Mark Curry (989)
984- 7027 Route Services and
Sales
Sue Palen (989) 277- 0480 Office manager/ Product order desk
Greg Palen (989) 277- 6031 Approver “aAa” Breeding Guide
analyzer (since 1994)
Mich
Livestock Service, Inc “For the
Best in Bulls” “High Energy forage
seeds”
110 N Main
St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI
48866 phone (989)
834-2661
email: greg@michiganlivestock.com
website: www.michiganlivestock.com
“We are no longer using Mature Equivalent (ME) factors in genetic evaluations”
This is quite a profound statement, as I will prove in the following. Ever since the AIPL (USDA) changed the “one size fits all” dairy ranking from “Net Merit” (focused on accelerating lactation milk volume) to “Lifetime Net Merit” (adding in “Productive Life”) and, fifteen years later, proceeded to change over to “Genomics” (reading the DNA instead of waiting for progeny data) the Genetics industry has claimed all success for the rising per-cow milk production across the mainstream Dairy world.
Primary to their salesmanship has been “accelerating” young cow production with goals of seeing increased lifetime production. Now, with the discontinuance of “ME” factors, we can see these two goals are no longer compatible, as they might have been in the 1970s when leading Geneticists believed: ”select for more milk based on PTA values and all other desired traits will just naturally improve alongside”… but too many of all those “other desired traits” went sideways. Their measurement of “more milk” was based on standard 305 day lactations (as reported by DHIA), multiplied by “ME” factors to equivalate what matured (fourth and later calving) cows typically produced.
These ME factors, depending on breed, added 33% to 40% to the actual first lactation yields of cows… 20% to 25% to second lactation yields… across the board, “one size fits all”, whether that young cow calved back in 365 days or took 500 days; whether she ever lived to maturity!
Generations of extra credit were given to hard breeding, shorter herdlife cows
There is no doubt that, as cows avoid conceiving for an
annual re-calving (as those grazing in
seasonal calving windows always needed)
and extend their lactation, the odds of getting her rebred—and the odds
of avoiding metabolic diseases on that next calving -- both decrease.
As we learned through generations of cows where fertility declined in every
generation, and led to widespread use of Ov Synch reproduction in dairies
today, the measuring of production to a standard of “first 305 days” disadvantaged
bulls like Paclamar Astronaut who, although +1466m at 99% Reliability in
his own generation of sires AND the greatest source of milk proteins in his
generation (= Penstate Ivanhoe Star, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, Paclamar Bootmaker, and Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation),
transmitted too much fertility (bred back too easily) for his sons and-- more importantly--
grandsons, to compete on PD Milk; a measure based not on daughters compared to
their dams (the original purpose of ME factors, enable immaturity to compare
against maturity intergenerationally)
but on daughters vs unrelated herdmates, which USDA-AIPL began in
1962. The pace of genetic change
traded “milk” for “fertility” very fast.
Today it is hindsight; in the earlier days, it was purebred breeders vs. extension/AI studs
Many of the more experienced breeders, including those involved in breeding the “best” sires into the 1960s (as the bulls mentioned above were all born) cautioned that a single-trait focus on higher PD milk sires would steadily shrink breed bloodline diversity. Today we know that pedigree “inbreeding” began to rise from the beginning of the “index” era, and is now climbing faster in the “genomic” era. In the AI industry there are only two bloodlines left-- “Elevation” and “Arlinda Chief” – representing 25% of the total Holstein genotype.
Beginning in the 1970s, regional AI cooperatives began young sire programs to compete with national breeding companies (ABS, Curtiss, Carnation) who had the first access to herdsires of leading breeding herds. With the support of USDA- AIPL and University extension geneticists designing the sampling programs, this system promoted PD yields over the broader selection of type plus production plus longevity of production on which “breeder” selection focused. Who generated the bigger numbers? The single-trait selection approaches based on the indexes, in which obsolete “ME” factors continued to inflate the deviations between sires.
Earlier maturity of production proved to be associated with earlier aging of the cow physique
Speed through dozens of generations. Cows who set the highest “peaks” in the days of in-barn “challenge feeding” got more energy supplements, made a bigger 305 day record, got it inflated by the ME factors, allowing their sires the highest PD Milk values. Breed higher-peak sires to daughters of other higher-peak sires was the genetic progression for AI stud contract matings.
At each step of dairy industry transition, the genetic theories based on hand feeding cows in stanchion barns (where no physical uniformity of cows mattered in their management) never changed, including the use of ME factors (made obsolete by the 1974 “Modified Contemporary Comparisons”, inaugurating Predicted Transmitting Ability, or PTA which now factored in sire pedigree values for “contemporary” herdmates as well as the bulls themselves).
By the time a widespread shift in favor of crossbreeding to combat obvious signs of inbreeding depression was occurring, basically a market rejection of “indexes”-- the “Lifetime Net Merit” came into being. For the first time we now had sire indexes for Stillbirths as part of Calving Ease, Somatic Cell Score, Daughter Pregnancy Rates, and thus Productive Life to counter the shortening average herdlife of commercial dairy cows.
But by the time Genomics was introduced twelve years ago, the periodic shortage of heifer replacements led to a market for gender-selected semen, and average commercial cow life settled unchanged into an average herd life of 2.3 lactations. Today, 80% of all cows milked have their “peak” lactation total in their second calving, leaving most herds mid lactation after their third calving. 80% of all Holsteins leave herds prior to reaching the mature age and production level predicted by the tradition of “ME” (mature equivalent). Most of the sire bloodlines who offered production gains into physical maturity (such as Paclamar Astronaut represented—that “Y” chromosome Dr Chad Dechow at Penn State University says is now lost from the commercial AI sire population) are essentially lost from Embryo donor herds being used by mainstream AI studs.
What can you do to get a profitable lifetime bred into your replacements?
Given herd replacements now cost twice what they did three years ago, at the same milk prices—a different breeding strategy is clearly needed.
We have built our dairy sire programs around a strategy that will succeed in breeding for a “longevity of production” as the mainstream PTA approach focused on “Productive Life” has failed. By the time CDCB discontinued using “ME” factors, the damage to dairy genetics was already done. However, breeding cows with competitive longevity of production still exist, and Zoetis’ genome research into “wellness” proves that cows who reach functional maturity still produce 30% more milk than first lactation cows. That means you can breed for a full lifetime cow and accomplish it. A 30% gain as a cow matures exceeds any theorized gain by the highest PTA Genomic values on the newest young sires.
If you are struggling with profitability after focusing genetic selection on marginal gains of young age productivity, give us a call. Getting just one more calving from each cow will increase your herd production cheaper than any other selection strategy that is practical.
Breeding
for Longevity is quite possible !
Just requires a different strategy than you may be getting from other advisors
I analyze (aAa system) for a 2600 cow dairy in central Ohio that recently sold a semi potload of short bred heifers to a larger dairy in Texas, receiving a check for six figures… which covers a lot of fall expenses. They do not use Ov Synch AI or gender-selected semen, they do not even raise GMO crops! How did they have a surplus of heifers? Because a quarter of their cows have now calved four or more times! -and are producing at mature levels of milk (30% more than their heifers).
You can get the same results.
If you
currently spend money on Genomic testing, our strategy will even be a lot
cheaper! Ask yourself if what you
are currently doing is working in this way.
If it isn’t give us a call.
MIch Livestock Service, Inc “For the Best in Bulls” “For high energy forages”
Ph (989) 834- 2661 email: greg@michiganlivestock.com text: 989 277 6031
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