GETTING TO KNOW OUR STAFF... DARREN TODD
How long have you worked for Holstein UK/CDI and what positions have you held within the company?
I have been with Holstein UK since September last year and I am the company Geneticist. What does your role involve?
I deal with genetics, genomics and general cattle breeding queries and research and development. The role is varied and includes answering members’ queries about genomic testing, extracting genetic evaluation data for AI companies from the Holstein UK/CDI database, writing Journal articles and attending Holstein UK/CDI events.
What’s the most challenging part of your role? Certainly the ‘proof run’ three times a year, when dairy cattle around the world
have their genetic merit updated and published. During this period, the build up starts a few weeks before “release date”, when the UK data is processed and assessed before being sent off to Interbull. From then on the work is really intensive, until at least two weeks after the bull results are published, followed by the females a week later. We check the data, resolve animal identity issues and produce various top lists in co- ordination with industry partners such as AHDB Dairy. This work is totally integrated within the CDI database. We collate and publish this information for the entire Holstein UK herdbook each run along with the results received from AHDB Dairy for all the CDI partner breeds. We also collate all the AI bulls marketed in the UK working closely with all the AI companies and sharing this information with AHDB Dairy.
With fresh genomic results becoming available on a monthly schedule in between the main proof runs (and the USA having already moved to a weekly genomic schedule) seldom is there a day goes by without some genetics and animal identifi cation work. Not to mention the other projects I work on in conjunction with the CDI.
What’s the most exciting part of your role?
Genomics is an evolving technology and its impact on Holstein UK and our members’ businesses is really interesting. I think the dairy cattle breeding industry is starting to see the potential of the technology beyond just the use of young AI bulls. In future, genomics will focus more attention on female selection and play a role in parentage testing and maybe even pedigree recording itself.
I also really enjoy talking to breeders and dealing with the many and varied question they ask? Including those from WebMate users, for whom I’m also becoming the “go to” man for users seeking help.
How well do you get on with your boss?
Henry Richardson and I have a good synergy of knowledge which helps when dealing with the information mountain we work with. Cattle data can require quite a bit of interpretation, so we often need to take a look at problems and queries together to get a working solution. We can also both see the lighter side of things which is useful when a bull appears in the database with three different identities from different countries, each with a different genetic evaluation attached.
THE JOURNAL AUGUST 2015 19
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