breeding-manager-nielsen-4.html
VikingNews UK 04 2016
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5 november 2016 | vikingnews » other companies claim to
breed
for
health
, but the thing is that we are the ones having the highest weight and highest genetic progress on
health
and fertility
traits
. lars nielsen,
breed
ing manager
traits
. our selection criteria focus heavily on the
health
traits
. that is our strength in vikinggenetics. other companies claim to
breed
for
health
, but the thing is that we are the ones having the highest weight and highest genetics progress on
health
and fertility
traits
. the reason why we are able to have this high weight is not only a political decision, it is because we have a proven, reliable registration system to back up our
breed
ing values. how different is vg from other ai companies that claim to
breed
for
health
? if another artificial insemination (ai) company decides to put high weight on
traits
such as mastitis resistance or hoof
health
, they can probably do so, but the problem is that they are not able to evaluate mastitis resistance in a reliable way. we can put much focus on the
health
traits
because for us it makes sense since we have the registration system that we have. there is a tendency among other ai companies to say that they
breed
for
health
. what do you think about this?
health
traits
have been an integrated part of vikinggenet- ics?
breed
ing goals since late 80?s. the milk recording sys- tem farmers are making in the vikinggenetics countries - denmark, sweden and finland - is highly developed, and 90% of the cows participate in the registration of
health
traits
. although other ai companies have under- stood the importance of following the
health
breed
ing concept, it is vikinggenetics who leads it. the reason many others are not doing this in other countries is that they can?t. they don?t have the data in the computer, just the computer. is this registration system unique for the nordic countries? there are countries that have started to report to a system, but we are the number one in this. we have had this tra- dition for almost 40 years now; we have learned a lot, and it is a natural part of our farmers? work to add all this in- formation to our cattle database. what does this weight on
health
traits
mean for the dairy farmer? with no doubt, the
health
traits
vikinggenetics is
breed
ing for, and i mean all the
traits
included in the ntm, are cre- ating profitability for the dairy farmer. vikinggenetics has a highly reliable evaluation system that means that, with the decided economic weights, we can generate significant ge- netic progress in their herds and in their business. can production and
health
be picked at the same time? the other good news of selecting by nordic total merit (ntm) is that production is included. usually, when you select for production, you take one step forward if you go for production, but you will go one step back for mastitis resistance, fertility, and other diseases because they have negative correlation to production. if you gain in produc- tion, you will naturally loose in
health
. but since we take
health
traits
into consideration in ntm, we are able to gain significantly in production but also in
health
traits
- look at the phenotypical level of our animals. is the company now taking genetic progress to a higher level by using more elite heifers? yes, we have taken the step to buy fewer bulls and put more focus on females to increase genetic progress. we work more with embryo transfer to let the best females get more calves. do you have a favourite viking
breed
? no, i don?t have a favourite. in my childhood, i was work- ing with vikingred; my family had a vikingred herd in denmark and we liked showing them at shows. then i be- came responsible for the holstein
breed
when i was 28 years old, in dansire, and then i continued in vikingge- netics when it was formed in 2008. i may have more knowledge of holstein, but then even though i have not worked that much with jersey, i can easily see that jerseys are extremely efficient cows with high components. therefore, it is true when i say that i don?t have any fa- vorite because i can see the advantages in all of them. my favourite is the viking package. what is the most demanded
breed
on the international markets? it is vikingjersey because you have this high environmen- tal focus on efficiency, and i have no doubt that the jersey cow is the most efficient one. there is a huge demand in the us for example. the forecast is saying that they are going from 10 to 25% jersey cows, and that is a big popu- lation. we have a more efficient product; we have a
health
ier, stronger animal with high components which produces more than just water. it is good for cheese pro- duction too. the same thing is happening in europe where it is possible to sell more vikingjersey semen.
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