Jersey Julie/July

Transcription

1 Jersey Julie/July

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3 Contents Inhoud Letter to the members 4 Relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in South African Jersey breed 6 International Highest Producing Cows Internasionale Hoogste Produserende Koeie 17 Dairy Lameness roundtable 22 Sandringham Kaasfees Inbreeding of the SA Jersey Breed 36 Prysuitdelings dinee 38 Taurus KI bul seleksie 41 How to manage data integrity in a large herd 42 ABS Favourites 44 Royal Show 47 Noordelike Kampioenskappe 50 Notice/Kennisgewing 51 Kaapland Kampioenskappe 52 ABS Nasionale Jersey Jeugskou 57 Dairy news from around the world 59 Veilingsverslag 60 Jersey Klubs 60 Advertisers Adverteerders ABS IFC Taurus 5 Drie Doring Jerseys 9 Baldinnie Jerseys 11 Outeniqua Jersey Klub 11 CRI 12 Tierwil Jerseys 14 Kraal Media & Bemarking 16 Natal Jersey Cattle Club Drie Provinsies Klub 25 Waterbron Jerseys 28 Solderskraal Jerseys World Jersey Cheese Awards 34 Julie 2012 July Vol 61 No 2 JERSEY SA RAAD JERSEY SA COUNCIL: P Durham (President) Sel: J Jooste (Visie President) Sel: C H Steenkamp Tel: Kenny van der Merwe (Tesourier) Sel: JG Uys Tel: R van Wyk (Geko-opteer) Sel: J Nel Sel: Lewenslange Erepresident / Hon. Life President: H M de Villiers, Posbus 519, Suider-Paarl Lewenslange Ere Vise-President / Hon. Life Vice President: R C Fox P J la Grange JERSEY SA Tel: Faks/Fax: Posbus / PO Box Brandwagpark nr 11 Brandhof 9324 E-pos/ tessa@jerseysa.co.za Webadres/Website: Tegniese Direkteur/Technical Director Jannie Nel Sel: jannie@jerseysa.co.za Redaktrise / Editor: Hoof Admin Beampte: Tessa Opperman Deeltydse Klassifiseerder / Part time Classifier John Terblanche Sel: john@jerseysa.co.za Unistel 37 Kaapse Jersey Beesklub 40 Glynton Jerseys 45 The Highveld Jersey Club 46 Semex 49 Noord-Vrystaat Jersey Klub 53 Essie & Uitnood Jerseys 54 Swavet 56 Hydeaway Jerseys 61 Joyful Jerseys 61 CRV 62 WWS IBC Genimex OBC Produksie van joernaal: Charmainé Alberts Ontwerp & Bemarking Tel: Faks: Posbus 328 Brandfort 9400 E-pos: caria.vermaak@gmail.com Ontwerp deur: Caria Vermaak Jersey Julie/July

4 Letter to B Y P e t e r D u r h a m the members Therefore it is up to each one of us to put into place risk aversion strategies. Risk aversion starts with us determining which factors have the biggest potential impact on our businesses. Both External Factors which we have no control on and the Internal Factors, those that we do have control on. To determine which factors have the biggest effect is all about determining their financial impact on the business. But do not underestimate the emotional and psychological effect on yourself and your family. This is often forgotten, yet has the biggest long term consequence and can easily lead to depression. I trust that this letter finds you all well. This year has been a challenging year for some and a blessing for others. In the North we have experienced severe drought in some areas and in the South it seems that things have changed for the better. That is what farming is about and according to those in the know; the long term effects of Global warming are going to challenge our resilience in the future. The key is to then focus on the Critical Risk and Success Factors that affect ones businesses and wellbeing. Having a strategy in place to limit these Risk Factors impact on your business enables you to sleep better at night. Focusing on the Strategic Success factors enables you to focus your attention on those aspects that will have the most positive impact on your business long term. A good indication of stress and depression would be when one spends excessive time on comfort tasks, putting one s head in the feed trough by doing things that give one a sense of achievement yet have no bearing on the underlying fundamental issues. Effectively avoidance! Each one of us operates within our own unique microclimate, yet most of us are affected by similar External Factors. Acquiring knowledge is a lifelong quest and enables one to adapt to change in a timely manner as well as to find opportunities to improve one s strategies. Most if not all agricultural business men and woman today in SA are capable entrepreneurs. The fact that you are still in business today after the many challenges you have been through since 1994 is a testament to that and something that we all should be both proud as well grateful for. For many of us it has been a humbling experience at times, yet this may have been a blessing in disguise. We have therefore a lot to be grateful for, in particular the breed of cow we work with. In the long term milks potential is to be the basis for added value products, cheese being only one of them. It is therefore logical that the solids in the milk will be the key factor, particularly protein. In addition to the fact that more research results are coming out showing the Jersey cow to be the more efficient breed in terms of feed conversion and carbon footprint. This along with the known traits of heat tolerance, adaptability, longevity and fertility mean that we need not doubt that we are working with the best dairy breed. 4 Jersey Junie/June 2012

