY OBSERVER ART-ET	2314	1874	44	60	595	3.71	Russell M George	Arcade , NY
WILLSBRO MOGUL N PAMMY	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2314	1444	70	47	661	3.35	Wills Bros	Wadebridge Cornwall ,
HARTLINE SS LEXIE-RAE-ET	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2313	1003	62	38	677	3.08	Hartline Valley Farms Inc.	Marietta , OH
CO-OP UPD GALAXY 6570-ET	DE-SU FREDDIE GALAXY-ET	2313	1256	44	44	683	2.7	Genesis Cooperative Herd	Shawano , WI
WINDY-KNOLL-VIEW PANSIE-TW	SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE-ET	2312	1702	85	48	676	3.5	James R. & Nina P. Burdette	Mercersburg , PA
GIL-GAR PREDES MARACA-ET	RICKLAND PREDESTINE 669-ET	2312	1540	87	54	797	2.24	Stelling Farms Inc.	Millville , MN
WSA COSMO-ET	MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL	2309	1113	63	44	758	2.3	A L H Genetics BV	Damwoude ,
RI-VAL-RE SYMP AUBURN-ET	DYMENTHOLM S SYMPATICO	2309	1333	71	36	795	2.46	Aaron Jorgensen	Webberville , MI
ST GENOMICPRO BRINGO-ET	SULLY HART MERIDIAN-ET	2308	2017	61	65	651	3.2	Sexing Technologies	Navasota , TX

The comparison for Holstein sires of used and available (Table 5) shows some interesting facts. Breeders, here again, want their sires to be high type and high fat % and are prepared to give up Milk and Protein to get that higher type and fat %. The genomic sires available far exceed both the most used and top proven for Milk, Fat and Protein yields.

Table 5 Comparison of Holstein Sires Used and Sires Available (2013)

Name	Milk	Fat	Prot	NM$	PTAT	Rel	BPI
DE-SU OBSERVER	1602	61	52	792	2.7	0.99	99.8%
BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE	1236	54	43	779	1.57	0.99	98.7%
DE-SU GULF	1489	73	40	549	2.8	0.92	92.9%
MORNINGVIEW LEVI	876	68	54	693	1.4	0.95	91.3%
COYNE-FARMS SHOTLE YANCE	1815	75	54	516	1.9	0.93	89.6%
DE-SU HISTORY	1524	84	58	567	2.41	0.93	89.2%
LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN	1262	81	73	588	2.17	0.99	88.3%
END-ROAD O-MAN BRONCO-ET	1770	47	62	512	2.08	0.99	88.1%
O-BEE MANFRED JUSTICE	781	63	46	643	-0.07	0.99	87.4%
VA-EARLY-DAWN SUDAN CRI	1268	82	53	538	1.79	0.92	86.8%

In the Jersey sires (Table 5) used compared to proven available, the major difference is in SCS. The most used sires are quite inferior in SCS to the top ten proven sires available. Again as in Holsteins, the Jersey genomic sires stand out for their superiority for Milk, Fat and Protein yields. In the Jersey sires the ranges around the averages are larger than in Ayrshire or Holstein.

Table 6 Comparison of Jersey Sires Used and Sires Available (2013)

Name	Milk	Fat	Prot	NM$	PTAT	Rel	BPI
MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER	1731	74	67	708	2.75	0.73	100.0%
MR LOOKOUT PESCE ALTA5G	1020	53	46	6.12	3.96	0.72	98.4%
DE-SU JEROD 1223	1610	89	51	847	2.71	0.74	97.5%
COYNE-FARMS JABIR	1441	95	55	885	2.66	0.72	96.7%
RMW ANCHOR	1474	98	47	716	3.04	0.72	94.8%
MR LOOKOUT P EMBARGO	1485	94	56	644	3.38	0.72	93.8%
DE-SU DISTINCTION 11130	1754	97	64	834	3	0.72	93.8%
WELCOME ARMITAGE PESKY	1024	92	63	744	2.3	0.72	93.6%
SULLY MCCORD 269	1413	90	53	780	3.17	0.71	92.9%

Factors Needing Consideration

When selecting sires to use in the future, breeders everywhere need to consider the following facts:

Global demand for cheese is increasing and so a sire’s genetic index for protein yield is important.
Breeding stock sales based on type are not as financially rewarding as they once were (Read more: An Insider’s Guide to What Sells at the Big Dairy Cattle Auctions and Where did the money go?).
Total merit indexes (TPI, NM$, LPI, etc.) should to be based on genetic needs five to ten years in the future.
The genetic merit of our dairy cattle for fertility must be improved.
Sires with even one significant limiting factor should be avoided.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The perfect bull does not and likely never will exist. Every breeder will have their own genetic goals for their herd. The time has come for breeders to start planning five to ten years out and to avoid sires that will leave more culls at younger ages, extra expense per cow and added labour per cow. For most breeders that means not using sires that are not in the top 25% (>74%RK) for all of gLPI, Production, Durability and Health & Fertility.

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Who Controls The Future of The Dairy Breeding Industry?

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Monday, May 19th, 2014

As I listen to breeder-to-breeder discussions and read the information that is produced and shared, I am asking myself “Have we lost our breeder minds?” Most of the details or information shared is about what non-breeders think. Organizations, media and governments have different agendas and goals than breeders have. The Bullvine feels strongly that breeders need to make their voices heard in defining the genetic systems and services that are absolutely necessary for future success.

The Gravy is Gone

Where once breeders could sell animals for good prices, the premiums are gone and there are minimal, if any, margins for selling average breeding stock (Read more: Who Killed The Market For Good Dairy Cattle? and An Insider’s Guide to What Sells at the Big Dairy Cattle Auctions 2013). Where once breeding a top proven sire would mean a nice royalty check, that farm development or retirement money is no longer there. And, furthermore, buyers who once bought replacement animals from breeders have moved to using sexed semen and cross breeding and they now have their own reproductively efficient replacements.

Adjusting to Reality takes A C T I O N

Breeders are seeing a much different industry today than even just five years ago but they have not adjusted their business plans accordingly. Getting to the future in this era requires something other than following the past. Sexed semen, sexed embryos and cows with a hundred plus daughters are here. Genomic information has moved the focus to young animals (Read more: Genomics – Opportunity is Knocking, Genomics at Work – August 2013 and The End of the Daughter Proven Sire Era). Breeding decisions must be extended to include many more profit determining traits. And that only gets us to 2014. What will the industry look like in 2020 and beyond? In today’s terms that is only three to four generations of females away.

The Future – Bright & Sunny or a Tornado?

The Bullvine hears both scenarios. Some breeders have accepted that genomics is a very useful tool for their niche and plans. They see light at the end of the tunnel for themselves. Other breeders are asking questions – “Why have purebreds? Why test? Why record? Why participate? Why more traits? …Why, Why, Why?” For them they are in a tornado. Some of those breeders have already cashed in and moved on in their careers. For those that remain in the breeding industry where are they being given support, representation or help?

We can learn from the Past

Breed societies were formed about a century ago to provide service to breeders in authentication and representation. Breeders set aside their individual ideas or priorities for the collective good. They elected peers to represent them on boards that set policies, established recording systems and set the breed direction necessary to get us to where we are today. That took work. We need that kind of work today. It isn’t just holding down a seat at a board table. It means representation. It means vision. It means proactive leadership.

Does the collective good concept still hold today? Cooperative A.I. organizations, formed 75 years ago by breeders, are in some cases being run as primarily as large corporations. Is the breeder voice being voiced? Being lost? Being heard?

Time for Breeders to Speak Up

So what has happened to our minds and our voices? Have they gone into hibernation or gone silent? Are we only huddling with likeminded breeders? Are we stuck in deep muddy ruts? Do we give good input to our elected officials?

Breeder organizations need to be looking to the future. Meetings seem to be the same old crowd talking about what’s wrong with the future. Breed promotion is, often, tied to the past not the future. It’s all about tradition in a time when we are in revolution. Meetings are boring and ignored by innovative breeders. Discerning breeders take the time, when they have it, to provide input to boards, researchers and politicians. They often catch up or link up during a break time in their busy days.

