Dairy NewS AUSTRALIA march 2013
breeding management  // 19
Second-cross Reds maintain hybrid vigour A crossbreeding program undertaken by Nowra, NSW, dairy farmers Ron and Brenda Graham has seen improvement in both milk solids production and fertility. The Grahams are expanding their herd of Aussie Reds (Australian Red Dairy Breed or ARDB). The couple milked 140 Aussie Red cows in the early 2000s. However, when both their sons returned to the family farm in 2004, they were unable to purchase any Aussie Reds at the time, so increased their numbers by purchasing 50 registered and 100 unregistered Holstein cows from three local herd dispersals. The larger cows proved a challenge for the Grahams and their existing infrastructure. Even though the Holstein cows on average produced more milk than the red cows, the red
Who:
Ron and Brenda Graham Where:
Nowra What:
Cross breeding
cows out produced the Holsteins in total solids due to their higher components. They took the chance to sell their remaining pure Holsteins when an opportunity arrived to purchase 100 Aussie Red heifers in 2008. The Grahams have been pleased with the performance of their Holstein-Aussie Red cows.
Project to genotype 30,000 more cows The Australian research organisation Dairy
Futures CRC and the international cattle improvement organisation CRV have signed a three-year contract for a joint research project for accelerated dairy cattle genomics. The collaboration aims to increase the reliability of genomic breeding values by at least 10% by 2015. The collaboration involves the sharing of the New Zealand and Australian Holstein and Jersey reference populations that both CRV and Dairy Futures CRC are using. On top of that, the project aims to genotype a further 30,000 cows from Australia and New Zealand. This joint enlargement of the reference population will improve reliability of genomic breeding values for multiple traits and for each country or production system. New technologies will be developed in order to obtain and use full DNA sequence information as effectively and efficiently as possible in the estimation of genomic breeding values. The continual addition of genomic information and high quality herd recording data is vital to ensure the industry sustains improvements from genomic selection into the future. The new project will develop an advanced low-cost genomic test for cows, which will make it possible to screen commercial cows and add their information to the reference population.
However, they had bred some Holstein-Aussie Red daughters during this time. The Graham family wanted the benefits of an all red herd, so they decided to keep mating these crossbred daughters to top Australian and Scandinavian Red Genetics. However, they wondered what the progeny would be like without the heterosis effect the first-cross gained. Now, nine years after their initial expansion, the current herd of 400 milking cows contains 42 HolsteinARDB crossbred daughters, and 35 Holstein-ARDB-ARDB (second cross) daughters. The 42 Holstein-ARDB cows had an average production index (PI) of 101 from their last completed lactation. They averaged 1.66 units of semen to go in calf during 2012 (only AI is used). Two of the 42 cows are red, the remaining 40 are black and white. The 35 second-cross cows have an average PI of 103 from their last completed lactation. They averaged 1.65 units of semen to go in calf during 2012. Seventeen of the 35 cows are red. The Grahams have also been happy with the improvement in fertility and ease of calving in all these cattle. The also noted the second-cross cows are not as big as the original Holsteins. They believe the use of top ARDB genetics in the progeny of these cows has maintained the productive ability, while breed characteristics of high fertility, calving ease, and sound feet and legs, have matched the heterosis effect experienced by the first- cross.
Ron and Brenda Graham on their Nowra dairy farm.
The Graham family has also been able to progress towards one of their goals, a completely red herd as any black cows sired by an ARDB bull will have a 50% chance of having a red calf when mated to red genetics. The Graham family has also been able to progress towards one of their goals, a completely red herd as any black cows sired by an ARDB bull will have a 50% chance of having a red calf when mated to red genetics. Annual statistics released from ADHIS last month revealed the Australian Red Dairy Breed is currently
the fastest growing dairy breed in Australia. Last year the number of herd recorded Aussie Red cows continued its trend upwards to 11,043 cows, up from 8993 the previous year. Since its formation in 1986, the ARDB has quickly grown to become Australia’s third largest dairy breed.