Let’s begin with the age-old comparison of a marathon runner versus a sprinter. A sprinter is highly productive during a short period, while a marathon runner is reliably productive over a span of time. It’s fascinating to see a sprinter’s short burst of speed and power, but a marathon runner always goes the distance.
Think about your dairy cows in a similar fashion. Genetics solely selected for extreme production are sprinters with potentially other weaknesses that lead to early culling before return on investment is met. Whereas balanced cows are consistently productive, profitable, and remain in the herd because they are healthy, fertile, and long-lasting.
Which cows do you want in your herd?
Pitfalls of Single Trait Selection
Focusing genetic selection entirely on a single trait like yield can lead to you spending more or leaving money on the table. Why? Because your greatest needs as a dairy farmer likely fall into multiple categories that include:
- Milk Production
- Protein and Fat
- Fertility
- Conception Rate
- Longevity
- Somatic Cell Score
Therefore, using balanced sires creates productive, healthy, fertile, and long-lasting cows that positively impact many key profit-driving traits on dairy farms – improving overall profitability, efficiency, and sustainability, simultaneously.
While still dependent on operational goals, the framework for a profitable cow includes a balance of good scores for Longevity, Daughter Pregnancy Rate, Cow Conception Rate, Milk, Lower Stature, Fat and Protein, and health traits like Somatic Cell Score.
Why Balanced Sires Are the Better Choice
To begin, what is a balanced sire? The word balance means having good or equal amounts of all the necessary parts of something, and this definition perfectly depicts what a balanced bull is. These are the types of bulls that transmit well for all the key profit traits and are very easy to use on a dairy farm. Balanced sires are real, all-arounder bulls with many strengths and very few weaknesses, helping you profit from genetic progress.
Balanced sires help you create cows that:
- Produce more value over their lifetime
- Require fewer health interventions
- Breed back early year after year
- Stay in the herd longer
- Contribute more to your bottom line
We recommend using a customised genetic plan that includes balanced sires to create productive, healthy, fertile, and long-lasting cows that are profitable year after year. When you prioritise balanced genetics, you profit from genetic progress, enhance herd efficiency and performance, and reduce the risk of setbacks caused by short-sighted genetic selection decisions.
Building a Precise Genetic Plan with Us
At Genus ABS, our goal is to support you with a strategic, customised genetic plan that drives sustainable, long term genetic progress.
When you chase single traits such as extreme production, you risk compromising traits that matter just as much to your herd’s health and profitability. Prioritising one area can unintentionally weaken others. That’s why we aim to create a genetic plan tailored to suit your system and breeding goals, optimises beef on dairy production for additional revenue, and minimises expenses by helping you improve weaknesses.
Without a precise genetic plan built around your milk market, facilities, weather, environmental and more, you won’t reap the full benefits of genetic selection. With a thoughtful genetic plan from Genus ABS designed by you, for you, you can profit from genetic progress through balanced sires.
Create a customised genetic plan with Genus ABS and start profiting from genetic progress.
