BREEDING  A  "ROUGHAGE"  COW

“It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks…”

Breed for type and feed for production.     I heard this so much from the breeders my Dad’s age I came to believe it.     That is, until I began milking my own cows, and realized that selection issues change as your herd performance evolves.     When we switched from Holsteins to Jerseys I learned some more… when we switched from confinement feeding to rotation grazing I learned even more yet.

Increasing numbers of selection traits adds complexity to interpretation.

Most of us grew up with production data and type/trait data.     We looked at production traits to gain on income and we looked at type traits to gain on herdlife.     The pace accelerated when composite indexes attempted to combine type and production into sire rankings.   As cow yield potential gained, negatives (calving difficulty, stillbirths, lower conception rates, mastitis, hoof diseases) seemed to accelerate just as fast.    Initially, geneticists blamed inbreeding (which proved to be a diversionary issue, once you consider what Genomics is telling us), then finally began to study health and fitness as “traits”—a process that continues to build momentum today.    The big shocker in the health and fitness trait studies was that  neither plus milk nor plus type is consistently able to increase herdlife.       Many still resist accepting what should make common sense, and delay changing genetic selection approaches for sires, detrimental to our future profitability.

Type has more downside benefit than upside potential for herdlife.

Why do we no longer have most of the 1960s AI sire lines?     It was not for lack of production.   In fact, the ancestry of modern sire lines in most breeds were more “type” than “production” in the 1960s.   It is directly related to the deficient type traits of the earlier high production cows… traits that older udders could survive at 70 pounds’ peak caused them to collapse at 100 pounds per day.   Feet and legs that got by in stanchions for 100,000 pounds lifetime make half that in free stalls and bunk feeding.   Narrower cows, that did fine under individual stall feeding, no longer survive in bunk feeding.   The sire lines that dominate today responded to production selection while exhibiting more desirable type traits in that era.    

Fertility genes have more impact upon longevity

Type selection as practiced historically has given us more uniform udders and led us to see that type and production can support each others’ success in simultaneous selection—in other words, we have gained ground on production faster by using “plus” type bulls—as long as the cow can last.    But the ultimate trait related to longevity is not a “type” trait—it is fertility—and some of the type traits discarded since the 1970s, ie, substance and width traits related to easier conditioning and more persistency in lactation, better able to support recurrent reproduction, are again (still) required in our cows, if they are to survive elite levels of production capability.     So too intense type selection (as “type” is currently evaluated) works against longer herdlife when trait emphasis is too heavily weighted toward stature and angularity.    

Ask yourself a simple question—if I fed less corn, which of my cows would remain functional??  “Type” selection as currently practiced, is based in the physique of the cow who demands grain to make milk-- the cow who uses grain to make milk instead of gain weight.  

It has proven, in many cases, to be a physique that requires rBST to milk persistently.  A different cow physique might allow us to utilize more roughage, less concentrates, to produce the same milk volume—thus lowering our costs of production.    This has to be explored as an aspect of your updated view of “type” selection.

Future trait evaluation in favor of flatter, more persistent lactation curves would aid both in conception and in general physical health.    Again, the bloodlines that offer that tend to possess more longevity.

Breeding for a profitable and long-term functional “roughage” cow

  A “profitable” cow produces milk at a lower cost of production than you realize from the market, while producing enough volume to cover all your overhead costs.    Characteristics of such cows include:

High level of fertility.     The cow that gets in calf quicker, thus has fewer stale lactation days, optimal number of dry days, and a lower annual cost of reproduction.    Select for positive DPR.

Low level of SCC.      This cow not only resists mastitis, she resists respiratory infections, hoof rot, heel warts—ie, all those health issues that elevate cell counts (and reduce production volume at mature ages).   It is a general measure of immune system function.    Select for SCS below 3.00.

Higher level of milk component %s.    Think it through.   You mix a ration for the herd as a group, but within the herd, some cows test higher than others, eating the same ration as low testing cows.   The cow with higher test%s is producing more salable solids per dollar of trucking costs.   Select for +bf% +pr%.

Minimal productive lifetime.    You spend $2000+  and two years to raise a heifer to first freshening; you need her to calve at least twice, to insure a heifer to replace her; you need her to calve three times to insure that her heifer is old enough to replace her as a cow.     Select for positive PL.

Optimal functional lifetime.     As cows mature, they should develop an increased capacity to milk, as well as maintaining a sound physique and maintain their health under added calvings—thus remaining competitive vs. young cows entering the herd.  There is no evaluation trait for this, but we can still look at pedigrees of sires to analyze the lifetime capability of their cow lines, avoiding single lactation dams.

Accept all the type and production you can get after the above prerequisites are met.    Do not screen production or type levels first—they will only confuse you, as your goal is to harvest 100% of potential genetic ability, not be limited to only 50% (as a result of difficult calving, repro failure, mastitis, chronic lameness, bad dispositions, poor health, leading to shortened herdlives).     Focus on profit.

The physique of the “roughage”cow

Here is a useful cow, capable of heavy and persistent production on a forage-based feed ration.    Note how her ribcage and skeletal extension accommodate internal organs, at the same time allowing for the pelvic capacity to calve easily and house a full udder, and the legs move away from udder contact.

“Dairy” rib capacity and bone quality

“Tall” milkable position of udder

“Open” rib/rump structure

“Strong” chest and frame

“Smooth” wide body, healthy condition

“Style” mobile legs, blended body

These happen to be the way that “aAa” Breeding Guide looks at "type", as the functioning physique of a complete cow.   One useful example of this in purebred Holsteins was Glenridge Citation Roxy  (EX 97 3E Gold Medal Dam) who produced 197,000m in lifetime before becoming a permanent ET donor.    Her dam and grandam were 240,000m and 260,000m lifetime cows, suggesting the heritability of longevity in direct (maternal) lines.    All this production was prior to the rBST and TMR eras.                      

  And bulls like 204H 695 Laudan (at +6.4 PL,  99% Rel) whose maternal line includes "Roxy" support the conclusion.

 You can breed cows like “Roxy” once you develop a systematic additive approach to mating and sire selection.     Shortcuts based upon theoretical genetic indexes alone, usually only get you halfway there.