Climate-friendly cows closer
Dairy farmers are one step closer to breeding cow with lower methane emissions, offering an innovative way to reduce the nation's agricultural carbon footprint without compromising farm productivity.
A wider selection of high genetic merit, hornless cows will soon be available from CRV Ambreed.
The polled bulls will be released to the market once they produce semen in 2017.
Ten years in development, the polled product line is intended to address concerns about animal welfare, farmer safety and the cost of de-horning. The work has gained momentum over the past three years.
R&D manager Phil Beatson, says the beauty of polled genetics is that it's controlled by a single gene: an animal needs only one copy of that gene – they are heterozygous for the polled gene – to be polled.
"In breeding we have to breed bulls that have two copies of the gene, i.e. they are homozygous, for polled. When we breed heterozygous bulls with heterozygous cows there's a one-in-four chance of getting a homozygous polled, two-in-four of heterozygous and one-in-four of a homozygous horned animal from those matings," Beatson says.
"Then when the homozygous bull is bred to horned cows, all of the progeny will be polled."
The aim is to make sure the polled progeny are also high indexing: CRV Ambreed is aiming at 220+ BW. Beatson says five heterozygous cows and five bulls have been identified with that criterion.
"We've been undertaking embryo transfer and we're confident that will result in some homozygous polled progeny. The law of averages says two or three," he says.
CRV Ambreed already has access to overseas homozygous polled bulls through its global network, but many farmers still want high-indexing New Zealand genetics proven in NZ farming systems and environments.
"In Europe they are increasingly asking 'should we be dehorning animals?' and they're using genetics to safely manage this. There's some talk that by 2025 it may be illegal to dehorn animals in Europe. If
that happens, NZ could follow suit and we
need to be prepared," he says.
CRV Ambreed's polled bulls will be guaranteed for having two copies of the gene so that 100% of their progeny will have one copy and will be polled.
Dehorning is not cheap: a farm with 200 replacements at $6-7 per animal will pay $1200-1400 for dehorning.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…