If breeders do not work collectively and take action to position breeds then the move to bigger corporations setting the rules will win the day. This has happened in poultry and swine.

You can be Heard 24-7

Not everyone has time for meetings. Holding office is time consuming. Dairy breeding is 24-7. There are ways to communicate 24-7. Several ways in fact. Social media is ready to carry your message whenever you are ready to give it. Some breeders may say that they prefer hard copy or face-to-face communications. But today that is passé.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

It is time for breeders to spend time, energy and resources to develop positions and make their wishes known. That will not happen by complaining to each other. It is time to stop leaving the action to others. Our future is in our own hands and key pads. The time for sitting back and watching is long past. Are you speaking up for the future of breeds and tomorrow’s breeders?

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Top Sires North American Holstein Breeders Used in 2013

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Thursday, May 15th, 2014

Breeders are continually searching for Mr. Right when it comes to which sire or sires to use in their herd. It is part of both the excitement and challenge of being a breeder. Breeders pour over the sire listings, available on-line, and in the printed materials from bull owners, marketers or breed associations. However, according to female registrations, breeders do not closely follow the list toppers. The Bullvine decided to look at what happened in 2013 on both sires used and sires available.

Most Used Sires – 2013

The progress for a population is set by which sires are the most used. In this case, we are referring to the sires with the most registered daughters.

Table 1 Sires with Most Registrations- United States (April 2013)

Table 2 Sires with Most Registrations- Canada (2013)

The data for Table 1 comes from April 2013 Holstein USA ‘High Registry Activity by Bull’ and for Table 2 comes from the 2013 registration activity report from Holstein Canada. The TPI and LPI proofs used were their April 2014 indexes as CDN changed the Canadian base system in 2013 and thereby the number listed will more accurately reflect what readers see now.

Points of interest from this table include:

Genomic Sires – four of the US sires have genomic evaluations only while for Canada all ten most used sires were proven sires
Sire usage in USA and Canada does not follow the sire ratings for total merit indexes: gTPI, NM$ or gLPI.

Average Indexes for Most Used Sires

There is a significant range in the average proofs for the most used sires and for most traits the average proofs of the sires were not outstanding.

Table 3 – Average Proofs in December 2102 for Most Used US Sires

Table 4 – Average Proofs in December 2102 for Most Used Canadian Sires

The overall observation from Tables 3 & 4 is that both US and Canadian purebred breeders place significant emphasis on type when choosing the sires for their herds and as we have observed previously. (Read more: Top Sires North American Breeders Are Using) Breeders have not considered fertility (DPR or DF) as being important when choosing their sires. Canadian breeders place significant emphasis on component percentages, fat +0.31% and protein +0.06%.

Once breeders select a sire they appear to stick with the bull even if better sires come along.

How Big a Sacrifice?

The question that comes to mind is what were the average proofs for the top bulls in mid-2012. Those were the bulls that would have been available for use that would have resulted in daughters being born in 2013. The question that breeders need to ask themselves is how much did they give up in genetic advancement and thereby on-farm profit by not sticking to popular instead of the top sires. In this example, top sires were considered to be the top ten proven and top ten genomic sires for TPI or LPI.

Table 5 Trait Averages for Top Ten TPI A.I. Sires Available in 2012

Table 6 Trait Averages for Top Ten LPI A.I. Sires Available in 2012

For North American purebred Holstein breeders was it worth giving up considerable milk, fat, protein, longevity, fertility and udder health to use bulls that are high for type? Even if it is acknowledged that genomic bulls are considered to be somewhat over-rated, giving up 50+ pounds of fat, another 50+ pounds of protein, 1.5 to 2.5 months of herd life, cows open a month or two longer and higher somatic cell counts does not seem worth limiting bulls to only those that have high type proofs..

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Both daughter proven and genomically evaluated sires are available that will increase the genetic level of herds and give greater on-farm profit. By limiting sires used to the higher type ones, North American purebred Holstein breeders deny themselves the opportunity to move ahead at a faster rate. Having a breeding plan (Read more: What’s the plan?) and continually buying semen from the best sires, the ones that will produce the milking females that breeders want to milk, are practices that must be followed. Following tradition and using the ‘safe’ bulls will mean breeders are leaving money on the table.

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Genetic Accuracy – Can you trust the numbers?

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Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Dairy breeders are continually taking steps to be more exact about the way they farm and the products they buy, produce and sell. However when it comes to the genetic make-up of our animals there remains significant difference of thought, amongst breeders, about the actual accuracy of the genetic information. Breeders are presented with a wide range of facts. Gold Medal, Extra, Star Brood, DOM, proven, genomic, photos, Supreme Champion … no wonder many breeders are confused. The Bullvine feels that breeders need to be objective about the animal information they see and to think in terms of the accuracy of the information. Now we are not talking about whether or not an animal meets the ideal. We’re talking about how much we can rely on the facts we see in hard copy or from virtual communication sources.

In the Beginning

In the nineteenth century milk cows were mostly dual purpose and herd size was small. People wanting to get into dairying purchased a cow or bull based on what the seller said were the animal’s merits. In time breed societies were formed to document lineage. That was followed in the early twentieth century with third party authentication of both yield and conformation. The third party oversight of parentage and performance were the beginning steps to know the accuracy of the information. That was the start.

Many Steps Along The Way

Having a milk record or type classification authenticated for a single one cow in a herd was initially thought to be very useful information. The next move was to compare a cow to her dam to see if improvement had been made. But that did not help much as the cow and her dam were not simultaneously at the same age and, in some cases, not in the same herd. Of course, over time we have learned that we need to know the performance of the cow’s herdmates. That was the stage where breeders started to compare animals within a herd with the desire to know which animals were superior, or, conversely, inferior for a trait. The biggest breakthrough in accurately determining the relative genetic merit of an animal came when Dr Charles Henderson, Cornell University, developed the analysis technique that he called B.L.U.P. (Best Linear Unbiased Prediction). Forget about trying to understand the term, what it does is compare all animals within a herd and then compile the results across all herds to produce genetic rankings for males and females.

What About Accuracy?

From a genetic merit perspective it is important to know two things. Firstly where does the animal rank in the populations? And secondly, and also very important, how accurate is the prediction? How much trust can a breeder put in the animal’s genetic rating? If information is of limited accuracy, then it may be nice to know, but it does little for constructive breeding or to provide the opportunity to drive up on-farm profits. Accuracy produces confidence; confidence accelerates advancement, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised. (Read more: Has Genomics Knocked Out Hot House Herds? And The Hot House Effect on Sire Sampling)

Let’s Compare Accuracy

The range in accuracy of genetic evaluation indexes goes from 0 to 99% and is called Reliability. The following chart is an approximation of the accuracy of predicting an animal’s total merit index (i.e TPI, NM$, LPI, or any other national total merit index) from the information that is known on the animal.

Reliability In Predicting An Animal Total Merit Index

As far as accuracy goes the winners, as a result of incorporating genomic information into our genetic evaluation systems, have been young bulls, young heifers and brood cows. Adding genomic information has resulted in a doubling of the accuracy of their indexes. For further information on accuracy an interesting read is Two Ways to Look at Accuracy for Genomic Young Bulls published by Canadian Dairy Network.

What’s Ahead?

As more and more animals are genomically tested and recorded for their performance, the accuracy of all genetic indexes will increase. Three other steps that will assist in increasing the accuracy of total merit indexing are needed:

Have every milk weight, fat %, protein% and SCC automatically captured at every milking;
Have information on new economically important traits collected; and
Have more economic information available on more traits.

Breeders will be the benefactors of having more and more accurate information so that they can make more and more accurate decisions.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Having genomic information has been a significant step forward for increasing the accuracy of genetic indexes. But it will go beyond genetics and genomics in the future. Read past Bullvine articles for further details about genomics for health and management (Read more: Herd Health, Management, Genetics and Pilot Projects: A Closer Look at ZOETIS) and what lies beyond genomics (Read more: Forget Genomics – Epigenomics & Nutrigenomics are the Future). When buying genetics breeders need to check that the animals, semen or embryos they are considering will both follow their breeding plans (Read more: What’s the plan?) and that the information is accurate. Breeding dairy cattle is faster paced every year. The accuracy of the information used is an important consideration.

