Breeding in a changing environment

by Marc Lazenby and Polly Stanley

xciting opportunities are arising for dairy researchers working to genetically improve livestock. They've been brought on by recent changes in funding of livestock improvement programs in Canada.

An initial benefit to the dairy industry is improved business partnerships between the people who are developing enhancements to livestock improvement programs and the organizations that provide these products and services to dairy pro ducers in Canada and around the world.

A key player is the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN), which was formed in 1995 by the Canadian Dairy Breeds, the Canadian Association of Animal Breeders and the Canadian Milk Recording Board. CDN is a privatized version of the formerly government-run domestic genetic evaluation program. In co-operation with the various national breed associations, CDN also maintains a database of pedigrees and records on all Canadian dairy cattle.

"The formation of CDN has given the dairy industry more input in research and development priorities," says Prof. Jim Wilton, director of the Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock (CGIL).

CGIL researchers, based at the University of Guelph, are involved in many facets of dairy cattle improvement. Work has been done and is continuing in the areas of milk recording, conformation and production evaluations of artificial insemination (AI) s ires, and the conversion of international sire proofs to a common base.

For close to 50 years, researchers in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science (and later CGIL) have calculated genetic evaluations for the conformation of dairy cattle as a service to the Ontario government and the Holstein Association of Canada ( HAC). This prior work has led to a formal working arrangement with the CDN. The network continues to co-ordinate the type evaluations and the provision of research and development initiatives.

The partnership with CDN has given CGIL researchers the opportunity to focus their research and development efforts on all the economically important traits of the dairy cow.

"One of CGIL's objectives is to try to create efficient animals with the fewest possible health problems," says Wilton.

CGIL's work is done by a large group of research scientists, some of whose projects are described in this issue of Research

CGIL keeps its research and development work relevant through continual communication with CDN, producer groups and industry partners such as Holstein Canada, the newly formed Semex Alliance and other breeding organizations.

A changing genetic evaluation industry has led to increased opportunities for researchers at CGIL. They've seized the opportunity to develop a business relationship with CDN and are creating new methods of evaluating and calculating animal performance.

The work of CGIL researchers is beneficial to all Canadian dairy producers; their efforts increase the amount and accuracy of the information producers have on their animals. This allows them to make more informed genetic selection decisions, thereby i mproving the animals in their herd and increasing the efficiency and sustainability of their operations. This results in increased profits for Canadian dairy producers and expanded worldwide exports of genetic material.