The average cow in Australia produces closer to 25 litres per day.
Dairy Australia commissioned Holstein breeder Brian Houin to visit Australia, with hopes his success story would prompt more local farmers to embrace herd testing and contribute to national databases.
Mr Houin said the United States genomic program linked 57 different traits and values back to genetic information, with about 60 per cent accuracy.
He has been using genetic tests to shape his 3,800-strong herd for the past three years.
«The other good thing the genetic test will do is confirm the parentage,» he said.
«In the United States, we’re having about 16 per cent of misidentified sires and that was probably one of the biggest benefits that I saw, to reduce the inbreeding in my herd.
«[In Australia] they’re expecting to have upwards of 30 per cent misidentified sires.»
Dairy Australia genetics and data management manager Matthew Shaffer hoped Mr Houin’s visit would inspire Australian dairy farmers to consider new technologies.
«That’s why we’re doing a lot of the work we’re doing – to make sure we allow our farmers to have the tools they need to help compete in the global environment,» he said.
«We wanted somebody who had implemented genomics on a farm level … it’s one thing for me to tell them what they can achieve but to have a farmer say it is much more direct.
«What I’d like to see is a dramatic turn, a really massive increase in genetic merit because that will really help drive things.»
Creating the perfect dairy herd
Mr Houin speaks glowingly of DNA marker-technology, saying his animals record higher conception and production rates every year.
«A lot of times you’ll find a high milk animal may not have the highest fertility but that’s not always the case,» he said.
«My elite animals are very high in milk and they’re also very high in fertility [and] very high in productive life.
«That’s the other reason this genomics data is so invaluable, because we can target those animals and try to duplicate them, so you’ve got more and more of these top animals.
«I think 85 per cent of my animals are in the 90th percentile as far as animals tested (in the US).»
Genetic superiority is measured using an economic value ‘net merit’ (NM).
«500 NM means that cow should give you $500 more than the average cow,» Mr Houin said.
«We’ve got a long way to go – one genetic rep said the perfect cow is roughly 7,500 NM and we are only at 800 NM.»
Mr Houin was relatively early to adopt the technology but said farmers across America were becoming involved.
«When I first started testing three years ago, the lab was running about 10,000 samples a month,» he said.
«The recent data I’ve heard is they’re now approaching about 40,000 samples a month, so it is really starting to take off.»
Mr Houin said dairying in America was extremely volatile and that his focus was on the things he could control, on farm.
«I feel like the average dairy in the next 20 years may not survive,» he said.
«So I want to make sure that I’m above average in the reproduction, the health and milk production – all of the economies.
«That way, if the dairies are going to fail, there’s got to be a lot more dairies fail before we have to worry about failing.»
Source: ABC