LAMENESS in dairy cattle - the
subject of a stinging rebuke to the industry from the Farm Animal
Welfare Council last year - can and should be tackled by selective
breeding, according to scientists.
A five-year research programme carried out by Wye College, Kent, has resulted in the publication of a set of genetic indices for locomotion by the Holstein Friesian Society (HFS), which is urging breeders to take account of these as well as production traits.
''Poor dairy cow welfare is increasingly unacceptable both to the general public and to milk buyers, as well as being costly to producers,'' said Mike Coffee, the society's special project executive.
Lameness is calculated to cost the average 100-cow herd around #1200 a year.
Improved locomotion is estimated to have a heritability factor of about 10%, compared with around 25% to 35% for improved production, but officials are confident a long-term approach to the issue will provide low-cost, long-term gains in the form of reduced culling, udder damage and possibly mastitis, as well as improved longevity.
Production traits, such as milk or milk solids, should continue to top selection criteria, said David Hewitt, HFS head of breed development. But having made a short-list of sires,
farmers should take account of
locomotion indices, especially if
lameness is present in the herd.
Although the new scheme is billed as a world first, other countries such as the US, Canada and Holland are well ahead in terms of breeding out lameness, and officials said it was no surprise that Canadian-bred sires in the HFS register score well for locomotion.
The Wye work produced an index of locomotion ranging from one (poor) to nine (excellent).
This has been translated into standard deviations from the mean on the same minus three to plus three scale used for the expression of all genetic indexes for type in Britain. It is seen as a first stage in understanding the anatomical reasons for poor locomotion.
Meanwhile, another tool to help dairy farmers improve the health and welfare of their animals, as well as profitability, has been launched by
C-Vet Veterinary - Bovidec, a vaccination treatment for bovine viral diarrhoea.
The maker claims it can save #3500 a year in a 100-cow herd through improved fertility and reduced
reproductive losses.
More than 95% of UK dairy herds are believed to contain cows that have been exposed to the virus, which also causes mucosal disease, congenitally damaged calves and can result in abortions.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article