World Dairy Diary

Leading the way this proof run with a new high GTPI InSire (genomically selected sire) CRV has 97HO40312 Lowlands HIGHLIGHT-ET (Man-O-Man x Goldwyn). He hails from the famous US cow family Leadmae. This sire combines extreme components at .10% fat and .07% with sound feet and legs, for all around performance. With a PTAT of over three points and solid udder composite, HIGHLIGHT assures increased dairyness and high, wide and firmly attached udders. In addition, HIGHLIGHT offers excellent calving ease at 6%.

097HO40560 Brandt-View CORNELIUS-ET provides a distinct pedigree with no Shottle or Goldwyn, and over 2200 GTPI. As a Superstition x Colby son, this bull will greatly improve productive life and longevity. CORNELIUS’s dam produced almost 40,000 pounds of milk in her last lactation, and his proof shows he will pass this along to daughters. He also garners an udder composite score of 2.84, producing outstanding udders.

Lots of production, NM$ and high GTPI are combined in InSire 097HO40535 Windsor-Manor ZP REDFORD (Robust x Planet). At over 2050 pounds of milk and a total of 130 pounds combined fat and protein, REDFORD is a CRV leader in NM$ at $774. Besides high production and components, he sires daughters with high and wide rear udders and sound type, with great productive life.

Show type and high TPI daughter proven sire, 097HO08287 Aurora ORMSBY (Shottle x O-Man) makes deep bodied, strong daughters with enhanced capacity. Balanced production traits and positive DPR make ORMSBY one of the stronger Shottle sons to date. He is a no holes kind of bull that works in any breeding goal.

CRV’s first homozygous polled InSire bull, 097HO40584 De Vrendt PAULUS RC PP (Mitey P x Lawn Boy P) has promise at over 1900 GTPI , being one of the top polled bulls in the industry. All of his offspring will be polled. Another polled favorite is new InSire with high components of .10% fat and .07% protein, 097HO40386 Delta FOXTROT RC P (Mitey-P x O-Man). A balanced proof with calving ease works great on a heifer pen.

With the use of genomics, CRV is able to identify outliers of the breed beyond the traditional high performing pedigrees and have the first InSire available in the US from this search. Also part of Diversity (bulls below 4.7% Expected Future Inbreeding) is 097HO40368 Delta EDISON (Peinzer Boy x Paramount). His outcross pedigree sets him apart among the rest, as well as being a foot and leg expert and protein improver.

Increased inbreeding has shown to have negative effects on production, longevity, fertility and overall cow health. According to a study by Dr Bennet Cassell at Virginia Tech, there will be a loss of 13 productive days for every one percent inbred. Additional time and money losses are incurred by farmers due to treating sick animals and extra breedings. CRV can help farmers improve their herd health and reclaim that time and money lost on inbreeding related issues.

“We are cutting to the core of what our customer needs,” stated Gerwin Kerkdijk, managing director at CRV USA. “They need choices that add ease as they continue to develop their farms, and the Diversity sires play a role with that.”

CLARIFIDE is a 3,000-marker (3K) DNA panel that was developed through collaboration between USDA-ARS and Illumina. CLARIFIDE delivers Genomic Predicted Transmitting Ability (GPTA) values for 30 production, health and type traits, and nine composite indexes. These predictions provide insights into animals’ future genetic potential early in an animal’s life.

“CLARIFIDE provides a cost-effective way for commercial dairy producers to take advantage of the many benefits of genomic testing,” says Nigel Evans, vice president of Pfizer Animal Genetics. “Genomics has been available in the dairy industry for the past few years, but has only been practical for a small number of elite animals. CLARIFIDE now puts genomic testing into the hands of commercial dairymen.”

With CLARIFIDE, commercial dairy producers can optimize selection, mating and management of Holstein, Jersey and Brown Swiss females. Dairy producers can identify the females — along with their daughters — that will be the genetic future of their herds.

