Dairy News AUSTRALIA march, 2012
22 // management
Tools aid corrective breeding HOLSTEIN AUSTRALIA has released two breeding services it says will accelerate genetic improvement in the Australian dairy industry. The conformation evaluation service, traitplus, and complementary breeding program, mateplus, are available to all farmers. Holstein Australia CEO Matt Shaffer said the Australian-developed technology would remove the guesswork associated with corrective breeding. “Traitplus is a professional conformation evaluation service that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your cows, while mateplus is a mating program that carefully matches these strengths and
weaknesses to your chosen sire team,” Shaffer said. “Combined, they will help producers get the most from their investment in genetics by adding consistency and objectivity to their breeding decisions.” Shaffer said both services could be provided as a same-day service for as little as $3/cow. The new services were showcased at a series of information sessions throughout Victoria, Tasmania and Southern NSW earlier this month. Shaffer said traitplus was a “scaled down” version of the classification system used by pedigree breeders throughout the world. Under the program, Holstein
Holstein Australia offers a new corrective breeding service for the cost of $3/cow.
Australia Senior Classifier Richard Anderson said HA’s classifiers assess each cow for 11 key traits using the same internationally-recognised standards that HA classifiers use in classification. “This information is then used to identify the key areas for improvement,” he said.
“Cows are assessed during milking or as they enter or leave the dairy, so there’s no extra work required on behalf of producers.” Mateplus then determines the best mating for each cow based on its conformation, production records, pedigree information and the latest Australian Breeding Values. HA Genetic Improvement Research Manager Rohan Butler said unlike other breeding programs, mateplus leaves producers in charge of sire selection. “They can nominate whichever sires they like provided they have an Australian proof or converted Australian proof,” Butler said. “They can even select different sire
teams for different groups of cows or desired blend price. “That said and done, we’re here to help with impartial and expert advice if they want it. “Our staff can help producers to establish breeding objectives appropriate for their management and, if desired, identify a suitable sire team using the ADHIS Selectabull program.” Shaffer said he believed traitplus and mateplus will deliver many important benefits for the Australian dairy industry. “At the very least, this technology will allow producers to make more informed breeding decisions and get the most from their investment in genetics,” he said.
Real farmers. Real results. DOWEL FAMILY KORUMBURRA, VICTORIA A TESTIMONIAL BY COLIN & JENNY DOWEL www.performanceprobiotics.com | Phone 1800 118 872 Stuart and Louise Murray
‘The cows have greater feed conversion, resulting in more litres and higher milk components’.
No playing favourites FROM FAVOURITE
OPERATIONAL AND PRODUCTION FACTS
Dowel Family Korumburra, Victoria Herd 330 stud Jerseys. Calving 25 calving in Autumn; remaining herd June onwards. Production herd average 5,080 litres; fat 5.1%, protein 3.8%. What Performance Products do you use and how do you use them in your system? We use the Gel on all new calves and ailing animals as a quick pick-me-up solution to get the gut working again. We also use Healthy Calf Plus, Healthy Calf Macro, DFM pellets and Fire-up. What are the Benefits you have seen since using Performance? We have fitter, healthier calves with a stronger constitution to combat diseases, less mortality, more eagerness to forage and utilize calf meal and pasture hay whilst using the Healthy Calf Plus. The heifers seem to grow out better to yearlings with the Healthy Calf Macro in their mix. The cows have greater feed conversion resulting in more litres and higher milk components. We have noticed the cows also chew their cud a lot more. The Fire-Up has helped the springers in their transition period with complete ease. Overall we have had reduced Vet costs.
WE BUILD HEALTHY COWS
Can you put a ‘monetary’ figure on these benefits? The calves and cows seem to be a lot healthier having Performance Probiotics in their diet. This has resulted in vet costs decreasing. Would you recommend Performance Probiotics to another farmer? We would definitely recommend to another farmer. Performance Probiotic products are backed up with sound nutritional advice and seem to be user-friendly. The field reps are down to earth and are actually very interested in seeing what you do, always go out into the paddock and/or in the calf shed and look at what is happening!
cows to programmed objectivity, producers Stuart and Louise Murray reckon they have come a long way in the dairy breeding business during the past two decades. The Murrays milk 550 Holsteins at Bamawm, northern Victoria, and are gearing up to introduce 230 new heifers to the herd. Stuart Murray says these 230 heifers will be better cows than their mothers. The Murrays knew what they wanted in their herd and they knew there were faults such as weak rear udders, high rump and the angle of feet and legs that they wanted corrected. They were some of the first to use the traitplus and mateplus programs when they trialled the services two years ago. During the next calendar year, about 230 heifers bred using the programs will join their herd. The traitplus program is a professional conformation evaluation service that identifies the
strengths and weaknesses of each cow using the same internationally-recognised standards of classification. The mateplus program carefully matches these strengths and weaknesses to nominated sires using a range of production, conformation and pedigree data and the latest ABVs. “What attracted me to traitplus and mateplus initially was that they were truly unbiased,” Murray said. “I could still go to the AB centres and seek advice about certain bulls but the joining decision is made independently and ahead of time - not on the spot. “Plus, I could still stick to my budget and use my favourite bulls. What the programs guarantee is the best possible joining of cow and bull. “We have a herd of extremely productive, long-lasting cows. “We don’t profess to have stud quality animals and I feel that has allowed us the freedom to concentrate on production and not genetics, though I do admit you really can’t have one without the other.”