NEW YEAR, RENEWED FOCUS

David C. Thorbahn, President and C.E.O., Select Sires Inc.

With each new year often comes renewed focus. Have you reviewed your operational goals? Does your genetic strategy need a refresh? Are you working with Select Sires to leverage the cooperative’s services and genetic resources to boost your bottom line?

The influence of health and wellness traits stepped into the spotlight in 2022. The negative impacts of mastitis are well known; it is one of the leading reasons for involuntary culling and it’s also the most costly disease in the dairy industry.

How are you protecting your cows and your balance sheet from mastitis?

Unfortunately, mastitis resistance isn’t a priority for most A.I. companies and doesn’t receive adequate emphasis in selection indexes. Many believe that management is the best way to lower mastitis events. Yes, you can make great improvements to manage environmental mastitis. However, if your cows are genetically susceptible to mastitis infections, stronger teat dips and cleaner bedding isn’t going to move the dial.

The unfavorable genetic correlations between production traits and mastitis implies that herds with an emphasis on 305-day milk yield will experience deterioration in udder health. Despite the low heritability of udder health traits, genetic variability exists for these traits and there’s opportunity to select elite genetics with strong production and mastitis resistance, all while improving animal welfare.

The best indexes for production and health are Zoetis’ Dairy Wellness Profit Index® (DWP$®) and Select Sires’ Herd Health Profit Dollars™ (HHP$™). In both indexes, there is approximately 15% emphasis on mastitis resistance. Net Merit (NM$) offers a mere 3% to mastitis resistance traits. DWP$ and HHP$ are more modern wellness and profitability indexes to build better cows for your future. Select Sires is also emphasizing these health traits in sire procurement and development, including within the NxGEN® lineup.

You can read more about the influence of health and wellness traits and the momentum behind the NxGEN lineup throughout this edition of our Selections magazine.

New sustainability initiative

In late January, Select Sires announced the creation of Low Carbon Technologies, LLC, a new enterprise to serve beef and dairy farmers who are looking to document, verify and improve their operation’s carbon footprint and overall sustainability.

Our farmers are looking for ways to both prove and improve how they are producing food sustainably. Through Low Carbon Technologies, we intend to be their partner in increasing the value of environmental stewardship to their operations. Low Carbon Technologies will certify cattle regardless of the source of genetics. Longer term, the enterprise intends to expand sustainability assessments to other agriculture goods. Visit www.selectsires.com/discover to learn more about this new initiative and our sustainability efforts. u