“Two of the biggest reasons we are culling in our lactating herd right now are mastitis and feet and leg problems,” shared Luke Haywood, who milks 1,150 cows on his family’s Sand Creek...
Genomic workshops recently held across the country gave dairy farmers, veterinarians, and students the latest information on genomics — past, present, and future
A twist on pretty will debut at a Canadian cattle show in April. While no beauty pageant exists just for young ladies with IQs above 120, there is a pageant of sorts debuting in Canada next month for heifers...
Genomic testing can benefit a dairy if the results are utilized; one Idaho dairyman shared his thoughts on the use of this technology on farm. When the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) held its...
Times have changed. It once took incentives to get farmers to use young sires. Those days have faded into distant memory. These days, dairy producers have been voting with their respective wallets by buying...
"Some cows need $2 less in feed daily to produce the same amount of product. Can we find these efficient cows?" Michigan State's Mike VandeHaar asked the audience at the joint annual meeting of the American...
Just as the introduction of genomics - the DNA-based study of genetics - caused many dairy producers not previously interested in genetics to take notice, the government's Margin Protection Program (MPP-Dairy)...
"If you are not on DHIA test or contributing other data such as classification or health data, you can use genomics, but submitting data is critical," Dan Weigel (who works in outcomes research at Zoetis)...
Elite breeders have simple advice for dairies about how to get started. Genomics technology has taken the dairy breeding world by storm, giving milk producers tools to make dramatic improvement in their...
One of the keys for a breed to remain economically viable is the ability to make genetic progress, and small populations are at a large disadvantage in this respect. Genomic selection may create an even...
Producer seminars are an early part of a five-year, $3 million grant from USDA. by Dennis Halladay, Hoard's Dairyman Western Editor The best description of genomics I have ever heard came this week from...
Rather than waiting for monthly results, preliminary genomic evaluations will be available to producers on a weekly basis starting November 11. "The rate in which we are collecting new genotypes has really...
Another genetic base change is just around the corner. While a base change is nothing new (genetic bases were updated previously in 1965, 1974, 1984, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010), the one that will...
"It's a no brainer," remarked Matt Nuckols, a registered Holstein breeder from Virginia and a panelist at the genomics seminar. Extra cattle value and the ability to make more informed herd decisions are...
There has been growing concern that high-end genomic bulls are no longer being randomly sampled. If that is truly taking place, the potential exists that the genetic evaluations on these elite individuals...
In the final audio file of this five-part series, I asked Bob Miller and Frank Regan to reflect back on their careers as dairy cattle breeders discuss their greatest accomplishments. For this pair, that...