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AT THE HEART OFCDI


Henry Richardson, Data Manager & Analyst reviews the role of the Centre for Dairy Information (CDI) within the industry





CDI was originally set up to provide services and links between our database and our breed society partners plus a range of other organisations, who all relate to UK dairy production. So what else do we do in practice?


improvement of dairy production in the UK T Breed Society Partners


CDI provides the database structures for herdbook and admin services for most of the dairy breed societies in the UK plus a number of beef breeds, working closely with the Holstein UK membership services and IT departments, who supply the skills and manpower. The database takes in more than 263,000 new registrations annually. With a further 191,000 ancestors, etc. added to the 15m animals already held.


Classifi cation Services The team of 12 full time classifi ers, co-ordinated by Jackie Clark, visit farms on a daily basis to assess, evaluate and record cattle for 22 linear traits plus up to eight additional welfare aspects. Last year that amounted to almost 145,000 inspections. In addition to the main partners classifi cation also serves the Dairy and Beef Shorthorn, Dexter, Island Guernsey and Gloucester cattle societies. CDI research has established that classifi ed Holstein-Friesian animals yield some 15,000 additional litres of milk over their lifetime, compared to their non-classifi ed counterparts, worth about £3750 at 25p/litre. Plus a further £500 on the market value of the animals themselves.


Genetic Evaluations The genetic evaluations work is totally integrated with the Holstein UK research and development function.


We publish the genetic evaluations for Type along with the results received from AHDB Dairy and Interbull for production, health and fi tness traits for all the main CDI partner breeds. We also collate the who’s who of the 2000 AI bulls marketed in the UK. Along with fresh evaluations each release for some 13m females and nearly 1.6m bulls.


Research Collaborations


Our own projects produce such results as the popular UK Breed Performance Statistics book on a regular basis, plus other analysis results on topics such as longevity and lifetime yield in relation to both age at calving and classifi cation scores. Additionally, the CDI provides regular data to a range of research establishments around the UK, including the Scottish Rural University College, plus the Canadian Dairy Network and AHDB. Other active collaborations for specifi c research topics, such as heifer rearing and lameness include the Royal Vet College, London, and Liverpool University Vet School.


The Breeding Toolbox


The toolbox comprises several separate educational and breeding selection aids, this meets the demands of both breed society members and others for help with both understanding type assessment and making breeding decisions for both their herds. There are currently four toolsets in the box with varying levels of complexity – Virtual Cow, ClassAct, Bull Selector and WebMate. CDI have recently assumed responsibility for the support of these tools. We aim to keep the user guide documents up to date, along with developing improvements and new tools.


hat’s our “Mission Statement” which we aim to live up to. In practice though, the CDI is much more than a database and a range of data analysis results. The





The Centre for Dairy Information exists to develop industry-leading analysis of data for the


18 THE JOURNAL AUGUST 2015


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