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Who Said You Can’t Breed For Higher Fertility?

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Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

If you were to describe the perfect program to achieve top female fertility in your herd, what would it be? Would your program include heifers calving at 22 months of age and every 11-13 months thereafter until lifetime production reaches 275,000 lbs (125,000 kgs) of milk? For decades breeders have heard that they can’t breed for fertility. It’s all management and nutrition. Well that story is changing. Let’s examine how genetics can play a role in improved fertility in a herd.

The Current Scenario

The CDCB (Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding) has summarized the following current reproduction information on the current US dairy cattle.

Holstein cows take 2.5 breedings per conception. Jerseys take 2.2.
Holstein cows average 80 days in milk before they are bred. Jerseys average 77 days.
Average calving interval for Holstein cows that calve back is 13.8 months. Jerseys average 13.0 months.
Average conception rate for Holstein cows is 32%. Jerseys average 41%.
Average age at first calving in Holsteins is 26 months. Jerseys average 23.5 months.

These stats for Holsteins and Jerseys are provided for breeders to benchmark their herds, not to start a breed war. In five years’ time even if a Holstein herd was able to achieve the current Jersey average it will not be good enough. The three biggest factors that stand out from these stats and that are in need of correction are: 1) days to first breeding; 2) number of breedings before conception; and 3) age at first calving.

As it turns out the reproductive performance of North American dairy cows and herds reached their lowest level in 2007 and since then there has been minor genetic improvement.

Source: CDN – March 2010 – A Look at Fertility from Two perspective

Breeders Must Address Fertility

An attitude shift is needed. We must move from tolerance of fertility to awareness that genetics plays a role. Not all breeders have accepted the need for change. The Bullvine analysed the sires with the most progeny registered with Holstein US over the past two weeks and found that nine, yes nine, of the top twenty had negative genetic ratings for Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR). In fact two sires had significant negative ratings of -2.5 and -3.5. In addition four of the twenty had only slightly positive ratings. In total 13 of the top 20 sires were not breed improvers for DPR. That is significant!

Some breeders have paid attention to the management side of fertility and have increased their pregnancy rate by aggressive heat detection, by using professional A.I. reproduction specialists (Read more: Artificial Insemination – Is Doing It Yourself Really Saving You Money?) by installing heat detection devices or by using hormone level monitors (Read more: Better Decision Making by Using Technology). However from the latest reports from milk recording, half the herds have a pregnancy percent of less than 15%. And only 10% of herds have a pregnancy rate of 21% or more. Clearly more attention needs to be paid to getting cows and heifers pregnant.

Genetic Tools to Aid with Fertility

Daughter Pregnancy Rate (USA) and Daughter Fertility (Canada) are the primary genetic evaluation ratings to use when selecting for improved female fertility. These indexes are created using data from insemination, milk recording and type classification.

However there are eleven other genetic ratings that have some influence on reproduction. Individually they may not be significant but collectively they can contribute to reproductive problems or solutions.

Calving Ease – difficult births delay cows coming into heat
Maternal Calving Ease – normal delivery benefits – cow, calf and staff
SCC – cows with mastitis are less likely to conceive
Feet – problem cows are not mobile and do not show heats
Rear Legs Rear View – cows that toes out are not as mobile
Milk Yield – high milk yield stresses cows. Breed for high fat and protein yields on lower volumes of milk.
Body Condition Score – high yielding cows that retain body condition are more fertile
Persistency – high lactation yielding cows that have flatter lactation curves put less strain on their bodies
Inbreeding – inbreeding negatively affects reproduction
Haplotypes – information is now coming available to show that certain haploids hinder reproduction
Semen Conception Rate – although not a genetic rating, low fertility semen should be avoided

Those are the tools available today. We can expect that, with the current research into genomics and reproduction, there will be new ratings to assist with breeding more reproductively sound animals in the future.

Selection Matters

The Bullvine recommends that after breeders short list the sires they intend to use that they eliminate sires that do not have a DPR over 1.0 or a DF over 103. Yes, female fertility is included in TPI, NM$ and LPI but the emphasis on fertility in these total merit indexes is not high enough to result in major genetic improvement for fertility. The following lists of bulls are examples of bulls that significantly improve total merit as well as female fertility.

Table 1 Top Ranking US Sires by Daughter Pregnancy Rate

Table 2 Top Ranking CDN Sires by Daughter Fertility

Action Plan

It is important for both herd viability and sustainability that the following steps be followed.

Do not use bulls that are genetically inferior for reproductive traits.
Genomically test heifer calves. Eliminate reproductively inferior cows and heifers.
Include genomic reproductive information when correctively mating females.
Use heat detection devices, hormone level monitoring equipment or intensive staff heat detection.
Use herd management software and herd protocols to assist with reproductive management.
Ensure that animal housing and animal grouping result in healthy animals
Feed cows and heifers according to their performance and reproductive needs
Employ staff training and education program for reproduction.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The genetic attention starting to be given to female reproduction on dairy farms is long overdue. The first step for breeders is to include reproduction in your herd genetic improvement plan (Read more: What’s the plan?). In as little as five years, by following a progressive proactive plan, breeders will significantly reduce their losses due to reproduction.

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Why are Breeders Not Genomically Testing their Heifers?

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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

In 2013 North American Holstein breeders sampled and received genomic evaluations for less than 7% of all heifers. Given the large number of articles being written about dairy cattle genomics these days, this small percentage left The Bullvine asking why there has not been more uptake on genomic testing?

Uneven Uptake.

Holstein Canada’s 2013 Annual Report shows Newfoundland with 100%, British Columbia with 21.4% and Quebec with 8.6% of the purebred female registrations that were genomically tested. Other provinces are as low as 3%. I expect that the same 3-9% range in uptake of this service exists in the United States but that statistic is not available on the Holstein USA Inc website. But based on North American averages published by Canadian Dairy Network, the national percentages would be about the same.

Some breeders label genomics as just another inaccurate index. They even call it a production index. Believe those things if you wish, but genomic indexes are 55-70% accurate and genomic ratings exist for all traits – yields, component percents, each conformation area and all management traits. The breeders genomically testing their females are definitely ahead of the curve.

On the male side of the equation, 100% of the young Holstein bulls entering into A.I. in North America are being genomically evaluated. A.I. companies are making extensive use of the genomic results in their young sire proving and marketing programs. In the past five years young sire usage by Holstein breeders has risen from less than 20% to over 50%. This rising amount of semen sold is due primarily to the higher genetic merit for the genomic bulls compared to the proven sires. For the most recent two weeks, 66% of the top 25 bulls on the “Holstein USA’s High Registry Activity by Bull Report” were genomically evaluated unproven bulls.

So what is responsible for this disconnect between what is happening on the young male and young female sides of the pedigree?

Heifers Don’t Matter

Breeders always have reasons for why they do or do not use a service. So let’s talk about what is happening in the breeder’s world.

On the upside, milk prices are high, the USA is exporting 15% of the milk produced, high feed costs have eased somewhat and semen prices are reasonable. However on the downside are areas such as prices for newly calved first lactation females do not cover their rearing costs, sexed semen is not routinely available for young sires and the average herd size in the USA has reached 187 milking cows and many small herd breeders are about to retire or exit the industry.

The real kickers in this scenario are that the market price for high pedigreed animals has fallen off (Read more: An Insider’s Guide to What Sells at the Big Dairy Cattle Auctions 2013 and Is There Still Going To Be A Market For Purebred Dairy Cattle In 10 Years?) and with sexed semen and IVF (Read more: Sexed Semen from Cool Technology to Smart Business Decision, SEXED SEMEN – At Your Service!, SEXING TECHNOLOGIES: Gender Vendors in a Changing Marketplace and IVF: Boom or Bust for the Dairy Industry) there is, what seems to be, an over abundance of heifers. That includes numerous full sisters from the very top dams. This spring we have seen 2300-2400 gTPI or 3.00 PTAT deep pedigreed heifers sell for less than the IVF costs it took to produce them. Is that overabundance or shrewd buying?

