Cost of genomic testing should make it a 'no-brainer' for progressive dairy farmers

Identifying the elite females in a herd through genomic testing will increase efficiency and sustainability while improving profitability. Genomics is now a mainstream technology which comes at a price that should make it a ‘no-brainer' for progressive dairy farmers.This is according to Rudolph Linde, global business development manager at Cogent UK.He points to the impact of genetics as ‘cumulative', so using the very accurate genetic information supplied by genomic testing can allow significant progress within the herd in a reasonable timescale."Genomic testing allows the farm business to benefit from the maximum genetic and therefore economic gain, customised to the needs of their own system.The information provided by genomic testing is far more precise and reliable than parental data."It also saves time as there is a two- to three-year delay before the performance of a female in her first and second lactation is evident.The effects of inaccurate breeding decisions will not be seen for at least two years and the cost of this mistake could be significant." He adds: "Dairy farming is at best a very marginal business, so it is vital to take advantage of the phenomenal genetic progress which has been made in recent years.The reliability of the genetic information from genomic testing a three-weekold calf is now equal to the actual production values from a second to third lactation cow."Why would you take a gamble with genetics when using genomics, which is now proven to be around 67-68% accurate?"Rudolph Linde More from Progressive Dairy Ecofeed: Genomics in actionAdvanced genomics has enabled Cogent to provide its customers with an index which accurately predicts feed conversion efficiency in Holstein females.Ecofeed is currently the largest database of a single operation measuring metabolic feed conversion efficiency which will permit genetic gains for the next generation.Ecofeed is a measurement of whether daughters of particular sires are likely to consume more or less feed to produce the same amount of output.Mr Linde says: "Ecofeed is not related to any other trait currently known in the Holstein breed and at 21%, is considered to be moderately heritable.Compare this figure to fertility [which is less than 5%] it means farmers can select and breed for feed efficiency more rapidly, while also improving all other economic important traits using the Ecofeed index."When assessing feed efficiency, there are two possible measures.The first is maintenance efficiency which quantifies energy requirements to support maintenance."Cogent and parent Company ST Genetics also measures residual feed intake [RFI] as a measure of metabolic feed efficiency.This enables us to measure expected versus actual feed intake by means of establishing the variation in feed intake beyond that needed to support maintenance and performance requirements.Realistic comparisons"Subsequently we can then make realistic comparisons of feed efficiency between a largeframed Holstein with a smaller sized animal, as RFI is also a measure independent of body size.As a result, we have learnt that a larger framed Holstein could be as equally feed efficient as a smaller framed animal and vice-versa." Developing the index has taken ST Genetics almost six years and development is ongoing.It represents a considerable continuous investment due to the infrastructure requirements associated (>445,000 daily intake records over the past seven years) with capturing phenotypic and genomic information of more than 5,000 Holstein females sired by 748 different Holstein bulls.And currently, ST Genetics has produced more than 262,536 female genomic Ecofeed scores.Mr Linde says: "Feed costs comprise almost half the total variable costs on a typical dairy farm.The highest index Ecofeed heifers can consume up to 24% less feed per day, which translates into 4.7kg less fresh feed consumed per day than the lowest index heifers, with no difference in final body weight or average daily gains."Examining the holistic picture - less feed needs to be grown for each cow and in turn, this requires less land and fewer inputs.This has considerable, positive implications for the sustainability of a dairy enterprise including environment and the utilisation of land for increased global food security." Accurately predictAccurately predict"Genomics enables us to accurately predict the ‘predicted transmitting ability', the ‘PTA' for these traits.It is not just about whether the animal has the desired traits, but whether they are able to transmit these genes to the next generation."This is vital because if the animal has the sought-after genes, but cannot transmit them to his or her progeny, why would we choose to use such bull or breed future replacements from that female?"Why would you take a gamble with genetics when using genomics, which is now proven to be around 67-68% accurate?