Pfizer Animal Genetics has implemented CLARIFIDE in partnership with several commercial dairies from across the United States to demonstrate the value of the new tool in real-world situations. In addition, Pfizer Animal Genetics worked with the USDA Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (AIPL) to transform the results of genetic evaluations into knowledge via customer tools and expertise to enhance on-farm application and decision-making. All of this, coupled with the fact that CLARIFIDE provides exceptional reliability in predicting genetic potential when compared with traditional Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTA), make it a powerful tool for dairy producers.

According to Li Guangpeng, chief of the program, two embryo-cloned and genetically-modified dairy cows were born on June 23 last year.

One of the cows has been found to have an Omega-3 fatty acid level 10 times higher than a normal cow.

“We did not announce the birth of the clone cows until now because it has taken time to check the cows’ effective genetic traces,” said Li, head of the Biological Technology Lab at Inner Mongolia University.

Li said that it takes 14-15 months for a cow to become sexually mature, and another nine months to produce milk.

“We expect the cow to be able to produce milk with high Omega-3 content next year,” he said.

He said that the cows have been fed with normal cow feed.

Dubbed a “good fat”, Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid necessary for human health.

But, it cannot be made by the human body. It is abundant in walnuts and coldwater fish like herring, mackerel and sturgeon.

“Another two cloned cows with the ‘fish oil’ gene were born on Tuesday. It will take time to see whether they are healthy,” Li said.

The updated TPI formula includes an increased emphasis on Productive Life (PL) and Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR); maintains the current emphasis on udders and feet and legs; aims to slow the increase in body size; and slightly reduces the emphasis on production. New weights for the major categories include: 42 percent on production (down from 45 percent), 33 percent on health and fertility (up from 27 percent), and 25 percent on conformation (down from 28 percent).

The aggregation of the reference populations will take place in two steps, resulting in a total reference population of 16,000 proven bulls by the end of this year. This first common European reference population will be one of the largest in the world.

The customers of the EuroGenomics partners will benefit highly from this important cooperation, because it will further improve the accuracy and reliability of the genomic breeding values. Furthermore the ongoing development of genomic selection will result in extra genetic progress and eventually lower costs of the individual breeding programs, retaining the same or even higher quality. EuroGenomics will therefore position Europe as a leading continent in the world of Holstein breeding.

The following partners are the founders of EuroGenomics:

UNCEIA – French national Association of Livestock & Artificial Insemination Cooperatives
CRV – International cattle improvement organisation with headquarters in the Netherlands
DHV and vit – German national umbrella organization of the Holstein breeding industry and the German computing centre of cattle data
VikingGenetics – Danish-Swedish cattle breeding association

Hidden in her roughly 22,000 genes are hints of how natural selection sculpted the bovine body and personality over the past 60 million years, and how man greatly enhanced the job over the past 10,000.

As with other species, genes governing the immune system, the metabolism of nutrients and social interaction appear to be where much of the evolutionary action has occurred. The result is an animal that lives peacefully in herds and grows large on low-quality food, thanks to the billions of bacteria it carries around.

Selective breeding has exaggerated and spread some of those traits, producing hyper-passive Holsteins and muscle-bound Belgian Blues, and dozens of humpbacked breeds that combine characteristics of both.

“Are there signatures of the human hand in the cattle genome? The answer is plainly and clearly yes,” said Harris A. Lewin, head of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of one of three papers on the cow genome appearing today in the journal Science.

Although sheep and goats were domesticated earlier, cattle are the most important herd animals in the world. There are about 800 distinct breeds, and together they contribute to the nutrition or income of about 6.6 billion people.

The cow is the first livestock animal whose genome has been sequenced, part of an effort to read and analyze the DNA of organisms that have scientific, medical or economic importance. In addition to dozens of microbes and several plants, those sequenced so far include the chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, chicken, mosquito, fruit fly, opossum and platypus.

Of a cow’s 22,000 genes, versions of at least 14,000 have counterparts in other mammals. Cows appear to have about 1,000 genes that they share with dogs and rodents but that are not found in people.

The most recently evolved genes tend to be clustered in parts of the cow’s 31 chromosomes where stretches of DNA have been duplicated, copied and inserted upside down, or added to by invading viruses. Those events are usually catastrophic and often lead to the fatal breakage of chromosomes. Over evolutionary time, however, a few survive and provide the raw material for new genes — and new functions.