The industry has changed and is not likely to return to the times when a small family farm could make a good living from milking 50-75 cows and selling breeding stock as the gravy on the meat and potatoes. Full heifer pens, losing money on raising heifers and no extra reward on sale day for high, but not the very top, heifers does not have breeders feeling positive about the heifer side of the herd. It has resulted in breeders deciding not to incur the cost of genomic testing, if the results are not going to provide information that will help and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Perhaps breeders are not assigning dollar values to genomic benefits or are not breeding for what the market is now demanding.

Current Benefits of Genomic Information

A synopsis of what genomic information has brought to the dairy cattle breeding industry include:

With every young sire being genomically tested, the ones that in the past would have received low proofs no longer need to be sampled. That saves A.I. companies money and saves breeders the holes in pedigrees and animals that must be culled.
Bull dam indexes are now much more accurate and only the top cows have sons being A.I. sampled. This has increased selection intensity but it has resulted in less income for breeders and the significant IVF fees for the, often many, full brothers that did not make the grade.
The parentage of every genomically tested animal can be verified. Increased accuracy.
Where a heifer’s parent average index was formerly 35% reliable, the genomic index is now 65% reliable. Almost double the accuracy.
Brood cows now have indexes that are over 90% reliable where they were formerly in the 60% range. Significantly increased accuracy.
More accurate breeding decisions can now be made for both cows and heifers. More rapid herd and breed improvement.
Herds genomically testing all their heifers can sell off their low end heifers. Decreased rearing costs.
The rates of breed improvement have doubled (Read more: The Genetic “SUPER COW” – Myth vs Reality) due to increased accuracy and much shorter generation intervals. Increased profit for herds and the industry.

For $45 breeders can get a 9K panel run. An interesting comparison is that this is equal to the costs to classify and milk record a cow for a year. In fact from an accuracy perspective genomic testing is a bargain as it costs the same but gives 65% accuracy whereas having a classification and a milk record gives 52% accuracy. In addition the genomic test can be run shortly after birth, saving on raising costs and presenting marketing opportunities.

But what’s the future?

The science of genomic evaluations in dairy cattle is advancing quickly. Breeders can expect in five years to see the following:

The accuracy of Holstein genomic indexes will be over 80% for traits of moderate heritability.
Current research for feed efficiency will produce a genetic rating for that important trait.
Genomic indexes will be available for more traits and with more accuracy for health and fertility traits.
More use will be made of genomic indexes for breeds beyond Holsteins.
Breeders will implant low end cows with high merit embryos and will not need to raise low end heifers.
Cows will stay in the herd longer resulting in higher daily herd average milk yields.
Breeders will be able to focus genetic selection on herd life, feed efficiency, fertility and health traits.
Genomic information will be used to breed for feeding (Read more: Forget Genomics – Epigenomics & Nutrigenomics are the Future) and management (Read more: Herd Health, Management, Genetics and Pilot Projects: A Closer Look at ZOETIS) purposes.
Breeding companies will focus on providing semen and embryos that meet their customers’ needs.
A.I. sires will only need to be housed in stud until there are 25,000 to 100,000 doses collected. (Read more: The End of the Daughter Proven Sire Era)

In five years time, discerning breeders will use genomic information like any other tool to breed better cattle and generate on-farm profit. If the cost of testing could be lowered from $45 to about $30 for a 9K panel evaluation, then the uptake would definitely increase significantly.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

We must always look to the future. For some breeders that may be one year until they sell out. However for many, including many young people just entering the industry, that future could be 10 to 30 years from now. Their decision should not be how they can do the heifer side as cheaply as possible. It needs to be how they can have the most profitable cows. The time is now to start genomically testing all heifers. Eliminating the lower end. Correctively mate to make the top end even better. Knowing all the facts and having all the information about the heifer herd is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Do not let opportunity pass you by.

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Cull Cows, Sire Selection And Lost Money. Are You Missing The Connection?

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Tuesday, April 15th, 2014

What comes to your mind, when you see or hear about a cow that has produced 200,000 pounds of 4.0% fat and 3.5% protein milk and is due to calve again soon? Too often as breeders we immediately look at her conformation and expound about her great feet and legs or mammary system. Unfortunately we are missing the important questions. What proportion of her birth mates have already been culled. Why were they culled? From a profitability point of view milk producers are missing the obvious. Culling information needs to be used for both breeding and management purposes. There’s no excuse for ignoring the statistics.

Jerseys Do It Better

Recently released American figures from milk recorded farms show that Jerseys are the best, when it comes to achieving the lowest culling percentage.

Table 1 Breed Culling Rates

	NAME	SIRE STACK	SCORE	GTPI	NM$	PTAT	FAMILY	OWNER
1	LADYS-MANOR PL SHAKIRA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Mandel Debut	87	2443	839	3.49	Ladys-Manor Ruby Jen	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
2	ROYLANE SHOT MINDY 2079-ET	Shottle x Oman x Manat	86	2409	792	2.87	CMV Melwood Mindy	Buschur Dairy Farms, Inc.
3	LADYS-MANOR DORCY ODA	Dorcy x Auden x Outside	86	2389	756	3.06	Ladys-Manor Delightful Jem	My Ladys Manor Farm
4	LARCREST CRIMSON-ET	Ramos x Shottle x Outside	91	2384	741	3.15	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Larcrest Holsteins
5	LADYS-MANOR DORCY AMIRA	Dorcy x Planet x Goldwyn	86	2372	768	2.9	Ladys-Manor Autumn	My Ladys Manor Farm
6	LARCREST CASE-ETS	Planet x Ramos x Shottle	86	2369	815	2.68	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Diamond Genetics
7	LARCREST CAKE-ET	Super x Shottle x Outside	86	2346	688	3.09	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Sandy-Valley Farms
8	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET	Man-O-Man x Goldwyn x Champion	88	2338	656	3.33	Snow-N Denises Dellia	Phillip Wilson, Kyle M. Gett
9	WEBB-VUE GABOR MYCALA-ET	Gabor x Baxter x Goldwyn	87	2330	696	3.22	Burket-Falls KL Sabrina	Robert A. Webb
10	CLEAR-ECHO M-O-M 2150-ET	Man-O-Man x Ramos x Hershel	87	2320	608	3.49	Clear-Echo Hershl D-Rac 822	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
11	BEN-AKERS PLANET LUISE26-ET	Planet x Jose x Ramos	85	2319	819	2.45	Ricecrest Luke Lisa	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
12	STRAUSSDALE PLANET ELLA	Planet x Shottle x Spike	87	2310	726	3.01	Brandts Encore Edith	Straussdale Holsteins LLC
13	SULLY PLANET MONTANA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Oman	86	2302	649	3.08	Sully Shottle May	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
14	AMMON-PEACHEY SHAUNA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Oman	87	2302	701	2.69	Wesswood-HC Rudy Missy	Seagull Bay Dairy
15	RICKLAND FREDDIE 3509-ET	Freddie x Shottle x Outside	83	2298	675	2.96	Oakfield Outside Brynn	Greg Rickert
16	VISION-GEN SH FRD A12276-ET	Freddie x Jet Stream x Outside	86	2298	681	2.89	Morningview Converse Judy	Oakfield Corners Dairy
17	DE-SU 9955-ET	Freddie x Boliver x Addison	85	2297	705	2.48	Neu-Way Patron Allie	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
18	LADYS-MANOR PL SHANDRA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Mandel Debut	87	2285	702	3.21	Ladys-Manor Ruby Jen	Joel Krall & Tim Crouse
19	NEWELL KRAMER 1571	Kramer x Pronto x Best	83	2280	704	1.66	Newell 548 Best	Ken Newell
20	MS M-P SEQUOIA LILLY-ET	Sequoia x Bolton x Shottle	85	2279	734	2	M-Pondhill Shottle Lana	Pond Hill Dairy
21	LARCREST CHENOA-ETS	Planet x Ramos x Shottle	87	2277	699	2.66	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Larcrest Holsteins
22	LARCREST CHIMA-ETS	Planet x Ramos x Shottle	88	2275	700	2.63	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Larcrest Holsteins
23	MS WELCOME MM LULITA CRI-ET	Man-O-Man x Shottle x Magna	85	2274	634	3.01	Welcome Blackstar Lass	Genesis Cooperative Herd
24	SYNERGY PLANET PASSION-ET	Planet x Oman x Outside	86	2273	702	2.61	Walkup Bell Lou Etta	Synergy Farm LLC
25	PINE-TREE FREDDIE ALEXA-ET	Freddie x Boliver x Zack	85	2273	698	2.44	Jafral Prelude Prissy	Pine Tree Dairy