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6 South African Journal of Animal Science 2012, 42 (No. 1) Relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed J. du Toit 1,2#, J.B. van Wyk 2 & A. Maiwashe 3 1 Agricultural Research Council, Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X5013, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa 2 Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, University of the Free State, P. O. Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa 3 Agricultural Research Council, Animal Production Institute, Private Bag X2, Irene, 0062, South Africa Copyright resides with the authors in terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 South African Licence. See: Condition of use: The user may copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work, but must recognise the authors and the South African Journal of Animal Science. Abstract The genetic relationship between conformation traits and functional herd life of the South African Jersey population was investigated. Data on conformation traits (n = ) and functional herd life (n = ) on registered South African Jersey cows calving between 1989 and 2008 were obtained from the Integrated Registration and Genetic Information System. Conformation traits were scored using a subjective linear scoring system ranging from 1 to 9, except for foot angle, with a maximum score of 8. Conformation traits included stature, chest width, body depth, dairy strength, rump angle, thurl width, rear leg side view, foot angle, fore udder attachment, rear udder height, rear udder width, udder support, udder depth, front teat placement, rear teat placement and front teat length. Genetic correlations between conformation traits and functional herd life were estimated by a series of bivariate analyses. Significant moderate to strong positive genetic correlations between most udder traits and functional herd life (0.23 to 0.63) were estimated. The most important udder traits related to functional herd life were fore udder attachment, rear udder height and udder depth. Most of the body structure traits had a low to moderate negative correlation with functional herd life (-0.04 to -0.27). However, rump angle and foot angle were estimated to have a moderate positive genetic correlation with functional herd life. The genetic relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed indicate that conformation traits could be used to enhance the accuracy of genetic evaluation for functional herd life. It is therefore recommended that current national genetic evaluation for functional herd life in the South African Jersey breed should include conformation traits. Keywords: Functional herd life, genetic correlations, linear traits # Corresponding author: dtoitj@arc.agric.za Introduction Functional herd life in dairy cattle is of economic importance because longer herd life is associated with lower heifer replacement costs and a higher proportion of more productive mature cows in the herd. Therefore, functional herd life is an integral part of the breeding objective for dairy cattle. Research has shown that genetic variations exist for functional herd life to allow for genetic improvement through selection (Vukasinovic et al., 2001; Cruickshank et al., 2002; Tsuruta et al., 2005). The challenge of using direct measures of functional herd life in the genetic improvement programme is that this trait can be observed only at the end of productive life. For maximum genetic progress, the genetic merit of animals must be evaluated on information that is available early in their lifetime. Thus, direct selection for increased functional herd life may take too long. It is therefore important to identify and emphasize traits associated with herd life that are expressed early in life to allow breeders to select for profitable and functional cows. Low to moderate genetic relationships between various conformation traits and functional (milkcorrected) herd life were reported in the literature. The highest genetic relationships were generally found for udder attachment, udder depth, teats, and angularity of rear legs (Vukasinovic et al., 2002; Strapák et al., 2005; Bouška et al., 2006; Zavadilová et al., 2009). In a study on Quebec Holsteins, Schneider et al. (2003) found that udder and stature had the strongest relationship with functional herd life, compared with other structural body traits. Furthermore, 6 Jersey Julie/July 2012

7 Bouška et al. (2006) reported positive relationships between udder traits in particular and herd life for Czech Fleckvieh cows. Similarly, Caraviello et al. (2003) found that udder depth was by far the most important type trait with respect to herd life, followed by fore udder, front teat placement and udder support in US Jersey cows. In a study on US Holsteins, Tsuruta et al. (2005) found that more capacious and better attached udders, shorter teats, smaller body size, straighter legs, steeper foot angle and higher overall conformation scores were consistently related to increased herd life. It is evident that desirable conformation traits can positively influence the functional herd life of cows and thus the economic efficiency of the herd. Type classification data have been recorded on registered South African Jersey cows since 1989, and their use as an indirect predictor for herd life may be very cost effective. Besides being measurable early in life, type traits are more heritable than herd life, which can be influenced heavily by management and environmental factors (Caraviello et al., 2003). Genetic evaluation for herd life, including correlated conformation traits, may be more accurate than evaluations based on survival information alone (Boldman et al., 1992). The main objective of this study was to estimate the genetic relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed. Materials and Methods Data on conformation traits on registered South African Jersey cows that had calved between 1989 and 2008 were obtained from the South African national database, the Integrated Registration and Genetic Information System (INTERGIS). These cows participated in the South African National Milk Recording and Improvement Scheme. For convenience, the conformation traits were grouped into body structure and udder traits (Table 1). Body structure traits included stature (wither height), chest width, body depth, dairy strength (a composite trait consisting of chest width, body depth and angularity), rump angle, thurl width, rear leg side view and foot angle. Udder traits included fore udder attachment, rear udder height, rear udder width, udder support (udder cleft), udder depth, front teat placement, rear teat placement and front teat length. These traits were scored only once, preferably on cows in their first lactation. After editing, 80% of the records were from cows scored in their first lactation and 20% in their second lactation. A subjective linear scoring system ranging from 1 to 9 was used, except for foot angle, with a maximum score of 8. Data editing for conformation traits was carried out according to the standard editing criteria used in the South African National Genetic Evaluation Programme for the Jersey breed. Briefly, data from cows younger than 17 months or older than 36 months at first calving, and younger than 29 months and older than 53 months at second calving were excluded from the analyses. Cows younger than 17 months or older than 46 months when scored at first parity, and those younger than 29 months and older than 63 months when scored in the second parity were also excluded from the analyses. Cows with days in milk that were fewer than 5 and more than 300 were also excluded from the analyses. Contemporary groups with at least five animals that are progeny of at least two sires were considered. A contemporary group was defined as a concatenation of herd-year-seasonclassification code and parity. Descriptive statistics of the final data set are provided in Table 2. The following data were used in the analyses of herd life. A total of test-day records were obtained from INTERGIS. Functional herd life was defined as a series of binary traits indicating survival through the first, second and third lactation, adjusted for production. Similar data had been used previously in estimating genetic parameters for functional herd life (Du Toit et al., 2009). The editing criteria employed in the national evaluation for milk production traits for the Jersey breed were used. The following records were excluded from the analyses of functional herd life: (1) test-day milk yield <1 kg or >70 kg, fat yield <2% or >9 %, and protein yield <2% or >6%; (2) first test exceeding 75 days; (3) at least one interval between test dates exceeding 100 days; and (4) records with more than one test date interval between 60 and 100 days. Further editing included these amendations: (1) first lactation records terminated before 01 January 1989 were excluded because records prior to this date comprised only completed lactations without test-day records, (2) lactations with fewer than 5 days and more than 305 days in milk were excluded, (3) records with incorrect herd code, yields equal to zero, and records out of specified age range were excluded; the allowable age ranges were 17 to 36, 29 to 53, and 41 to 67 months for first, second and third calving, respectively, (4) records with unknown registration status were excluded, and (5) a first parity record was required for all cows. Furthermore, records from cows with unknown sires were excluded. Cows born after 2004 were excluded owing to limited number of records. Jersey Julie/July

