Canada's dairy genetics have long rested on two shared data systems, type classification of cows and milk recording, but some farmers are dropping them in favour of genomic tests and data from on-farm sensors, and if more follow, the accuracy of bull proofs and cow indices could fall, Manitoba Co-operator reported from Lactanet's Dairy Open Industry Forum in Toronto.
Anton Borst milks 1,350 to 1,400 cows with 20 Lely robotic milkers at Halarda Farms in Manitoba and farms about 5,000 acres. He has stopped classifying his cows but still uses e-DHI milk sampling, which the robots can automate. Chris Nooyen, whose family milks about 500 cows on three Brabantdale farms and holds three Master Breeder's Shields, said the family no longer uses classification or external milk recording. "There have been some services that have been cut, and you know what, our business is flourishing as good as ever," he said, adding that every service is judged on return on investment.
Nooyen relies heavily on genomic testing to measure genetic progress and said the family still contributes data that way. He urged Holstein Canada and Lactanet, which run classification and milk recording, to ask farms that have left why, and argued that conformation traits matter less to farmers than health traits; any new trait on proof sheets, he said, must be weighed on economics, citing antibiotic resistance, twinning, ketosis and displaced abomasum.
Lysanne Pelletier of Ferme Pellerat in Quebec, who milks about 450 cows and crops about 2,600 acres, still uses the industry services. "If we stop looking for, or collecting, data, the sector won't advance," she said through a translator, warning that new traits may emerge as more cows are milked by robots and that data will be needed to prove them.
Borst builds his own herd index around his goals, with 41% weight on kilograms of protein, 10% on kilograms of butterfat and 6% on daughter fertility, plus a new robot rating. "I think farms really should have their own index," he said, because needs depend on the milking system and the type of farm.
Photo: Anoek2012 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Manitoba Co-operator
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