So why are Jerseys rated as the best? What makes them 32% better than Holsteins? As nearly as I can determine, for both male and female perspective, it comes down to one area – superior reproduction! Jersey cows have a conception rate of 42 to 48%. This gives them a 27% lead over the Holstein conception rate of 33 to 36%. This conception rate gap accounts for 85% of the difference in culling rates between Jerseys and Holsteins.

Hat’s off to the Jersey breed and breeders. It’s little wonder that the Jersey breed is experiencing a resurgence in commercial milk production herds.

For a considerable time, judges and classifiers have been trained to penalize cows with high pins. However with mature Jersey cows that principle does not necessarily hold true. Even with high pins, Jerseys still get into calf. What I’m seeing, when I study proven and genomic bull proofs that it is much more accurate to judge reproduction by looking at Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR), when selecting bulls to use to improve herd genetics for fertility.

Before leaving the Jersey breed, it should be noted that the challenge for Jersey breeders is to improve their cattle for somatic cells (SCS), from an average of 2.94 compared to Holsteins at 2.80.

Stop Ignoring Culling Reports

Breeders are eternal optimists. So we try for five, six or seven services to get a cow in calf. We use sires that have a proof over 3.00 for SCS. We use bulls that leave daughters with shallow heels that toe out in the rear. Why is that? We all have read the annual reports of culling reasons? Do we think we’ll get lucky? Do we not respect the sire proofs?

Table 2 Culling Reasons that have a Genetic Component

	NAME	SIRE STACK	SCORE	GTPI	NM$	PTAT	FAMILY	OWNER
1	LADYS-MANOR PL SHAKIRA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Mandel Debut	87	2441	840	3.65	Ladys-Manor Ruby Jen	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
2	LADYS-MANOR DORCY ODA	Dorcy x Auden x Outside	85	2407	773	3.12	Ladys-Manor Delightful Jem	My Ladys Manor Farm
3	ROYLANE SHOT MINDY 2079-ET	Shottle x Oman x Manat	85	2402	805	2.66	CMV Melwood Mindy	Buschur Dairy Farms, Inc.
4	LARCREST CRIMSON-ET	Ramos x Shottle x Outside	91	2348	710	3.1	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Larcrest Holsteins
5	CLEAR-ECHO M-O-M 2150-ET	Man-O-Man x Ramos x Hershel	87	2347	649	3.52	Clear-Echo Hershl D-Rac 822	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
6	COOKIECUTTER MOM HALO-ET	Man-O-Man x Goldwyn x Champion	88	2334	661	3.32	Snow-N Denises Dellia	Phillip Wilson, Kyle M. Gett
7	SULLY PLANET MONTANA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Oman	86	2323	657	3.27	Sully Shottle May	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
8	BEN-AKERS PLANET LUISE26-ET	Planet x Jose x Ramos	85	2316	812	2.49	Ricecrest Luke Lisa	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
9	LARCREST CASE-ETS	Planet x Ramos x Shottle	86	2315	755	2.81	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Diamond Genetics
10	AMMON-PEACHEY SHAUNA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Oman	87	2299	686	2.82	Wesswood-HC Rudy Missy	Seagull Bay Dairy
11	STRAUSSDALE PLANET ELLA	Planet x Shottle x Spike	87	2295	703	3.23	Brandts Encore Edith	Straussdale Holsteins LLC
12	LADYS-MANOR PL SHANDRA-ET	Planet x Shottle x Mandel Debut	87	2287	696	3.34	Ladys-Manor Ruby Jen	Joel Krall & Tim Crouse
13	CHERRY CREST MANOMAN ROZ-ET	Man-O-Man x Elegant x Outside	86	2284	630	2.93	Whittier-Farms Outside Roz	Siemers Holsteins
14	RICHMOND-FD POMPEY-ET	Massey x Ramos x Pippen	87	2281	721	2.18	Richmond-FD Ramos Poppy	Pine Tree Dairy
15	COOKIECUTTER SS HEY 7043-ET	Man-O-Man x Goldwyn x Champion	83	2281	605	3.42	Snow-N Denises Dellia	Zimmerview Dairy
16	RALMA PLANET CENTURY-ET	Planet x Bolton x Durham	86	2273	647	3.34	Ralma Juror Faith	Siemers Holsteins
17	MS M-P SEQUOIA LILLY-ET	Sequoia x Bolton x Shottle	83	2271	734	1.99	M-Pondhill Shottle Lana	Pond Hill Dairy
18	DE-SU 9955-ET	Freddie x Boliver x Addison	85	2268	684	2.57	Neu-Way Patron Allie	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
19	RMW SUPER ARIANE-ET	Super x Goldwyn x Oman	83	2264	612	3.14	Unicorn Chairman Lynn	De-Su Holsteins, LLC
20	SYNERGY PLANET PASSION-ET	Planet x Oman x Outside	86	2263	687	2.7	Walkup Bell Lou Etta	Synergy Farm LLC
21	RICHLAWN SUPER APRIL APPLE	Super x Zade x Shottle	83	2261	702	2.06	Muranda Rudolf Lily	Genesis Cooperative Herd
22	JK-GOLD DORCY PASTRY-ET	Dorcy x Toystory x Outside	83	2260	619	2.92	Rabur Outside Pandora	Corwin Holtz and True Farms
23	DIRT-ROAD MANOMAN CAMEO-ET	Man-O-Man x Goldwyn x Tugolo	86	2259	651	2.55	Cooks-Valley Bell Curly	Steve & Amanda Killian
24	MS WELCOME LATH TAMMI	Latham x Colby x FBI	86	2258	578	2.82	Clear-Echo 2635 Bol 1204	Welcome-Stock Farm
25	LARCREST CHIMA-ETS	Planet x Ramos x Shottle	88	2256	673	2.58	Larcrest Juror Chanel	Larcrest Holsteins

The above culling reasons come from the cows culled in 2013 from Canadian milk recorded herds. Where a reason was provided, 73.6% of the cows were culled for reasons associated with genetics. The first cull should always be when you’re selecting sires. Stop using the ones that are causing problems that you are continually culling for. For information on what to cows that remain the longest in a herd, it is recommended that breeders read She Ain’t Pretty – She Just Milks That Way! There is a point where optimistically hoping for better results is simply foolish.

Do the Math

If we are still in doubt about the importance of considering culling in sire selection, let’s think about the dollars and cents of each of these statistics on lost dollars:

Every case of mastitis = -$300.
An extra 30 days in the dry pen, due to cows not getting in calf until the current average of 162 days in milk = -$150
Loss of genetics, when a top cow is culled = -$500
Five pounds less in average milk yield per cow per day, due to a long calving interval = -$200 per cow per year

Added costs and loss of production because of cows with moderate foot problems = -$400
Added insemination and semen cost with each insemination beyond second service =-$75.

Lost potential revenue from fewer calves born = -$250 (female) -$100 (male)
Low cull rates allow breeders to save on the cost of raising all heifers born = +$2000.
Low cull rates means selling excess heifers (3-24 months @ +$400 to +$2000.)