8 Table 1 Classification system for conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed Score Ideal score Body structure Stature short intermediate tall 6 Chest width narrow intermediate wide 6 Body depth shallow deep very deep 6 Dairy strength frail intermediate strong 8 Rump angle high pins level extreme slope 6 Thurl width narrow intermediate wide 8 Rear leg side view straight intermediate sickled 6 Foot angle very low intermediate very steep 7 Udder traits Fore udder attachment weak intermediate strong 8 Rear udder height low intermediate high 8 Rear udder width narrow intermediate wide 7 Udder support indistinct deep very deep 6 Udder depth deep intermediate shallow 7 Front teat placement wide centre narrow 7 Rear teat placement wide centre narrow 5 Front teat length short intermediate long 5 A series of bivariate analyses, including one conformation trait and one functional herd life trait, were carried out to estimate genetic correlations between functional herd life and conformation traits. The matrix representation of the model fitted is as follows: y = Xb + Zu + e Where y is a vector of records, b a vector of fixed effects, u is a vector of random direct additive genetic effects and e is a vector of random residual effects. The fixed effects considered for conformation traits were contemporary group, age at classification (fitted as linear and quadratic), and days in milk (fitted as linear and quadratic). The fixed effects for functional herd life were herd-year, registry status x herd size change x season of calving (rhs), age at calving (fitted as linear and quadratic), protein within rhs, protein and fat yield deviations (fitted as linear, quadratic and cubic). X and Z are incidence matrices relating to fixed and random effects with the observations. (Co)variance components were estimated using VCE6 (Groeneveld et al., 2010). Estimates of genetic correlations were considered significant if the absolute value was greater than twice the standard error of the estimate. Results and Discussion Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics and trait abbreviation for functional herd life and conformation traits. The mean phenotypic scores for stature and chest width were 5.4 and 5.6, respectively, and close to the ideal score of 6. Mean score for body depth was approximately 7 (ideal score 6) and 6.6 (ideal score 8) for dairy strength, which indicate a tendency towards a deeper, but more frail cow. In terms of the structural body traits, rump angle, and rear leg side view, the scores were in the range of the ideal scores. The results on the structural body traits indicate, on average, a narrower, lower foot angled, and hocked rear leg cow. For udder traits, fore udder attachment and rear udder height were approximately 1.5 points lower than the ideal score of 8. A similar result was observed for rear udder width. Front teat placement was more than 2 points below the ideal score of 7, indicating on average a wider, more undesirable front teat placement. Scores for udder depth and udder cleft were close to the ideal scores of 7 and 6, respectively. Scores for rear teat placement and teat length were also close to the intermediate scores of 5. Table 2 Descriptive statistics and trait abbreviations for functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed Traits Abbreviation Number Mean SD CV (%) Min Max Functional herd life First lactation FHL Second lactation FHL Third lactation FHL Body structure Stature WH Chest width CW Jersey Julie/July 2012

