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VikingNews UK 2018-02
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10 vikingnews | november 2018 by lars nielsen, head of breeding vikinggenetics review of
ntm
t he nordic total merit (
ntm
) index is an excellent tool to detect the most profitable bulls and cows for dairy business with respect for the balance be- tween
production
, cost reducing traits and health. the
ntm
platform is very stable, and smaller updates are done on regular basis to guarantee optimal work of the index. nowadays, more updates are taking place where all conditions including financial models are reviewed with support from scientists, genetic experts, farmers and other stake-holders to ensure the best possible index for selec- tion of genetics to the future needs. the last two years we have been in a process to define the optimal
ntm
based on facts - and now we are ready to explain more about it. what has changed? as the
ntm
is very stable the changes are quite minimal even though all conditions have been reevaluated. the main changes are: ? more focus on concentrated milk ? more focus on health and
production
in later lactations ? still very big progress in all health and re
production
traits concentrated milk the
production
is the main income for dairy producers and there is still a focus on increased
production
in the future. to ensure that growth is done as efficiently as pos- sible we have rised the weight on content in milk for all breeds and, therefore, punish bulls with low components. as there is an expected high demand on
fat
in the future we have increased the relative weight on
fat
more than on protein ? but there will be a vast increase on both
fat
% and protein % and still genetic progress in kg milk. longer lasting cows as a combination of better genetic longevity potential and better management, the cows are staying longer in the herds and replacement rates are in general decreasing. for that reason, we have increased the relative weight on 3rd and later lactation, so now counts for 45 % compared to 20 % in the past. big response on health and fertility after the revision of the
ntm
, we know there is still huge genetic progress on all health and fertility traits ensuring an excellent balance between
production
and health. even though we go for a higher response on kg
fat
and protein, we are sure that we are not damaging the pro- gress in cost reducing and animal welfare traits.
ntm
is with the updated economical weight an even stronger tool to predict the most economical bulls and cows for you. the value of
ntm
per unit/per year is now 8 euro for vikingjersey, 9 euro for vikingred and 10 euro for vikingholstein. new weight in
ntm
to fulfill the future needs of dairy cows
fat
% protein % old new old new vikingholstein 0.20 0.39 0.22 0.33 vikingred 0.09 0.24 0.11 0.19 vikingjersey -0.05 0.06 0.04 0.12 table 1: correlation between
production
index and index for %
fat
and % protein with old and new index. table 1 shows that the correlation between
fat
% and protein % to
production
index increase very much. so, a clear positive trend in components can be expected in the coming years. this fit into our strategy as it is easier and healthier for cows to produce less water and more solids.
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