When you do the math on all of these factors, it is not hard to see how is possible to run up lost revenue and added costs that total $500 to $1000 per cow. That’s too large a number, when you consider that a cow producing 25,000lbs. of $20 cwt milk generates $5,000 in revenue per year. Quite simply, the math tells us that breeding to avoid culling should be a consideration in every herd’s breeding plan (Read more: What’s the plan?)

Sire Selection Steps to Minimize Culling

The goal is to maximize genetic progress, maximize profit and minimize (unreasoned) culling. The Bullvine recommends the following process for selecting sires.

Consider only the top fifty proven or one hundred genomically evaluated sires based on gTPI, gLPI, NM$ or JPI (Jersey).
Remove from the list any sire above 9% EFI (Effective Future Inbreeding) or above 14% for relationship.
Remove from the list any Holstein sire that does not have a PL of 5.0 or HL of 108.
Remove from the list any Holstein sire that does not have a DPR of 1.0 or a DF of 105.
Remove from the list any Holstein sire that is not below 2.90 for SCS.
For Jersey sires the minimums should be PL 1.5, HL 105, DPR 0.0 or DF 102. And maximum of 3.00 for SCS.
Minimum standards for gTPI, gLPI, NM$ or JPI may be lowered for polled bulls but do not lower the minimums for Pl, DPR or SCS.
As Red and RC Holstein Sires are mainly popular with show type breeders and their proofs are considerably lower, the Bullvine does not recommend that commercially focused breeders use those sires.

What`s Your Culling Blindspot?

Any discussion of culling has to consider those breeders who don’t cull enough. Sometimes the situation arises where a breeder is most proud of the fact that it is rarely necessary to buy new animals. The pride is in being self-sustaining. This is all well and good as long as it doesn’t mean that you’re breeding the same problem over and over. For want of a low culling rate the good of the entire herd could be lost. There is no future in that.

Which brings us to the opposite problem with culling numbers. Occasionally you will meet a breeder who reports a high (35% or more) culling rate and it’s hard not to be shocked. However, we must always ask the second question, “Why?” It’s the rationale behind the culling. For example, if the high rate is because the breeder is always looking to raise only the animals that are going to live up to their genetic potential and not invest time and money in the rest, that is a plan. That could mean that more heifers don’t make it through their first lactation. The culling number is a tool – not good or bad on its own. However, it can’t be ignored and it must work for the goals of each individual dairy operation.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Culling is a cost that must be minimized for breeders to maximize their net returns per cow per year. The traits associated with reproduction, udder health and feet & legs need to receive much more consideration than has been occurring in the past. Know what your herd needs from both a genetic and a management standpoint. Align your corrective mating to proactively impact your culling rates. Although the heritabilities for culling rates are low, it is surprising how much you can improve them in five years. If you don’t consider them, in those same five years could place yourself out of the market, when it comes to selling breeding stock or embryos. Cull cows and lost money. It`s up to you to make the connection.

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Artificial Insemination – Is Doing It Yourself Really Saving You Money?

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Thursday, April 10th, 2014

“She’s pregnant!” Those are very welcome words for breeders to hear at pregnancy check time. The ideal is that the pregnancy occurs after one A.I. service in the time period 70 to 100 days in milk, while the cow is producing high volumes of milk, fat and protein. In a perfect world that single A.I. heifer service should occur between 12 and 14 months of age. Getting to that success depends on many factors, not the least of which is the skill of the inseminator.

Do What you Know or Use a Pro?

It takes a wide range of skills to successfully run a dairy operation at a level that is both sustainable and profitable. Professional A.I. technicians recognize that many breeders rise to the challenge of taking on this most vital aspect of their dairy business. They realize that many breeders want complete control of the reproduction program on their farm. Dr. Hernando Lopez, Global Technical Service Director for Genus ABS acknowledges that control is important and sums up the breeder perspective saying, “They believe that they can inseminate successfully themselves’. Dr. Ray Nebel, Senior Reproductive Specialist for Select Sires, outlines further reasons that breeders give for doing their own artificial insemination. “They want the flexibility of when to breed. They prefer having semen available from several different A.I. organizations in their farm tank and being able to change the mating right up to the last minute”. Of course, both Dr. Lopez and Dr.Nebel are aware that cost is one of the strongest motivating factors in choosing who inseminates the cows.

Times have Changed

Thirty years ago there were many more dairy herds and most of them had less than 50 milking cows. Shorter travel distances and labor costs per cow bred by the technician were much lower than today. In that scenario, with only two or three breedings per week, breeders could not become proficient at inseminating. However, with the current average herd size in the US being 187 milking cows, with many miles between herds and with breeders focused on costs, they often choose D.I.Y. artificial insemination for expedience and cost reasons.

Is D.I.Y Really Cheaper?

The monthly bill for technician supplied A.I. needs to subdivided into semen costs and costs for technician services. It’s easy to quote the professional technician’s bill for arm service but expenses must also be pencilled in for the D.I.Y. tech on the farm and for all the costs leading up to the actual insemination.

Remember there is a labor cost for heat detection, including the checking of cows bred 21 days previously. There are additional time related expenses as well. Time to check computer records or activity monitors. Time to check with all staff members for heats others may have seen. Time to call in for service and time to enter breeding information into the herd records. Furthermore for on-farm staff there are costs associated with social security tax, insurance, workers compensation, sick time and other benefits that owners must provide. These time and employment costs are not usually quickly remembered and easily quoted when we sum up the costs of getting cows and heifers in calf. Add in gloves, rods, training and re-training, semen tank purchase and semen tank maintenance and you are getting closer to the true total cost for A.I. Although, at first glance, D.I.Y. seems cost effective and faster, the real question in every dairy manager’s mind should be, “What is the return on the investment?”

Think about it. In a herd of 200 milking cows, it may take a farm employee up to half their time to monitor animals and carry out other aspects of the herd’s reproduction. Some owners take the next step and assign the farm’s repro staff member to the job of doing the breeding. On the surface it sounds like a cost savings but who covers on days-off? What happens when the farm breeding person is needed elsewhere and he/she does not do all the daily reproduction duties including checking for heats? Only seeing 70% of the heats can soon become a major negative factor for the farm’s bottom line. Missed heats result in more days open, lower daily herd average milk production, more non-productive days in the dry pens and an age at first calving of 26 instead of 22-24 months. Add to this the fact that the on-farm inseminator must be trained and monitored and will need to spend time on skills upgrading and, very quickly, the savings from do-it-yourself insemination are rapidly disappearing.

A.I. Results: Are You Getting Professional or Passable?

Of course, if your pregnancy rate is 23+% and you are meeting or exceeding all your established targets, you can stop reading now. However, if your results are not at that level, working with a professional technician could be a discerning business decision for you to consider.

Times have changed from when the only service offered by the technician was insemination. Today organizations providing A.I. tech services wish to provide their customers with a full range of services. Both Lopez and Nebel emphasize that the professional technician becomes part of the on-farm production team, where the goal is to achieve a high pregnancy rate as part of a complete reproduction program.

Dr. Nebel notes that “Herds have gotten bigger, days on the farm have become more demanding, milk per cow has increased and more cows are housed in confinement than they were twenty years ago. These are all challenges when it comes to getting cattle pregnant.” Dr. Lopez also outlines how change is affecting dairy breeding. “Today there is more focus on cow welfare, cow comfort, the successful integration of reproductive technologies like synchronization and heat detection aids and the handling and compliance for large groups of cows. Today successful breeding goes beyond the proper insemination technique. It requires all aspects of dairy management to be correctly working and their needs to be great teamwork.” When breeders work with profession A.I. companies they have access to complete reproduction services including: full cow side services including, walk, chalk, synchronization and insemination’ data entry into herd management software including report generation; management of automated activity and heat detection systems and reproductive consultation.

With all of this potential information and support, one wonders why more breeders not asking for competitive bids from companies that provided genetic and reproductive services to dairy farms.

When it comes to pregnancy rate, whether you are your own professional or hire a professional, you can’t afford less than professional results.

Jack of All Trades or Master of Pregnancy?

