Paying greater attention to feed efficiency indices while choosing sires for dairy herds would assist compensate for today’s growing feed prices.
With this in mind, dairy producers are being asked to investigate all possibilities to help reduce these high expenses, and a more focused and effective use of genetics is a fantastic instrument for doing so.
Two Holstein cows with the same productivity level may consume quite different amounts of grain.
According to one study, the more efficient cow ingested 861 kilos less dry matter than the other cow, resulting in a 12% decrease in feed expenditures.
What exactly is a feed efficiency index?
Dairy producers may employ sires that breed cows as better feed converters by choosing genotypes with a high index for feed efficiency.
This means cows produce more milk and meat on less feed while maintaining high health, reproductive performance, and a long productive life.
This contributes to the company’s profitability and long-term viability.
The feed efficiency index measures how efficiently a cow converts grain into milk. While some cows are adept at this, others use excessive amounts of feed for upkeep and are inefficient in terms of feed utilization.
The creation of a credible index for feed efficiency requires direct and precise measurements of each cow’s feed intake in a large number of nursing cows under the predicted performance circumstances.
Cows bred by bulls with a high feed efficiency index use fewer feed resources because they transform feed more effectively and need less energy for upkeep.
This implies that resources are being utilized more effectively, and dairy producers are able to produce more milk and meat with less inputs, lowering the environmental impact.
Cows bred from bulls with a high feed efficiency index use fewer feed resources because they transform feed more effectively and need less energy for upkeep. Image provided
Cows bred from bulls with a high feed efficiency index use fewer feed resources because they transform feed more effectively and need less energy for upkeep. Image provided
Decoding feed efficiency indices: five crucial questions for making educated decisions
When examining feed efficiency indices, a farmer should ask his or her genetics representative five simple questions.
Is data acquired from commercial herds with varying production methods and management levels collected without interfering with cows’ natural behavior and daily farm routines?
Because herds have diverse production techniques and management levels, data should be gathered from a variety of farms to provide a more trustworthy index.
Is the feed intake data recorded on lactating cows?
Some genetic firms provide data gathered from heifers. Pryce et al. (2014) discovered a genetic association of 0.67 between heifer and first lactation cow efficiency. This suggests that heifer efficiency accounts for just 45 percent of the variance in cow efficiency. This makes the usefulness of registering heifers to forecast cow efficiency exceedingly wasteful.
Is feed intake monitored during the lactation and throughout the lifespan of the cow?
The physiology and productivity of a cow alter drastically throughout lactations. Feeding needs and performance vary depending on the stage of lactation. As a result, data from all periods of the cow’s life should be obtained.
Does the index allow for breeding for improved feed efficiency while minimizing the effect on productivity, health, and fertility?
Breeding merely to conserve feed is insufficient since output levels must be maintained to ensure farm profitability. Farmers must be cautious while breeding for more feed efficient cows and avoid favoring animals that exhaust their body reserves for milk output.
Does the feed efficiency index take metabolic efficiency into account?
Metabolic efficiency is an important component of feed efficiency since it assesses how efficiently the cow converts feed energy in her body. This is energy that is utilized to promote milk production, for example.
Advantages of the Feed Efficiency Index
Because more feed efficient cows emit less methane, breeding for increased feed efficiency helps lessen the environmental effect of the dairy and beef sectors.
It is critical to limit the environmental effect of each dairy farm. And if the farmer can do this by making relatively easy changes in the genetics used in the herd in order to minimize the quantity of feed that cows consume and waste generated while maintaining the required production level, this results in more efficient farming.
Jan Lassen, MSc., PhD, Senior Research Manager at VikingGenetics, a Nordic genetics firm owned by cattle breeders in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, encourages farmers to examine the significance of the Saved Feed Index, which is part of the Nordic Total Merit index.
“Improving efficiency through breeding is a win-win situation.” “We increase production by selecting the most efficient animals,” Mr Lassen said.
“There are no negative effects on health, reproduction, or longevity.”
The Saved Feed Index is based on information from the Cattle Feed Intake technology (CFIT), a cutting-edge technology that uses three-dimensional cameras and artificial intelligence to recognize cows, evaluate their weight, and quantify how much they consume.
CFIT delivers real-time data for each cow’s feed intake recorded in the cow’s natural surroundings year round, backed by more than nine years of research and development.
1,300,000+ lactating cow daily intake records
12,000 or more cows with CFIT data 1,000,000 or more feed visits per day
By including the Saved Feed Index into the breeding aim, dairy producers get a valuable tool for optimizing their operations and meeting the criteria for sustainable food production.