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10 Body depth BD Dairy strength DS Rump angle RA Thurl width TW Rear leg side view RLS Foot angle FA Udder trait Fore udder attachment FUA Rear udder height RUH Rear udder width RUW Udder support UC Udder depth UD Front teat placement FTP Rear teat placement RTP Front teat length FTL CV = coefficient of variation; SD = standard deviation; Min = minimum; Max = maximum. Heritability estimates for all the traits are presented in Table 3. Heritabilities for functional herd life were low and consistent with those reported by Du Toit (2009). Estimates of heritability for conformation were comparatively higher than those for functional herd life. Theron & Mostert (2004) used a subset of the data considered in the current study, and reported estimates of heritability for conformation traits that were similar to those found in the current study. In general, heritabilities found in the current study were consistent with literature estimates (e.g. Van Niekerk et al., 2000). Genetic correlations between functional herd life and conformation traits are presented in Table 3. Correlations between functional herd life and body structure traits were variable. In general, body structure traits had a low to moderate negative correlation with functional herd life (-0.04 to -0.27), except for stature, where the genetic correlation was positive (0.15). Samoré et al. (2010), in a study on Italian Brown Swiss, also found low to moderate negative genetic correlations between body structure traits and functional herd life (-0.07 to -0.22). However, only body depth, dairy strength, rump angle, thurl width and rear leg side view were significantly correlated with functional herd life in the current study. The small genetic correlation between rear leg side view and functional herd life observed in the current study is consistent with the results by Vollema & Groen (1997), who reported a negative genetic correlation between rear leg side view and functional herd life (-0.17). Cassandro et al. (1999) reported a negative genetic correlation of between rear leg side view and functional herd life, which is slightly higher than in the current study. Cruickshank et al. (2002) and Tsuruta et al. (2005) reported a somewhat smaller genetic correlation between rear leg side view and functional herd life than in the current study. In the current study, rear leg side view is a trait with an intermediate optimum. Our results indicate that sickled cows will have a shorter functional herd life compared with straight leg cows. This is not consistent with the fact that rear leg side view is an intermediate optimum trait. In fact, Buenger et al. (2001) observed that sickled rear legs and extremely straight legs led to a lower functional length of productive life, a result that is in accordance with the curvilinear biological relationship between the two traits and indicates that the selected statistical approach may not be the most appropriate. Therefore, the negative genetic correlation that is observed in the current study should be interpreted cautiously. Table 3 Heritabilities (h 2 ) and genetic correlations (r g ) for and between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed Item h 2 r g FHL1 FHL2 FHL3 Body structure Stature 0.20 ± ± ± ± 0.13 Chest width 0.08 ± ± ± ± 0.21 Body depth 0.14 ± ± ± ± 0.10 Dairy strength 0.10 ± ± ± ± 0.15 Rump angle 0.17 ± ± ± ± 0.14 Thurl width 0.07 ± ± ± ± 0.17 Rear leg side view 0.04 ± ± ± ± 0.17 Foot angle 0.10 ± ± ± ± 0.15 Udder traits Fore udder attachment 0.09 ± ± ± ± 0.15 Rear udder height 0.13 ± ± ± ± Jersey Julie/July 2012

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13 Rear udder width 0.14 ± ± ± ± 0.13 Udder support 0.09 ± ± ± ± 0.15 Udder depth 0.16 ± ± ± ± 0.15 Front teat placement 0.23 ± ± ± ± 0.12 Rear teat placement 0.20 ± ± ± ± 0.18 Front teat length 0.27 ± ± ± ± 0.10 FHL1; FHL2; FHL3= functional herd life for lactation 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Heritabilities and standard errors for FHL1, FHL2 and FHL3 were 0.04 ± 0.007, 0.01 ± and 0.03 ± respectively. A moderate genetic correlation between dairy strength and functional herd life was observed in the current study. This genetic correlation is indicative of a favourable association between the two traits. However, corresponding genetic correlations ranging from -29 to 0.47 were reported in literature (Short & Lawlor, 1992; Weigel et al., 1998; Cruickshank et al., 2002; Zavadilová et al., 2009; Samoré et al., 2010). For example, Cruickshank et al. (2002), in a study on registered US Guernsey cows, reported a moderately negative estimate of genetic correlation between dairy strength with functional herd life (-0.29). The genetic correlation between body depth and functional herd life in the current study was small and negative (-0.19). Zavadilová et al. (2009) reported a similar negative genetic correlation (-0.16) in a study on Czech Fleckvieh cows. Weigel et al. (1998) and Samoré et al. (2010) found slightly lower genetic correlations of and -0.10, respectively. Tsuruta et al. (2005) found a somewhat higher genetic correlation (-0.26) between body depth and functional herd life. The negative correlation between body depth and functional herd life indicates that cows with high scores for body depth (very deep) will tend to have a lower functional herd life. However, cows with low scores (shallow) will have longer functional herd life. This may present a problem for selection since body depth is known to be an intermediate optimum trait. Rump angle was negatively correlated (-0.19) with functional herd life 1 in the current study. This genetic correlation was in agreement with the results (-0.11) reported by Cruickshank et al. (2002). However, the genetic correlation between rump angle and functional herd life reported in most of the studies ranged from 0.07 to 0.21 (Jairath et al., 1998; Weigel et al., 1998; Cruickshank et al., 2002; Zavadilová et al., 2009; Samoré et al., 2010). A moderate positive genetic correlation (0.33) was observed between foot angle and functional herd life 3 in the current study. This positive genetic correlation indicates that foot angle is one of the most important potential indicators of functional herd life. Smaller genetic correlations of 0.04 and 0.15 were reported by Cruickshank et al. (2002) and Tsuruta et al. (2005), respectively. Significant moderate to high positive genetic correlations between most udder traits and functional herd life (0.23 to 0.63) were observed in the current study. Rear teat placement and front teat length were the only two udder traits that were not significant. The genetic correlations were more pronounced in the second lactation for all the udder traits, except for rear teat placement. These genetic correlations indicate that fore udder attachment, rear udder height, rear udder width, udder support, front teat placement and udder depth are the most useful indicators of functional herd life. Consistent with our genetic correlations between udder depth and functional herd life of 0.39 and 0.49, estimates ranging from 0.28 to 0.43 were reported in the literature (Vollema & Groen, 1997; Cassandro et al., 1999; Vukasinovic et al., 2002; Samoré et al., 2010). This general consistency across studies of the genetic correlation between udder depth and functional herd life indicates that udder depth is one of the most versatile indicators of functional herd life. Therefore, udder depth should receive higher priority in the genetic evaluation for functional herd life. The genetic correlation between udder support and functional herd life 2 was 0.36 in the current study. In general, the corresponding estimates reported in the literature were variable, ranging between and 0.31 (Cassandro et al., 1999; Cruickshank et al., 2002; Vukasinovic et al., 2002; Tsuruta et al., 2005; Samoré et al., 2010). Literature estimates for genetic correlation between fore udder attachment and functional herd life ranged from 0.15 to 0.32 (Cassandro et al., 1999; Vukasinovic et al., 2002; Tsuruta et al., 2005). While our corresponding estimate overlaps with the literature estimates, our highest estimate (0.63) is almost double that of the highest reported value (0.32). The genetic correlations between rear udder height, rear udder width and front teat placement with functional herd life found in the current study were generally higher than those reported in the literature. Our estimates ranged from 0.28 to 0.54, while the corresponding range for literature estimates was to 0.21 (Cruickshank et al., 2002; Vukasinovic et al., 2002; Tsuruta et al., 2005). Buenger et al. (2001), Larroque & Ducrocq (2001), and Schneider et al. (2003) reported that cows with extremely close rear teats were more likely to be culled than cows with extremely wide rear teats. Conclusion Most of the body structure traits had a low to moderate negative genetic correlations with functional Jersey Julie/July

