BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — How dairy producers use genomics is not a ‘cookie cutter’ deal. Some look to develop marketable genetics. Others want to improve a commercial herd in specific areas. Some use the numbers to fine-tune and set benchmarks to identify the cows that will contribute replacement animals, allowing diversification on the lower-end such as beef-on-dairy.
All of these avenues help move dairy herds forward as this technology is used to fit each farm’s business and management objectives.
Three dairy producers gave their perspectives on “the betterment of dairy cattle through genomics” in a panel discussion that was part of the Kentucky Young Producers meeting on the first day of the Dairy Partners conference attended by over 300 people in Bowling Green recently.
As more animals are tested, the reliability of selection criteria will keep improving, the panel suggested. As more data flows in, more things come out in terms of selection criteria — along with the increased reliability.
The panel agreed they have more confidence in the system now than they did 10 years ago. They also agreed balance is still important in sire selection. The biggest thing today, they said, is how to use genomics to improve health traits and components.
Health traits, udder score, milk fat and protein, as well as conformation and balance are among the top things they said they look at — rather than focusing just on elite total performance indexes (TPI).
“You can take the top cow and mate her to the top bull and still have a 1500 heifer. I promise you we’ve got one. Whatever the index on an elite bull, I want to know: Does he have a good cow family behind him?” said Billy Wilcher, herd manager at Cowherd Dairy, Campbellsville.
This 400-cow dairy is among the partnering herds in Fit Genetics, which was launched by Dr. Jeffrey Bewley with farm partners to focus primarily on areas of Holstein genetics that fit hot, humid environments and to deliver offerings of high net merit/dairy wellness potential — with a focus on ‘fitness traits’ for improved health and reproduction.
Joining Wilcher on the panel were Larry Embry, milking 200 cows at Longview Farms, a registered Holstein dairy near Leitchfield and Brandon Fields of Fields Family Farms, with a 120-cow registered Holstein herd near Upton.
“We still try to use balanced bulls. The biggest thing for us is how to improve health traits and components. We can only feed them so good. Genetics gets you some more,” said Wilcher.
“By genomic testing six-week-old calves, you have a rough idea of what they have the potential to do in the future before you get that investment into them,” he said. “Testing also helps us keep up with the Haplotypes.”
(Haplotypes are groups of single DNA units usually inherited together. For example, testing can reveal recessive haplotypes that affect fertility and stillbirth as well as discover new genetic disorders and track carrier status.)
He also recommended testing calves because “you could have something special and not know it.”
At the same time, all three panelists said testing helps correct any past parentage mistakes. Global records show parentage errors industrywide can average as high as 22%.
By identifying the bottom 10% of the herd, Wilcher said they can breed those cows, along with older cows and tough breeders to Wagyu for a niche beef market.
For Embry, genomic testing helps him diversify by breeding the top 80% of his herd A.I. to sexed semen and the bottom 20% to Simme-Angus bulls.
“This way, marginal value is traded for good value in a black calf for the beef market. and we save feed, labor and costs all the way through,” said Embry.
For Fields, the focus — before and after genomics — is to use higher end bulls on higher end cows and use the bottom 10 to 20% of the herd for embryo transfer recipients.
The mastitis number from Zoetis is one of the first things he looks at in bull selection, followed by udder width, udder score, components and conformation.
“For genetic marketing, genomic testing helps us identify recip and donor levels quicker in the herd,” said Fields.
He uses proven sires and unproven sires, but he said it is rare for him to use more than 20 straws from unproven sires. He likes to see what’s behind them.
Embry spreads his risk by using more sires. “When using unproven genomic sires, we don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. We used 30 sires last year,” he said.
Specific health traits in a wellness composite include lameness, respiratory and ketosis, for example, but the mastitis number is big and deemed most reliable.
Similarly, several traits go into an udder composite, so if a producer is looking to improve a specific udder trait, some of those numbers can be broken out. Again, more testing improves the reliability.
Beyond this are composite indexes for productive life that pull in not just health traits, but also production and reproduction.
Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) is a very valuable metric that has evolved from genomics as a big consideration for the breeding decisions on many dairy farms.
Fields said genomic testing helps him monitor progress, achieving gains in the average index across all calves on the ground today vs. when he first started. This helps him maximize efficiencies and develop marketable genetics. In fact, his herd was ranked 17th in 2022 with 79 cows classified and achieving a BAA of 106.0.
“This is a way to diversify our dairy with the same legwork. We’re already raising those heifers,” said Fields. “Even if genetics are not a revenue stream on your dairy, you could have something on your farm, an outlier. Testing your calves is the only way to know that.”
— By Sherry Bunting
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