Dairy breeding and genetics updates

Find out what's new for dairy breeding and genetics.

• New publication criteria for Holstein bulls. 
  • Since the introduction of genomics, the usage of young bulls has dramatically changed over the last 10 years. Historically, milking daughters would gradually contribute to a first crop proof, before adding significant second crop daughters a few years later, we are now observing a much larger influx of freshly calved heifers early in a bull’s life. These, often young heifers, with short lactation records have in some cases caused an instability in early daughter proofs.
  • To make the transition from young genomic to daughter proven more stable, we have implemented an additional requirement that a Holstein bull needs to have a minimum of 15 milking daughters, which are at least 120 days in milk.
  • This additional check has been implemented for new graduates, and not backdated to bulls which already had their daughter proofs published in April.
• Holstein Type Merit update, as requested by Holstein UK.
  • Weighting for Rump Angle will be included, which will penalise any bulls that deviate from 0.
  • The formula has been scaled to maintain the approximate -3 to + 3 range.
• Fleckvieh has moved to breed code 50. Previously, Fleckvieh shared breed code 23 with Simmental, which made separating beef and dairy animals impossible.
• Breed code 22 move to the Ayrshire base. UK born Scandinavian reds (breed code 22) have been moved from the Shorthorn genetic base to the Ayrshire genetic base.
• Breed code 14 enhancements. Red Dairy Cattle have their own breed code (14) managed by the Ayrshire Herdbook. Up until now BC 14 bulls did not have sire evaluations published. With this release, these BC 14 sires will now receive evaluations on the Ayrshire genetic base.
• Herd Genetic Report weekly updates. We now update the report weekly using the very latest milk recoding information available via NBDC or NMR. These updates remove any animals sold off the farm, and also updates lactation number details.

• Genomic proof releases every week, increased from twice a month.
• HGR Bulk download. For third-party HGR users with access to multiple herds, we can now provide a bulk download of evaluations on both the £PLI bases and the £SCI/£ACI base. The files contain the same traits as individual HGR download but will contain all accessible herds in each download. For anyone interested in this service, please contact Daniel.Pitt@ahdb.org.uk for further details.
• UK Hoof Health Registry. Cattle lameness has been described as one of the largest challenges facing the dairy industry. Please consider sharing your foot trimming data to help improve the Lameness Advantage genetic evaluation and improve the hoof health of the UK herd. Extra information and registration to the UK Hoof Health Registry.
• Annual rolling base change has been implemented, download the factsheet on the Dairy breeding and genetics homepage.

• Genomic proof releases twice a month, increased from once a month.
• Genomic fees implemented, for more information please see the Genomic Evaluations terms and conditions.
• Genetic workshops were hosted between August and November. The workbook used in these workshops is now available online.
• Third-party webinar hosted to help farmers to make the most of their dairy herd's genetics.
• Ayrshire and red reports have been simplified, separating Pure Ayrshire reports from combined lists. In combined lists, a filterable "purity" flag has been added to distinguish between bulls. Please see reports for the criteria required for a bull to be considered "pure".

• Proven bull reports have been simplified for Holstein and Jersey. UK proven and international (proven) bulls are now displayed on the same report with a filterable 'UK Proven' flag.
• Annual rolling base change has been implemented, download the factsheet on the Dairy breeding and genetics homepage.

• Genomic Inbreeding is now live! 
• Guernsey genomic female results are now published. Including females in the reference population has resulted in significant enhancements to the genomic prediction for the Guernsey breed and improved the reliability in male and females evaluations.
• Top Guernsey Genomic £PLI Heifers are now published. Adding to the Top Genomic £PLI Heifer lists that are already available for Holstein, Friesian, Jersey, and Ayrshire breeds.
• Top Holstein Genomic Heifer Herds are now published. The top 25 herds that genotype at least 75% of their youngstock will appear on this list ranked by average £PLI calculated from the genomic heifers' evaluations.
• Conversion files are available for direct download. These convert country-of-origin proofs to the UK base (£PLI/£SCI/£ACI) if no UK evaluation is currently available. HOL⇔FRI conversion files are also available. Relevant conversion are found on each breed-specific £PLI page, e.g. Holstein.