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15 herd life in at least one lactation. All udder traits, except for rear teat placement and teat length, showed a significant positive genetic correlation with functional herd life. The following conformation traits were found to be useful indicators of functional herd life: udder depth, fore udder attachment, rear udder height, udder support, rear leg side view, foot angle and dairy strength. The genetic relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed indicate that conformation traits could be used to enhance the accuracy of genetic evaluation for functional herd life. It is therefore recommended that conformation traits should be included in the current national genetic evaluation for functional herd life in the South African Jersey breed. Acknowledgments This study formed part of the first author s doctoral thesis, which benefited from funding from the Agricultural Research Council, South African National Research Foundation and South African Jersey Breed Society. Technical assistance from BE Mostert in preparing data for confirmation traits was greatly appreciated. References Boldman, K.G., Freeman, A.E., Harris, B.L. & Kuck, A.L., Prediction of sire transmitting abilities for herd life from transmitting abilities of linear type traits. J. Dairy Sci. 75, Bouška, J., Vacek, M., Štípková, M. & Nemec, A., The relationship between linear type traits and stayability of Czech Flekvieh cows. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 51, Buenger, A., Ducrocq, V. & Swalve, H.H., Analysis of survival in dairy cows with supplementary data on type scores and housing systems from a region of Northwest Germany. J. Dairy Sci. 84, Caraviello, D.Z., Weigel, K.A. & Gianola, D., Analysis of the relationship between type traits, inbreeding, and functional survival in Jersey cattle using a Weibull proportional hazards model. J. Dairy Sci. 86, Cassandro, M., Gallo, L., Carnier, P., Penzo, N. & Bittante, G., 1999.Collecting functional traits in dairy herds: overview of a program currently running in Italy. In: Proceedings International Workshop on EU Concerted Action on Genetic Improvement of Functional Traits in Cattle (GIFT); Breeding Goals and Selection Schemes bulletin23/. Cruickshank, J., Weigel, K.A., Dentine, M.R. & Kirkpatrik, B.W., Indirect prediction of herd life in Guernsey cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 85, Du Toit, J., Van Wyk, J.B. & Maiwashe, A., Genetic parameter estimates for functional herd life for the South African Jersey breed using a multiple trait linear model. S. Afr. J. Anim. Sci. 39, Groeneveld, E., Kovac, M. & Mielenz, N., VCE User s Guide and Reference Manual Version 6.0. ftp://ftp.tzv.fal.de/pub/ vce6/doc/vce6-manual-3.1-a4.pdf Jairath, L., Dekkers, J.C.M., Schaeffer, L.R., Liu, Z., Burnside, E.B. & Kolstad, B., Genetic evaluation for herd life in Canada. J. Dairy Sci. 81, Larroque, H. & Ducrocq, V., Relationships between type and longevity in the Holstein breed. Gent. Sel. Evol. 33, Samoré, A.B., Rizzi, R., Rossoni, A. & Bagnato, A., Genetic parameters for functional longevity, type traits, somatic cell scores, milk flow and production in the Italian Brown Swiss. Italian J. Anim. Sci. 9, Schneider, M.D., Dürr, J.W., Cue, R.I. & Monardes, H.G., Impact of type traits on functional herd life of Quebec Holsteins assessed by survival analysis. J. Dairy Sci. 86, Short, T.H. & Lawlor, T.J., Genetic parameters of conformation traits, milk yield and herd life in Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 75, Strapák, P., Candrák, J. & Aumann, J., Selection between longevity and selected production, reproduction and type traits. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 50, 1-6. Theron, H.E. & Mostert, B.E., Genetic analyses for conformation traits in South African Jersey and Holstein cattle. S. Afr. J. Anim.Sci. 34, Tsuruta, S., Misztal, I. & Lawlor, T.J., Changing definition of productive life in US Holstein: Effect on genetic correlations. J. Dairy Sci. 88, Van Niekerk, D.J., Neser, F.W.C & Erasmus, G.J., Genetic parameter estimates for type traits in the South African Jersey breed. S. Afr. J. Anim. Sci. 30, Vollema, A.R. & Groen, A.B.F., Genetic correlations between longevity and conformation traits in an upgrading dairy cattle population. J. Dairy Sci. 80, Vukasinovic, N., Moll, J. & Casanova, L., Implementation of a routine genetic evaluation for longevity based on survival analysis techniques in dairy cattle populations in Switzerland. J. Dairy Sci. 84, Jersey Julie/July

