The news of the Motor Rally: 75% of the income of the family farm Ferme Laitière Blondin is provided not by milk but by genetics

Источник: The DairyNews
In the framework of the Motor Rally "Way to milk", the participants visited the family фермуFerme Laitière Blondin, reports The DairyNews.

Ferme Laitière Blondin  – is a fairly well-known farm, twice awarded the "Master breeder of the herd", the highest award of Canada for livestock farmers working with cattle of the Holstein breed. By the way, one can win the award only once in 15 years.

The farm has the population of 200 cows of Holstein breed. The farm Ferme Laitière Blond differs from other farms due to the fact that 75% of the income is not provided by milk but by genetics - milk is a secondary source of income. Every year the company sells 600-800 embryos and about 600 heifers.

Each member of the family on the farm performs special duties: the owners are Simone Leland and Kim Kot. Nick Leland runs a genetic program and sells sperm of bulls. Patricia is responsible for reproduction and breeding of elite breeds.

Almost all animals on the farm are tested for genomics: a hair sample is sent for testing and after three weeks you can find out what genes the animal has. Genomic tests help to make reproduction more productive. At the same time, an important detail is the angle of the rump – it is necessary to strive to ensure that it is as low as possible.

The farmers demonstrated the results of studies of four directly related animals: they can be from the same calving, but have different genomic numbers. As the employee of the farm Dan Bradley told, you can find out which of the four animals is more productive in milking, and which has the best genomic numbers by other criteria.

Now almost all animals are tested on the farm: Dan Bradley conducted a study of 20% top animals and 20% of animals with the worst performance in the herd. The first indicator included animals that have passed genomic tests and the numbers of which were known. Only one animal from the top 20 showed a higher rate than was determined in accordance with the genomic test.

When the expert determines the compliance of the cow and the bull by genomic numbers, he tries to improve the performance of offspring. Genomic testing also provides data on fertility of the offspring. The expert does not recommend the use of a large amount of semen during fertilization, as it often results in unfertilized embryos.

The prevalence of genomic testing is increasing, emphasize farmers. 

Representatives of the farm said that the Ferme Laitière Blondin  does not send embryos to Russia, because it needs to pass eight different health tests.

Currently, the Ferme Laitière Blondin  works with 40 bulls, which have 37 genotypes, and sells bulls, including the ones for work on farms.

Organizers: The News Agency The DairyNews and the "Russian Dairy Research Center"

Global partner:
EuroTier

Partners:
Agri-Plastics
Alltech
Animat
FOSS
Green Tractors
Lely
Semex
LLG
JAY-LOR
Cfwf
Kawartha Lakes
Durham Region

Canadian Planning Team:
Tracey Werry, John Devries, Marlene Werry, Leading Livestock Genetics
Kelly Maloney, City of Kawartha Lakes
Suzanne Atkinson
Marty Philippi, Jaylor
Richard Buck, AgriTours Canada Inc

Read full artile in Russian on © DairyNews.ru

30.01.2024
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