Datagene News

Key facts:

GENOMIC testing of dairy cows and heifers has doubled in the past twelve months as farmers look to fast-track herd genetic gain and productivity.

Almost 50,000 dairy females were tested during 2020-21, a result of faster turnaround times for genomic data, favourable industry conditions and a Dairy Australia/DataGene genomic testing campaign, according to DataGene CEO Matthew Shaffer.

• Genomic Australian Breeding Values (ABVs) are now available for red dairy cattle breeds.
• Red breeders will be able to access genomic ABVs for traits such as milk, fat, protein, and cell count.
• DataGene and red breeders will continue to collect more data to boost the reliability and offering of genomic ABVs.

Australian red dairy cattle breeders can now use the genomic information from DNA-samples of their animals to make herd improvement decisions.

For the fourth time in a row, a member of Elmar’s Jessica cow family has taken out the award for the top BPI award at the Victorian Winter Fair, with this year’s award going to Elmar Unix Jessica 4586, bred by the Hore Family of Leitchville, Northern Victoria and owned by the Flemming family (Philmar Holsteins, Western Victoria) in partnership with Brett Kuhne.

Australian dairy farmers can now make faster and more informed breeding decisions, thanks to new weekly genetic analysis.

This change means Australian milk producers can now access their herd’s genomic data as frequently as their peers in the United States of America – one of the world’s largest milk producing nations.

Further research into how much dairy cows eat will help farmers identify their most efficient animals and provide tools to improve culling and breeding decisions.

Health and business performance underpin refinements to Australia’s dairy breeding indices, as the industry improves how animals are evaluated to reflect the evolution of the nation’s herd improvement priorities.

These updates make it easier to choose animals to fast-track breeding priorities such as fertility and mastitis resistance.

Larpent, Victoria dairy farmer, Sam Simpson has been elected to the board of DataGene, the dairy industry’s organisation to drive herd improvement.

DataGene advises that updated BPI and HWI models were effective from the routine ABV release on 4 November 2020, which is available to customers only. December will be the first public ABV release using the updated models. The updates have had has had an impact on the animals’ index values and rank positions. In particular, animals that are strong for fertility are likely to have higher index values and rise in rank position.

DataVat delves into dairy genetics

DataGene’s August release of Australian Breeding Values (ABVs) shines the spotlight on DataVat, a website that puts a wealth of genetic information at dairy farmers’ fingertips.