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17 International Highest Producing Cows By / deur Jannie Nel Internasionale Hoogste Produserende Koeie In the search for the world s most achievable cows I have contacted countries like America, Canada, France, Italy and Denmark. The data that was requested was: 1. Highest producing first lactation cow registered in the particular country. 2. Highest milk producing cow of all times registered in the particular country. 3. Oldest active cow registered in the particular country. Some very interesting figures came back. 1. Highest producing first lactation cow per country (Table 1). Queen-Acres Millennium Sunflower had 3 entries in the Top 30 milk records in history by November 2008 in America. She calved for the first time at the age of Her next 2 lactations which she started at age 3-08 and 5-04 was also included in the list. In these first 3 lactations she produced kg of milk with almost 4 tons of solids. Sunflower was a Millenium (Poseidon x Haug Maid) daughter out of Sterling Mighty Moe (Sooner x Top Brass). Boleje Zik Jette is a cow who is currently fresh in her second lactation. She is a daughter of the well-know bull Q Zik which has daughters around the world. Jette almost produced 1,3 tons of solids in her first lactation with exceptional butterfat and protein percentages. Another interesting cow is Cocky Declo s Kay (Declo x Lester x Bold Venture). The average milk production over her first four lactations was 10161kg. This was done with an average ICP of 376 days. Om die wêreld se beste produserende koeie te identifseer, het ek lande soos Amerika, Kanada, Frankryk, Italië en Denemarke gekontak. Die data wat aangevra is, was as volg: 1. Hoogste produserende eerste laktasie koei geregistreer in die betrokke land. 2. Hoogste melk produserende koei van alle tye geregistreer in die betrokke land. 3. Oudste aktiewe koei geregistreer in die betrokke land. Daar het baie interessante data teruggekom. 1. Hoogste produserende eerste laktasie koei per land (Tabel 1). In November 2008 is Queen-Acres Millennium Sunflower vir die 3de keer ingesluit in die Top 30 melk rekords van alle tye in Amerika. Sy het vir die eerste keer geklaf op Haar volgende 2 laktasies wat begin is op 3-08 en 5-04 is ook ingesluit in die lys van top laktasies. In hierdie eerste 3 laktasies het sy 55234kg melk en amper 4 ton vastestowwe geproduseer. Sunflower was n dogter van Millenium (Poseidon x Haug Maid) uit n Sterling Mighty Moe (Sooner x Top Brass) dogter. Boleje Zik Jette is n koei wat huidiglik vars in haar 2de laktasie is. Sy is n dogter van die welbekende bul Q Zik wat ongeveer dogter wêreldwyd het. Jette het amper 1,3 ton vastestowwe met ekstreme bottervet en protein in haar eerste laktasie geproduseer. Nog n interessante koei is Cocky Declo s Kay (Declo x Lester x Bold Venture). Sy het gemiddeld kg melk oor haar eerste vier laktasies geproduseer. Dit is gedoen met n gemiddelde TKP van 376 dae. 2. Highest milk producing cow of all times per country. Interestingly enough is the fact that the Top 3 Highest milk producing cows (Table 2) are relatively close related to Highland Magic Duncan. This might be the reason why you will find Duncan in almost every pedigree and sometimes more than once. Duncan Hibrite of Family Hill is also the highest protein producer of all times in America. In the table all but one cow produced in excess of kg of milk. 2. Hoogste melk produserende koei van alle tye per land. Interessant genoeg is die feit dat die Top 3 hoogste produserende koeie (Tabel 3) baie naby verwant is aan Higland Magic Duncan. Dit mag miskien die rede wees hoekom mens Duncan in amper enige stamboom sal kry, en soms meer as een keer per stamboom. Duncan Hibrite of Family Hill is ook die leeftyd rekordhouer van protein produksie in Amerika.Vyf van die ses koeie in die tabel het Jersey Julie/July