This clear relationship between chromosome instability and gene formation is giving scientists a new view of one way evolutionary change happens at the molecular level.

“Instead of having only a very slow and gradual change by mutation, you have the ability for much larger and dramatic changes because of these rearrangements,” Lewin said.

As a practical matter, having the genome is also going to make cattle breeding faster and cheaper.

Traits carried by bulls are important in determining how much milk a cow produces. Because bulls don’t make milk, however, a bull’s “performance profile” has to be sketched by observing the milk production of his daughters — a process that takes about six years and costs $25,000 to $50,000. Now, male calves can be tested at birth for milk-enhancing traits using gene-chip technology.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that makes sense both logistically and financially,” said Curt P. Van Tassell, a geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s laboratory in Beltsville, who was one of the leaders of the project.

There are two types of cattle — taurine, which have no humps and predominate in Europe, Africa, the Americas and much of Asia; and indicine, which have humps and are in South Asia and East Africa. Both lineages descended from aurochs, a much larger and more aggressive species.

Indicine breeds have much greater genetic diversity than taurine breeds, evidence that they were developed from a larger number of “founder” animals.

Cows have a large number of genes devoted to big-gun, nonspecific defenses called “innate immunity,” probably reflecting the fact that the animals rely on a huge variety of bacteria and other organisms to digest the roughage they eat.

“They need an immune system that can deal with that large microbial population in close proximity all the time,” said Kim C. Worley, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine and one of the leaders of the project.

Groskreutz is no stranger to Accelerated Genetics. He spent an early portion of his career with the company performing various leadership roles such as Field Representative, District Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager and finally Domestic Marketing Specialist, where he was in charge of the membership market. Throughout his tenure at Accelerated Genetics, 1987-1994, he was responsible for managing a large number of employees and encouraging their sales efforts. He also coordinated various marketing activities including training schools and was able to take an active role in cooperative member meetings.

For the past 14 years, Groskreutz has been employed at Ecolab, Inc., a well-known Fortune 500 company based in St. Paul, Minnesota. During his tenure there he held various positions: Agri Specialist, District Manager, Vice President of the Eastern U.S. Agri Sales and most recently the Vice President of Midwest and Western U.S. Agri Sales. Through his assorted management roles, he was very successful in growing the company while working closely with Ecolab’s senior management group in determining current and future direction of their business.

Metzger has a strong foundation in the dairy industry and a developed interest in dairy reproduction. He most recently spent four years providing genetic advice and service to clients of Semex USA as a district sales manager. In this role, he developed a new territory for the company by gaining client trust and providing genetic and reproduction solutions that matched their specific needs. Prior to joining Semex, Metzger worked for Nelson Dairy Consultants, Iowa State University Foundation and Prairie State Select Sires in full-time or internship roles.

1 is the NAAB marketing code number assigned to Genex Cooperative, which was created from a series of mergers of A.I. organizations including 21st Century Genetics, Noba, Inc., and Eastern A.I. Cooperative. Thus its consolidated history includes the influential Jersey bulls Observer Chocolate Soldier; Vaucluse Sleeping Surville, the first of the high genetic merit, unproven bulls to be sold in The All American Sale; and MVF Bold Venture Daniel, among others.

Genex is under the umbrella of Cooperative Resources International (CRI), which in 1993 became the nation’s first agricultural holding cooperative. Its other subsidiaries are Central Livestock Association and AgSource Cooperative Services. Their collective mission is “To provide products and services as effectively as possible to maximize the profitability of members and customers worldwide while maintaining a strong cooperative.”

“U.S. dairy exports have grown significantly during the past few years, reducing the cost of government support programs. However, milk and food from cloned animals have not been approved for consumption in most countries that are importing our products. Therefore, it would be prudent to wait until all major foreign trading partners have reviewed and approved the same cloning technology in their respective countries.

“Moving too fast on this technology without a thorough and deliberative dialogue at all levels could also unintentionally lead to reduced domestic consumption of milk, a nutrient-dense food that is an excellent source of nine essential nutrients, including protein and calcium. USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend at least three daily servings of dairy as part of a healthy diet.

