Many of you may not know Marj Faust who I added to theCWTgroup at the ADSA meeting as Marj brings a important perspective to genetics. Here is a link to the interview she had with Joel Hastings this week.
I am hoping she can place some of the information that will be released this week into context for us.
Larry
Very happy to be part of the group!
Excited to talk genetics, genomics, genetics plans, fertility (male and female), anything related to semen, sexed semen, tropical genetics, AI, practical stats/data analysis, trial design, trials, IP/patents, international (N.A., Europe, LatAM, Asia), and other topics including new product/technology development …whenever any of this can be of value.
Here is a bit of background of the piece on “Investing in genetics when cash flow is tight.” The data in this very high level table illustrate the acceleration we’ve seen in genetic gain starting during the mid 2000s and gaining additional speed after the adoption of genomics in 2008-2009. For more than 30 years, the genetic gain for U.S. Holstein bulls in Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) was $19-$21 per year. Currently, the rate of gain for marketed Holstein bulls is running at more than $80 Net Merit per year! This background and piece are intended to encourage dairies to look for “value genetics” instead of settling for anything cheap or older and already paid for that will create a pregnancy.
Yearly NM$ Gain
Birth Yr for Marketed Sires
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2011 – 2016 $80.49
2005 – 2010 $46.95
2000 – 2004 $17.72
1975 – 1999 $19.50
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data from: USDA-ARS-AGIL, 04/2018
I’ll post the docs here for discussion before they go live on DairyBusiness.
For the CWT group: A significant portion of this additional genetic gain is in fitness traits such as female fertility (Daughter Pregnancy Rate – DPR, Cow Conception Rate – CCR, Heifer Conception Rate – HCR), health related (Somatic Cell Score – SCS, Sire and Daughter Calving Ease – SCE, DCE), and durability (Productive Life – PL, Livability – LIV, and Sire and Daughter Stillbirth – SSB, DCB). However, the data also seem to be indicative of an uptick in the rate of genetic progress for production traits – Milk, Protein, and Fat.
Do you sense that we need to ‘up our game’ to help herds feed and manage animals that are increasingly more predisposed to fast growth, early puberty, high production, etc.?
Look forward to your insights and very thoughtful discussion.
Marj –
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MARJORIE A. FAUST, Ph.D.
DATA DRIVEN GENETICS | m: +1 608 219 1834 | f: +1 608 849 9194 | e: marj.faust@gmail.com
Marj, If you would, upload the files under the Consultants/File section. i see that Frank is working on a sub-directory feature of this section.