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VikingNews UK 01 2015
9 / 24
a t the end of november 2014, nav introduced new
breeding
values for youngstock
survival
. at first the index is shown for daughter proven sires, but in 2015 it will also be available for genomically tested young sires. calves and young stock that die during the rearing period result in lost revenue by causing fewer heifers for replace- ment or slaughter and often in higher veterinarian costs. it is also an animal welfare issue. data to calculate the index comes from both heifers and
bull
s. for
bull
s
survival
up to six months of age and for heif- ers
survival
up to 15 months of age is used. there is a clear difference of youngstock
survival
between
bull
s, so it is pos- sible to improve this trait genetically. the genetic level for youngstock
survival
has been stable during the past 20 years. this means that the
survival
rate has not been affected as regards the genetics for the period of time. the new index for youngstock
survival
is published on the nav
bull
search web site http://www.nordicebv.info r esults from a new danish pilot study suggest that it is beneficial to include data from cows in the present in- dex for growth and carcass. today?s index only in- cludes data from
bull
calves. the study is based on records from slaughtered cows and
bull
calves. data in the study are from holstein and vr calves slaughtered between 2004 and 2014, and holstein, jersey and vr cows slaughtered between 2010 and 2014. this study shows that weight and carcass conformation are quite different traits in cows and
bull
calves. improving traits in both genders can only be done by including data from both cows and
bull
calves in the genetic evaluation. however it also has to be considered how better growth traits effect function, health and feed efficiency. this will partly be analyzed in 2015. nav
bull
search is getting even better! d id you know that it is possible to search for sons or maternal grandsons of a certain
bull
? there are also a lot of other search possibilities to find the
bull
s you need. ever wondered what
breeding
values mean in expected daughter performance? now there is a new function on nav
bull
search where you can see the expected effect a certain
bull
has in average on this daughters compared to the popu- lation average. during 2015 more traits will be added. the idea with the function is to give a clearer picture of what
breeding
values mean in practice. hopefully it can also lead to a more sound use of
breeding
values due to a better understanding of the value in practice of different
breeding
values. you find the nav
bull
search site at http://www.nordice- bv.info nav
bull
search was introduced in summer 2014. it has received positive feedback from farmers as well as
breeding
advisors and other professionals working with dairy cattle
breeding
. new features that make the search page even better have now been implemented. nav has introduced a new index for youngstock
survival
. short news short news short news short news short news genetic evaluation for carcass traits
breeding
for better youngstock
survival
9 february 2015 | vikingnews
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