But, recognizing that a majority of consumers are wary of food from clones — and that cloning could undermine the wholesome image of American milk and meat — the agency report includes hundreds of pages of raw data so that others can see how it came to its conclusions.

The report also acknowledges that human health concerns are not the only issues raised by the emergence of cloned farm animals.

“Moral, religious and ethical concerns . . . have been raised,” the agency notes in a document accompanying the report. But the risk assessment is “strictly a science-based evaluation,” it reports, because the agency is not authorized by law to consider those issues.

In practice, it will be years before foods from clones make their way to store shelves in appreciable quantities, in part because the clones themselves are too valuable to slaughter or milk. Instead, the pricey animals — replicas of some of the finest farm animals ever born — will be used primarily as breeding stock to create what proponents say will be a new generation of superior farm animals.

When food from those animals hits the market, the public may yet have its say. FDA officials have said they do not expect to require food from clones to be labeled as such, but they may allow foods from ordinary animals to be labeled as not from clones.

To create its final risk assessment, the FDA gathered data on nearly all of the more than 600 U.S. farm-animal clones produced and hundreds of their offspring, as well as many from overseas.

“Food from cattle, swine, and goat clones is as safe to eat as that from their more conventionally-bred counterparts,” the FDA risk assessment concludes.

New Zealand and Australia have released reports concluding that meat and milk from clones are safe. Canada and Argentina are reportedly close to doing the same. And although European consumers are generally uncomfortable with agricultural biotechnology, the European Union’s food safety agency is expected to endorse the safety of meat and milk from clones in a draft statement that could be released within the next week.

“The science seems to be leading them and us to the same conclusion,” said a U.S. trade official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because U.S. policy is technically still under review.

The FDA has hinted strongly in the past year that it is ready to lift its “voluntary moratorium” on the marketing of milk and meat from clones and their offspring, saying that the science led them to that decision. Multiple studies compiled by the agency have shown that the chemical composition of those products is virtually identical to that of milk and meat from conventionally bred animals. And studies in which rodents were fed food from clones have found no evidence of health effects.

They then tried to see if they could take this discovery and use it to improve dairy production and have patented a drug which appears to reduce serotonin in the mammary glands without altering brain chemistry. They will soon be starting trials with dairy cows.

“We would have to know whether or not it gets into milk and if it does whether it would get through the pasteurization process,” he said in a telephone interview. Horseman’s drug produces the same increase in yield as growth hormones but is easier and cheaper to synthesize and can be given orally rather than through injections.

The economic effect of the bee disappearances goes far beyond the lost honey: In fact, the bee industry’s primary impact is felt through the crops that the insects pollinate — products that are valued at $14 billion to $20 billion annually. Since Colony Collapse Disorder first came to light last year, the malady has affected an estimated 23 percent of the nation’s beekeeping operations, with losses of up to 90 percent. Other countries are reporting mysterious bee losses as well.

The disorder is characterized by the rapid disappearance of a colony’s bees, even if there are adequate stores of food in the hive. The bees just seem to fly off into oblivion — hinting that the malady somehow affects the insects’ navigational sense or learning ability.

The Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, or IAPV — is a little-known bug that sets bees’ wings shivering and eventually causes paralysis. IAPV-afflicted bees are typically found dead outside their hives. IAPV was also detected in the Australian bees as well as two of the four Chinese royal jelly samples.

“I hope no one goes away with the idea that we’ve actually solved the problem,” Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service told reporters. “We still have a great deal of research to do to resolve why bees are dying in the U.S. and elsewhere.”

Among the questions yet to be answered:

DNA markers also have been added to the longevity and milk production analyses in the IGENITY profile — making them more powerful and increasing the amount of genetic variation accounted for in the profile.

“Fertility and productive life are major areas of concern for the dairy industry,” says Dr. Stewart Bauck, Executive Director of Strategic Marketing, IGENITY. “The recent advancements in the comprehensive IGENITY profile give producers a powerful tool for management and selection of these important traits — earlier than before.”