What is the ideal dairy cow for today’s dairy farm?
For generations, dairy cows have the difficult task of producing high quality products to feed the world in an efficient and sustainable manner that is both profitable to the farmer and appealing to the consumer. While recent genetic advancements have led to the creation of more traits than ever before, it can be challenging to identify what defines the most ideal cow for today’s dairy farmer. In today’s volatile market where competition for land, water, and feed continues to rise alongside growing social demands for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, STgenetics® believes that the ideal cow needs to be highly productive, feed efficient, and functionally appealing. Accordingly, STgenetics® has created its Eco$ index which maximizes production and functionality with a special emphasis on Feed Conversion Efficiency to propagate profitable genetics from cows who have a reduced carbon footprint.
Like other indexes used for genetic selection, Eco$ can be used to choose bulls and females in your breeding strategy to create the next generation of dairy cows in your herd. Producers can access Eco$ scores for STgenetics®’ Holstein bulls at Stgen.com and Eco$ scores for Holstein females are included in Vision+™ genomic testing through Genetic Visions-ST™. If a producer is looking to maximize their breeding strategy, they can utilize gender-sorted female semen from the highest-ranking Eco$ bulls on their top-ranking Eco$ females to drive profitable sustainability in the next generation.
To achieve a highly productive, feed efficient, and functionally appealing dairy female, producers cannot simply select for the best genetics of any one given trait. Accordingly, profitability-based indices have been used in cattle breeding for many generations to simultaneously accelerate genetic progress for multiple traits. However, with all the available information today, many indices can become overwhelmed with a multitude of traits that have varying levels of economic impact and heritability. When an index incorporates several low heritability traits, it ends up diminishing the selection intensity that can be placed on the higher heritability traits which can limit genetic progress. Eco$ focuses on including fewer, high heritability traits to drive the most genetic progress in the next generation. Additionally, while other indexes have divided traits into production, health and fertility, and conformation categories, Eco$ is the first index to place Feed Efficiency in its own category to promote profitable sustainability while valuing the economic importance of production and functionality. This means that by focusing on Eco$, breeders can enhance profitability while promoting sustainable dairy production.
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