18 Although Fabuleuse of France did not reach 100 tons of milk, she produced extreme solid percentages with over 6.00% butterfat and 4.00% protein. meer as kg melk geproduseer. Al het Fabuleuse van Frankryk nie 100 ton melk gehaal nie, het sy ekstreme vastestof persentasies gelewer. 3. Oldest active cow per country. Table 3 shows the oldest cows still producing in each country. These are the cows that stood the test of time. The averages among these cows are as follows: 7 785kg milk per lactation with 432days ICP over a collective 72 calvings. The majority of these cows have also produced more than 6 000kg of solids. 3. Oudste aktiewe koei per land. In Tabel 3 verskyn die oudste koeie wat steeds produseer in elke land. Hierdie is die koeie wat die toets van die tyd deurstaan het. Hierdie 6 koeie het gemiddeld 7 785kg melk per laktasie geproduseer met 432 dae TKP oor 72 kalwings. Die meeste van hierdie koeie het ook meer as 6000 kg vastestowwe geproduseer. 4. Table 4 shows two more cows that need to be honoured. Chasin Rainbows Brig Gold was a Bushriver Brigadier daughter. She holds the American butterfat production record. The next cow, Pearl Krig Dina was a SKÆ Krig daughter. She holds the Danish record for total solids produced. 4. In Tabel 4 is nog 2 koeie wat eer moet ontvang. Chasin Rainbows Brig Gold was n Bushriver Brigadier dogter. Sy hou die Amerikaanse rekord vir Protein produksie. Die volgende koei is Pearl Krig Dina, sy was n SKÆ Krig dogter. Sy is die rekordhouer vir totale vastestowwe geproduseer in Denemarke. For intrest sake: The oldest cow ever in Denmark was a cow called Yrsa. She was owed by an old man on the Island of Birkholm where she supplied the owner and two fishermen with fresh milk for 25 years. Yrsa died a month after her owner. She lived for more than 27 years, with her last lactation being 10 years long. Credits: Herbeby I would like to thank all the breeders societies involved for the information supplied. Interessantheidshalwe: Die oudste koei ooit in Denemarke was n koei met die naam Yrsa. Haar eienaar was n inwoner van die eiland Birkholm. Daar het Yrsa vir haar eienaar en 2 vissermanne vir 25 jaar lank melk geproduseer. Sy was met haar dood 27 jaar oud. Haar laaste laktasie was 10 jaar lank. Erkenning: Hiermee wil ek baie dankie sê aan al die betrokke telersgenootskappe vir die informasie. 18 Jersey Julie/July 2012

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22 Dairy Lameness R O U N D T A B L E Nine hoof health experts discuss laminitis, heel warts and foot rot 22 Jersey Julie/July 2012

23 Introduction Novartis Animal Vaccines, Inc. hosted a Lameness Roundtable. Participating in this roundtable were dairy practitioners, recognized lameness experts, a noted dairy economist, a forage production expert and a recognized hoof trimming teacher from throughout the United States. The complex of foot-related diseases and productionrelated lameness costs dairy operators hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Similar hoof problems cost the beef industry an estimated $120 per head annually. To provide linkages among pathogenic problems associated with lameness and productionrelated lameness problems, Novartis hosted this roundtable of experts to bring together various aspects of lameness in dairy cows and, subsequently, to bring this information to veterinarians, dairymen and others involved in the dairy industry via this publication. Laminitis Q What causes laminitis? Dr. Guard: The traditional view of the cause of laminitis was that it is purely a consequence of a toxic event with a cow, like severe mastitis or metritis, or rumenal acidosis. While those causes are still important, it is now clearer that the causal pathways are multiple. Environmental influences, given some predisposing condition such as rumenal acidosis, have a major influence on what the claw lesion or claw disease turns out to be. These environmental factors, such as standing time, standing on unforgiving surfaces and bad floors, all make laminitis worse. Dr. Shearer: In the Southeast, our hot, humid environment puts animals in heat stress, which seems to accentuate foot problems. We believe heat stress contributes to rumenal acidosis because of the way it influences cattle feeding behavior and other metabolic aspects in the cow. All these factors associated with heat stress seem to play a part in the laminitis syndrome. Dr. Harper: In Texas and New Mexico, we definitely see more laminitis problems in the summertime. I don t know whether it is heat stress or transition stress. We will have about 50 percent of the herd calving in the summer months and a lot of cows transitioning at that time. We can t do much to control heat stress, but if it combines with transitioning to be a bigger laminitis problem, then we can better manage the overall problem by managing the feeding and transition of animals. Q What are the economic ramifications of laminitis? Dr. Jones: Economic losses due to lameness are closely tied to the severity and longevity of the problem. If it results in culling and/or loss of the affected animal, those costs far exceed production costs in some cases. In others, if the nonproductive animal is left in the herd, the economic losses could be greater than eliminating the affected animal. From the studies I have looked at, it seems dairy producers in Wisconsin are losing about $12.92 in milk revenues per month. However, affected animals aren t eating as much, so if you adjust the value of the feed, the average loss in milk revenue alone is about $7 per month. Dr. Guard: The results of this study showed us, to our surprise, that the duration of the detectable milk loss was not limited to 30 days. Of course these diseases that were naturally occurring in the herds that we studied happened at all times of lactation and, in general, we could identify a reduction in milk production from the time of occurrence throughout the remainder of the lactation. So the loss persisted to the extent that we could separate that cow from normal herdmates. There was a 3-lb. loss per day in a cow that was 10 days fresh or 50 days fresh she lost that same 3 lbs. for the remainder of her lactation. Dr. Jones: The real cost of lameness is when you have to accelerate culling. The longer you extend the productive life of the cow, you will drive down the cost of owning that cow. If a dairy producer holds a cow for only one lactation vs. seven lactations, he loses about $1,200. If the cows stay through two lactations, the loss drops to $400. If you extend that to three lactations instead of the five or six that most producers shoot for, the dairy producer is losing $200 per head. From an economic standpoint, it is easy to see why lameness is such a critical issue. Dr. Guard: We all agree that any disease that causes a cow to decrease in performance is something we all strive to prevent. However, these research models fail to reflect the real world in that the decision to replace a cow should always be based on whether the next cow you put in her place can generate more profit. It has less to do with the number of lactations than whether the net present value of the cow you can put in her place. Dr. Jones: I agree, but if lameness is causing the cow to be subpar, below the norm you expect for the herd, she is going to have to be culled. And when more productive cows enter Jersey Julie/July

