enomics is the buzz word in Holstein breeding at the moment. The heifers with the highest genomic figures are topping the sales and the bulls with the highest figures are being used the most and commanding the highest price. This increasingly popular technology
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“Over the 16 years I’ve been competing in HYB I’ve gained a lot of experience and knowledge. It is a great honour to be awarded the President’s Medal and I particularly look forward to the trip which Semex have sponsored.
“I will be sure to use the opportunity to extend my knowledge of the Holstein breed and dairy industry in Canada, which will no doubt help me with decisions at home. It will also be fantastic to go back to the Royal Winter Fair as a visitor. It is the best show I’ve ever been to and I haven’t had the opportunity to return since working on the Semex Hall of Fame. I’m very grateful to Semex for their support and sponsorship for HYB, the opportunities throughout the year for Young Breeders are brilliant.”
Runners up in the competition this year were Georgina Fort from Yorkshire and Tom Stable from Lancashire.
Georgina was the youngest of the finalists. Having been raised on the family farm in Silsden with the Silmoor herd she took an interest in cows at an early age. Having competed at National HYB competitions for 10 years, Georgina’s highlights include wins in junior, intermediate and senior linear teams and also finishing first and second individually, last year she also won the most points in Stock Judging in the Yorkshire Club.
Despite her love for cows, and to the horror of her father, Georgina chose to study performing arts and achieved a degree in Theatre and Performance Studies. As well as working at home on the farm Georgina has also had other jobs including being a background artist on Emmer- dale.
Three years ago Georgina made the decision to work full time on the family farm and concentrates on the genetics in the herd, milking and calf rearing. On top of having a strong knowledge of breeding and cow families Georgina also has an understanding of the potential of modern genetics to impact the breed and industry. Lancashire member Tom Stable of the Boltonmanor herd was also runner up in the 2014 competition. Tom manages the family dairy near Ulverston. With 260 cows in the herd he takes care of the day to day running, staffing and rotas, leaving his dad to look after the arable side. Tom has always had a strong interest in the dairy industry and particu- larly the Holstein breed, choosing to further his education at Harper Adams where he completed a BSc Honours degree in Agriculture. Within HYB Tom is very much a team player and can often be found working hard behind the scenes to help the Club and other young members. Stock judging has been a key strength of Tom’s, winning many competitions over the years with the highlight being part of the winning stock judging team at the competitions day in 2012. Tom also has an interest in showing to promote the Boltonmanor herd and this stemmed from success at the Lancashire and All Britain Calf Shows with calves. He has regularly had calves qualify and place in the top three at the All Britain.
His passion for the industry saw him travel to World Dairy Expo last year and he gained lots of ideas and inspiration from touring round farms to see management and breeding decisions.
28 THE JOURNAL APRIL 2015
offers the potential for better breeding decisions as breeders can test heifers and match their genomic scores with bulls that will enhance them. This service will benefit all breeders of dairy cattle, not just the breeders at the top of the genomic ladder. Despite this though uptake has been slow in the testing of heifers. In Canada and the USA a maximum of 9% of all purebred female registrations are genomically tested. This is thought to be because of the cost and of the perception of genomics by some breeders as being another inaccurate index. Genomic indexes are 55-70% accurate and exist for all traits (yields, component percentages, each conformation area and all management traits).
Cost can of course be a limiting factor, but keeping North America as an example it costs $45 to get a 9K panel run. This is about the same cost as it is to classify and milk record a cow for a year. With a genomic test this can be done at birth so the breeder is able to identify their best animals and is able to breed from these and use the animals with lower genomic indexes as recipients, so that only the top end are being used to breed replacements. Alternatively, lower quality heifers can be sold, so they have less heifers to rear, thus decreasing rearing costs.
Also the reliability of a genomic test is a minimum of 55%, whereas classification and milk recording gives a reliability of 52%. If these two cost the same then the genomic test is a bargain because the breeder can have a more reliable outcome earlier in the animal’s life allowing breeding decisions to be made sooner. Identifying an animal’s genetic potential will lead to more accurate breeding decisions being made earlier. This will enable more rapid herd genetic improvement.
The science of genomic evaluation is advancing quickly. The near future will see genomics increase in reliability (80% and possibly higher) as more research is done. There will be genomic indexes for more traits as well. It is expected that an index for feed efficiency will soon be added to the current traits. Research is currently being done to achieve this and progress is being made.
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