Professional technicians employed by A.I. companies breed between 5,000 and 20,000 animals per year. They are continually being monitored for their performance. As new techniques become available they receive training. Their only focus is on getting animals pregnant. Their livelihood depends of delivering top notch service. Dr. Lopez provides this very sound advice: “Most operations can economically benefit from outsourcing breeding or a total reproductive service to a professional technician not only because of the superior consistent results but also due to all the technical support and resources producers have access to through the professional breeding services”.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Every aspect of dairy farming needs to be penciled out as to cost and return on investment. Every breeder has an area of dairy farming that they like best and do to a professional level. In the end, A.I. breeding is all about fewer breedings, less semen used, more pregnancies, fewer reproductive culls and the best use of time and services. There is too much at stake to be a jack of all insemination trades and master of none.

Breeders need to be totally objective about every step from heat detection to confirmed conception. If you agree that insemination is all about the results, then ask yourself two questions, “How important is an excellent A.I. program?” and “Who performs artificial insemination best?”

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Stop Talking About Inbreeding…

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Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

Dairy cattle breeders talk about attempting to keep the level of inbreeding within check in their herds. Poultry, swine and corn breeders talk in terms of inbreeding and producing lines and then crossing the inbred lines to produce the birds, piglets and seeds that are used for commercial production. In beef, breeds have been developed for their specialities and then breeds are crossed to produce the commercial animals. The challenge currently being faced by Holstein breeders is that once again the level of inbreeding is creeping up and that has the potential to be a limiting factor when it comes to on-farm profit. Let’s look at where the level of inbreeding is at and how breeders might address that.

Current Inbreeding Levels

Dr. Filippo Miglior, Canadian Dairy Network, presenting at the February 2014 Advancing Dairy Cattle Genetics Workshop held in Phoenix Arizona, reported of the state on inbreeding in Holsteins born between 1982 and 2012..

It should be concerning to breeders that over the most recent time period, 2007 to 2012, that the Inbreeding Coefficients for Holsteins everywhere, North America and Global, increased at the rate of 0.36% and 0.33% per year respectively. These levels are the highest in modern Holstein breeding history. Levels four to almost seven times large in 2012 compared to 1982 should be a wake-up call for our industry. The inbreeding levels from 1987 to 1997 were a concern back then when only a few sires were being used to produce sons for A.I. progeny testing programs. Breeders and A.I. took the warnings seriously and increased the number and diversity of sires of sons entering A.I.

What Has Been Happening?

There are a number of factors that need consideration.

Limited Number of Bloodlines – Where once the bloodlines often had country or regional focus, Holstein breeding has gone global with only a few total merit indexes in use and TPI dominating. Diverse breeding resulting from the environmental situation or the cheese produced has disminished.

The number of different bloodlines used by A.I. companies has been greatly reduced. The table below is a global report on the Top 20 Sires of Sons since 1986. Half of these sires were born and used prior 2000. However recent sires like Man-O-Man, Planet, Shottle and Superstition are in the top ten. Only one of these sires, Shottle, was first proven outside North America but his pedigree was from North America. The end result is that this extreme use of a limited number of sires of A.I. sons has contributed to the increased inbreeding in the past 25 years.

Rapid Genetic Progress – The significant increases in inbreeding comes about as a result of the very significant increase in the past decade in the genetic merit of the Holstein breed. The following graph produced by USDA shows the change in the annual rate of genetic improvement for Net Merit. This change was a result of intense selection and increased accuracy using genomic information. However the fallout from that is the greatly increased inbreeding that we have now.

Adjusting Indexes for Inbreeding – USDA/CDCB has produced reports on adjusting US production indexes for level of inbreeding. There is much more work to be done on the effects of inbreeding beyond milk production. The truth is that it will take a long time to determine adjustments for traits relating to health and fertility. Note that the field observations for those areas are likely only available in the Nordic countries.

Limited Number of Sires of Sons – The two graphs below show just how short the list of sires of sons has become during. Having only 16 to 19 sires producing 50% of the young sires entering A.I. was great for genetic gain but for inbreeding it was a recipe for major problems. Even in 2011 there was still too much focus on too few sires of sons when only 32 produced half the young bulls entering A.I.

Focus is on Top Genomic Animals –Breeders should be concerned about inbreeding with the extreme focus on only the very top young heifers and bulls. This has also put downward pressure on animal values for high indexing animals that are just outside the top group. Genetic gain for production and type could be almost as good if there was increased selection pressure for other economically important traits. Remember that the very top heifers are full sisters to the young bulls entering A.I. Where is the genetic diversity in that?

Inbreeding of Sire List Toppers –The Bullvine has studied the Expected Future Inbreeding (EFI) for the top forty Net Merit Dollars ($NM) sires on both the Holstein USA Dec ’13 proven and genomic sire lists. Each 1 percent increase in EFI reduces milk proofs by 65.3 pounds. The published proof on a bull with an EFI of 4 per cent would be reduced by 261 pounds (4 X 65.3 = 261). The top 40 proven $NM sires have an average EFI 6.4, the genomic test sires also had an average EFI of 6.4 (Note: Had to be active with NAAB). Sires with O-Man blood all have high EFI’s due to O-Man’s extensive use as a sire of sons. Interesting to note that while both the top proven sires and genomic test sires average the same, this is a far greater range in the proven sires, the lowest proven sire in the top 40, Twist, has an EFI of 5.5, and the highest EFI proven sire in the top 40, Manifold, has an EFI of 7. In the genomic test sires, the lowest EFI, (Rubicon, Mr Max and Magoo all tied at 6), and the highest EFI belongs to Dozer at 6.7.

Breeders looking for the sires with the lowest expected future inbreeding should look up:

Proven Sires

Erdman – Kings-Ransom Erdman Cri-ET – 01HO09800	Twist – Clear-Echo Nifty Twist-ET – 029HO14335
AltaNetworth – Bomaz AltaNetworth-ET – 011HO10767	Dorcy – Coyne-Farms Dorcy-ET – 029HO14142

Genomic Test Sires

Rubicon – Edg Rubicon-ET 151HO00681	Mr Max – Bomaz Mr Max-ET – 151HO00675
Magoo – Bomaz Magoo-ET – 151HO00677	Troy – River-Bridge Co-Op Troy-ET – 001HO11056

Polled not likely to help lower Inbreeding – With more breeders breeding for polled animals, some of us may have thought there could be genetic diversity brought into Holsteins by this route. Well that just isn’t so. What is happening is that the same all too frequently used sires in horned are showing up as the sires or maternal grandsires in polled. The only outcrosses in the polled young sire pedigrees are the generation of sires or dams that introduced the polled gene.

What Needs to Happen?

The Bullvine offers the following ideas for how to make progress to reducing or at least holding the inbreeding levels.

Calculate Inbreeding Levels for Every Calf –Remember that it is the inbreeding level for the calf that is to be born that needs to be watched. To achieve a reduction in inbreeding, the sire and dam should not be closely related. A good example where the breeder did his homework is Crackholm Fever, 6.35% inbred. His parents are more inbred than he is but they are from quite different lineage. His sire Goldwyn (James x Storm x Aerostar) is 15.17% inbreed while his dam Fashion (Blitz x Mattie G x Rudolph) is 8.17% inbred. Inbreeding can be managed. Most sire mating services have incorporated the minimization of inbreeding into their programs.

New Total Merit Indexes – At the present time total merit indexes in the United States (TPI and NM$) and Canada (LPI) are under review for updating to include additional economically important heritable traits for which data is captured. Breeders need to have input into the further development of those indexes. Once those indexes are revised, new males and females will come onto the elite lists. Those animals are likely to bring forward the opportunity for breeders to use them to both generate more on-farm profit and to reduce inbreeding.

Develop Lines within Holsteins – A.I. companies have already started to develop lines that place emphasis on traits like health and fertility. No doubt lines will be developed for feed efficiency, once more is known about it. Having such lines available will give breeders the opportunity to specialize the families on their farms or to cross lines to end up with less inbred animals. It could make for the best of both worlds – for the breeders and for the A.I.

