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VikingNews UK 03 2016
15 / 24
vikingred far ahead in economically important traits kuusinen
farm
in finland on its way to success breeding organizations around the world are calculating breeding values in different ways, with different genetic statistic models, and different parame- ters. in addition, the definition of what the trait is can differ between
countries
and there might be genotype and envi- ronmental cooperation that make
bulls
perform differently in two
countries
. the interbull center is calculating in- ternational breeding values to create a fair comparison of
bulls
from different
countries
. each participating nation gets a list of every bull on their scale. in the table below, we have put some of the main
countries
for the red breeds (rdc) and we have compared breeding values in some traits. as is shown, red dairy cattle (rdc) from denmark, sweden and finland are far ahead when it comes to traits that are economically important, such as milk production and health traits. it is also important when you com- pare
bulls
to include the number of
bulls
a country is testing. for a small population, it is harder to find the best
bulls
than it is in a bigger population.
bulls
in the investigation are only prov- en
bulls
with milking daughters. interbull is the perfect choice when you want to compare
bulls
across
countries
. nine persons from different
countries
in a steering committee manage interbull, and they make breed evaluation three times per year for 35
countries
from around the world. by auli himmanen, vikingred breed coordinator vikinggenetics kuusinen
farm
in kuhmalahti finland has not been the successful
farm
it is now all the time. the beginning was tough with an infection on the
farm
, but its owners never gave up. now they own one of the most successful
farm
s in finland. jarkko and marketta heikkilä, at kuusi- nen
farm
in kuhmalahti finland.they fought the disease for four years. after a lot of losses, the herd was started again by buying heifers. now the situation is different. ant- ti-jussi heikkilä, the son, is in charge of the
farm
. the family has a mixed herd and average yield of 10,000 kg and two new robot cow houses are on the drawing table. the herd is in the ld-project, genomic testing of all fe- males, and is also in the current em- bryo network. the kuusinen herd has already pro- duced three 100-ton cows, one hol- stein and two ayrshires, the latest be- ing saaga (s. aika ). today eight red high index females make sure the herd develops in the right direction. three
bulls
have been sold to the bull station in vikinggenetics and a fourth bull from another
farm
, an embryo calf originating from this herd. table 1. comparison of interbull figures from april 2016. rdc, proven
bulls
on nordic scale country no of
bulls
production index no of
bulls
udder health no of
bulls
calving ease sire no of
bulls
ntm denmark sweden finland norway estonia germany australia new zealand canada usa 36 137 172 176 19 10 12 26 24 5 107.6 103.5 103.2 95.3 93.8 91.9 90.8 89.9 82.3 69.0 63 131 198 176 17 12 6 31 6 100.3 101 100 96.0 91.7 91.9 95.8 90.0 86.6 62 138 176 176 48 7 98.1 101.8 101.8 101.0 96.1 95.0 36 137 172 176 10 7 +10.8 +5.7 +3.4 -8.2 -11.5 -18.7 by camilla rosman, marketing manager, vikinggenetics 15 september 2016 | vikingnews
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