Genetic Audit: From Start to Profit

Select Sires’ ProfitMAX™ program helps customers achieve long-term profitability from future herd replacements and improve short-term cash flow by increasing the value of extra calves to be sold to the beef market. The genetic audit is the capstone of the program and uses the Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator to project profitable solutions.

Who benefits from a genetic audit?

Amber LaSalle: Whether you consider your herd genetically progressive, or you’ve made genetic improvement a goal, a genetic audit will undoubtedly yield benefits for your dairy.

For some of the industry’s most progressive herds, the process can highlight correlations between current challenges and traits that don’t receive attention in the genetic selection program. Through the process, you can also gain a better understanding of herd rank compared to herds in the same environment and compared to the national Holstein averages.

How does the Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator fit into the auditing process?

Greg Collins: The Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator takes the eligible breeding population and allows the producer to strategically utilize the best genetics. It determines the most profitable combinations of semen usage, including sex-sorted, conventional and/or embryos, while making the number of females needed to maintain the desired cow numbers. Additionally, the calculator shows the producer where to utilize beef bulls to take advantage of the premiums offered for dairy x beef calves. This innovative tool brings together two very important segments for a producer. Utilizing a dairy’s detailed reproduction numbers and genetic data, it creates the desired number of females with the desired genetic emphasis.

To take advantage of genetics, the more optimal the environment (heat abatement, proper pen and bed maintenance, shot compliance, etc.), the less reliant the cow’s performance will be on environment, and the more it will hinge upon the factor of genetics. Genomic data versus parent average information tends to maintain a similar average but definitely widens the range of a given cohort. Management practices can be changed within days or months, but it takes a couple years to see the effects of genetics. Genetic audits prove that genetics work; however, it is a long term investment and must be maintained in order to see results.

For more information about ProfitMAX, visit www.selectsires.com or contact your local Select Sires representative.