More Study of the Genome – As more and more animals are genomically tested there will be more accuracy to genomic results. But it does not end there. By studying each animal’s genome, it will be possible to know the exact level of inbreeding instead of what is currently done, which is only an estimation based on parentage. This will provide for yet another way to help tackle the inbreeding issue. Definitely genomically testing all heifers in a herd will, in the future, have a multitude of benefits for breeders (Read more: Herd Health, Management, Genetics and Pilot Projects: A Closer Look at ZOETIS)

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Holstein breeders and the breed cannot afford to fiddle while Rome burns when it comes to inbreeding. It is time to take action to reduce inbreeding levels. It does require collective action by the breed, on behalf of breeders and A.I. companies. It is not too late to act. The time for procrastination has past.

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The Future of Dairy Cattle Breeding Is In the Data

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Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

Over the past few years the management and genetic sides of the dairy cattle industry have been handed a huge data opportunity. One example comes from Lely who report that their robotic system can capture more than 120 different values per cow per day. Sounds excessive doesn’t it? For some breeders that number is beyond comprehension. However, before offering a final assessment on volume of data, let’s dig deeper.

Dairy farm operators know very well the challenges resulting from high feed cost and narrow margins. But they do not have the numbers to get down to the exact profit at each individual cow level. Do they breed Bessie back? If so what should she be breed to improve her? Or is she the next cow to be culled based on revenue generated less expenses? The challenge has been that managing Bessie has always been in hindsight and what is needed is real time management of her situation. Add to that the fact that wages and labor laws in many developed countries are causing breeders to rethink the degree of automation to apply to their operations. Many sensors already exist for measuring and monitoring cows and many are in the process of coming to market. It all comes down to having the numbers to manage, breed, feed and farm. There are many management considerations that discerning breeders should reflect on as they plan for future success in the dairy cattle industry.

Eight Numbers for Better Cow Management Decisions

Animal Weight – Ways of capturing a cow’s weight available many more factors can be added to what is known on an individual cow basis. Factors like feed intake, loosing or gaining weight and individual cow profit per day for the past week come quickly to mind. These sensors also allow for monitoring of negative energy balance determined by body weight changes and milk solid ratios.
Rumination – Having a healthy rumen is paramount to having a productive profitable dairy cow. Since it is not possible to determine DMI (Dry Matter Intake) on an individual cow basis, rumen activity sensors are used to endure that a cow’s digestive system is functioning well. The sensors also allow for consistent monitoring of feed delivery to ensure feed truck operators are doing their job.
Components / Milk Quality – Many on-farm systems can now capture fat %, protein %, lactose %, milking time, SCC, Conductivity and color of the milk at every milking (SCC is not equal to conductivity and color of the milk indicates mastitis alerts as well). These numbers and some of the relationships one to another give important information on both a daily and lactation basis. Knowing about problems immediately is by far the best way to address them. Wouldn’t all breeders like to be able to know about a pending SCC spike and address it immediately?
Temperature – is captured as either milk temperature or can be electronically read from a device such as a bolus in the rumen. The milk temperature is taken 2 – 4 times per day and is a start. However having an internal device provides for real time cow management. The obvious use of temperature changes is general cow health throughout lactation in order to detect differences from normal. Knowing a cow’s temperature after calving has been found to be very useful in getting her off to the right start. New to management tools could be monitoring a cow’s temperature, hour by hour, during her heat period. Breeding at exactly the right time is being studied and preliminary results are showing greatly increased pregnancy rates when body temperature is considered. Think how beneficial it would be to have a 65% conception rate instead of a 35-40% rate.
Heat Detection – In addition to the idea, just mentioned, of breeding by temperature during heat, there are many systems working successfully that record cow movement and thus signal to breeders that a cow is more active and should be closely observed for being in heat. Yet another device is one that measures hormone levels signalling an on-coming heat (Read more: Better Decision Making by Using Technology). Just think of the savings in labor, drugs, vet costs, semen, extra days spent in dry pens and days of lower milk production at the end of lactation if conception rates could be 70% or higher in cows and 85% or higher in heifers.
Milk Yield Every Milking – On a milking to milking basis nothing is more important than to know if a cow has produced to the expected level. All automated milking systems can do that and so breeders with those systems have a very important tool at their disposal. Cows falling below expectation are highlighted for attention by the herdsman either immediately or on a list that can be reviewed at any time.
Listings – Every automated system is capable of generating lists and graphs from the data captured. When a breeder first gets an automated system, they use the lists to find the problems or underperforming cows. However after a time breeders also find the reports to be very beneficial for setting goals for their cows and herd. A list can be as simple as knowing which cows, in a robotic herd, have not been milked. Or are they sick or lame? No matter what, the herdsman has a reason to find the cow and investigate. Breeders not only benefit from knowing what goes on in their own herd but the equipment providers are able to use the data from across herds in establishing benchmarks. And it is not only the breeder that benefits, his veterinarian and feed advisor now have information that they can use to make better recommendations.
Heifers – The heifer herd is the forgotten part of the dairy herd (Read more: Should you be raising your own heifers?). Automated calf feeding systems are now being used successfully. Many of the devices mentioned above, for cows, can be used for heifers as well. Just think of what the saving would be if age at first calving could be reduced by 3-4 months, $400 saved per heifer raised amounts to $20,000 savings per year in a 100 cow herd.

Numbers to Breed Better Cows

Having better management tools is only 50% of the success equation. The other half is breeding better cows. The data that would separate the best from the rest is a long and growing list.

Milk Yield Every Milking – The most accurate lactation production is when a weight from every milking is known. By having a weight captured at every milking, a genetic index could be calculated for a bull’s daughters peak production and persistency of production. Knowing such details may in fact help breeders determine the performance pattern that they want from their cows.
Components / Milk Quality – Here as well, having more observations will increase the accuracy of genetic indexes in order to breed cows that produce the milk that processors and consumers demand.
Milking Speed – The current genetic indexes are calculated using breeder assigned subjective rating. Fast, average or slow. Automated milking systems are now capable of capturing milking times. As more herds move to automated systems it will be possible to know if a bull’s daughters take 30 seconds less or 30 second more to milk. Time to milk determines the number of cows per robot or the size of the parlor. Milking speed is not consistent throughout the life of a cow and has variations even in the lactation. More over the robot gives an honest measurement which is not affected by the fear of the cow for the milking appraiser.
Adaptability / Temperament – Breeder know that not all cows are equal when it comes to be handled, milked and cared for. Using data from automated systems it will, in the future, be possible to produce genetic ratings for how bull’s daughters work within automated systems, their temperament, and other factors that breeders see as being necessary.
Reproduction / Fertility – Currently the data we have on cows, bulls and embryos are stored on many different databases. Bringing that information to a linked data system, studying it and then developing genetic bull rankings could well be a significant development when it comes to increasing the reproductive performance of dairy cattle.
Feed Efficiency – One of the most read articles that The Bullvine routinely produces is the one listing sires that will produce the most feed efficient cows (Read more: Feed Efficiency: The Money Saver and 50 Sires that will Produce Feed Efficient Cows ). Bullvine readers want to have genetic evaluations for feed efficiency. For some Bullvine readers sire rankings cannot come too quickly. Research is currently underway to determine the relationship between feed efficiency and other genetic indexes. However if feed intake data could come from automated on-farm systems it would be a big step forward.
Lameness / Mobility – On a herd and industry basis, mobility issues are a big financial drain due to animal cull, lost production and added costs. Breeders know that cows that avoid lameness, that are able to easily get to the feed bunk or pasture and that spend the majority of their time resting, are the kind of cows that make the most profit. With more complete data from automated systems and with perhaps additional sensors it will someday be possible to have genetic indexes for mobility.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

The definitive statement, when it comes to information and data on dairy farms, is that we have currently only scratched the surface. Definitely much more data from automated on-farm systems will soon be available for breeders to use to operate their dairy enterprises and to select their sires. Decisions made by dealing with the exceptions or past performance are old concepts. What is needed is more condensed and focused information and data to manage with on a real time basis. More data from automated data capture systems can and will make this a better industry. Let’s welcome in the future.

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Archive – Page 3

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Show Procedures

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