Select Sires

SELECTIONS - Winter 2004
Herdlife Builder™ Program
is Right on Target

By David Thorbahn, general manager and executive vice president

In my travels as a sire analyst in years past, some of the world’s leading producers shared with me that cows need strength to last. Geneticists have said research shows that strength has little value. I recently attended the National Dairy Genetics Workshop, held in October, to review the latest research and to salute one the producer’s best friends in identifying the truth, Dr. Ben McDaniel, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. At that workshop the research was pretty clear. Cows that milk at high levels and hold their body condition are less susceptible to disease, were healthier cattle and bred back sooner than their counter parts with lower body-condition scores. I am pretty sure this is what my friends, the top breeders, were referring to when they said cows need strength to last. If I saw them today, they may answer me like the "Now Generation" of my nieces and nephews, saying, "Well, duh."

Yes, what dairy producers have told us for years is now being identified, though it is not in the form we expected. The problem may be that we have either been looking at strength and measuring the trait incorrectly or we may have just been using the wrong trait to identify constitution. We have learned that body condition score or body constitution is more accurately identified through the dairy form trait. Cows with high dairy form are cows that can lose their condition, are generally more susceptible to disease and have the potential to be less reproductively sound. True, dairy form scores are correlated by high production, but we have PTAs for milk, fat and protein to identify high production.

It would behoove the breeding industry to collect body condition scores to find a more accurate relationship between better reproduction and less disease. In the mean time, I would suggest the following:

For production, use PTAs for milk, fat and protein.
Make udders and feet and legs an important part of your breeding program.
In addition to Somatic Cell Score and Productive Life, include putting emphasis on moderate dairy-form bulls.

Or, for a simpler solution, use sires that are Herdlife Builders.

I am pleased to inform you that the above recommendations were incorporated into our Herdlife Builder program at its inception. So if you have been choosing Herdlife Builder sires, you are again ahead of the game. The Herdlife Builder program identifies bulls that are leaders in type traits associated with "building" cows that last longer than their counter parts. Select has always been a leader in designing cows that last and our producer-customer sire committees will force us, with good reason, to maintain this focus. The Herdlife Builder designation is one more way for producers to make breeding choices that will positively influence the longevity of their cows.

To all the breeders who shared their insight with me (and you know who you are), you were right once again - listening to your customer really does pay off!

Editor’s note: For more information on the Select Sires Herdlife Builder program and the positive influence it can have in your herd, please visit the Herdlife Builder page. Or, contact your Select Sires representative.

™Herdlife Builder is a trademark of Select Sires Inc.

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Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751