24 the herd, the lame cow likely is going to be culled. If that happens after two or three lactations, it is at the expense of potential profit. Dr. Cain: There is one issue that I would bring to mind conserving of equity. If you cull so hard to improve production, you can end up losing equity in your whole operation. That is a real-world scenario too, and I have seen operations not be able to sustain themselves because their equity base keeps getting smaller as they strive to increase production. What we are seeing often in Nebraska is producers come in with a nucleus herd and try to expand to facility size. They have overbuilt facilities and they bring in as many cows as they can and they have to keep them in production. It is a real doubleedged sword: they have to cull because of lameness problems, but at the same time, they have to grow to keep the fixed cost per unit cow down. Dr. Shearer: I had a producer in the Southeast tell me he lost over 4 percent of his herd to foot problems. At $1,500 to $2,000 per animal, the cost was enormous. Like most producers, he did not have a person responsible just for the foot table they did other things at the dairy. This dairy made a commitment to foot problems, assigned a person to manage it, and over a two-year period, saved 60 cows per year, or about $90,000 per year. And that doesn t include other performance benefits to lame cows that had prompt care. Q How serious is laminitis? Dr. Blackmer: In southern California, I don t see it as real serious. We have mostly drylot dairies there, with only a few freestall barns. The corrals average about 600 square feet per cow and are dirt-based. Laminitis is not something we see as a big issue. With our climate and the drylot environment, we are not really in laminitis country. Dr. Berry: Laminitis is much more of a problem in freestall dairies, as is lameness in general. If I were building a dairy in an arid area, I wouldn t build a freestall dairy. I would build loose housing and keep the cows on dirt rather than put them on cement. However, for producers in many parts of the country, manure management is a problem and they cannot contain the manure and the rainwater runoff with loose housing. New regulations in California governing runoff are indicative of what is going to happen nationwide. Even in California there is no uniformity in regulations. But it is becoming more of a public awareness issue and the EPA is more involved than ever, so new facilities are being built to actually contain the runoff water and retain the water that goes through the manure. Dr. Blackmer: I work with some dairymen who have looked into relocating. If they can stay in an area that doesn t have severe freezing and 5 to 10 inches of rainfall annually, they do not want to build freestall barns. We are seeing vacuum tanks that are towed by a tractor and can suck up water out of puddles. Other technologies, like cleaning alleys, adding water, storing runoff and trucking it to a community methane digester, are making drylot dairies more feasible. In Kansas, for example, I read where the cost to build a 2,400-cow dairy is $820 per head more for the freestall vs. drylot dairy. So this argument 24 Jersey Julie/July 2012

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26 might not hold true for all areas of the country, but it does have a lot to do with laminitis and some other foot diseases because of the environmental advantages. Dr. Cain: I almost agree with Paul that laminitis is not a big problem in Nebraska, but for a different reason. We have such a hard time dealing with the sequential lameness problems that we don t do a very good job of dealing with early laminitis. All of our dairies are freestall. Nutritionally, we are in good shape with our dairy cows, but trauma and abrasions are the major causes of our lameness problems. Our cows are on concrete all the time, and even if they don t have abrasions, they are up and down, walking on concrete and they get traumatic laminitis from that environment. We have a real problem with labor, and when we go to open environments, whether in a feedyard or a dairy, labor requirements go up. So in our area, I see freestalls as being the way to go. Dr. Berry: Based on the locomotion scores that I see at the dairies I visit, I suspect laminitis may be a bigger problem than we are admitting. Using the 1 to 5 locomotion scoring system detailed by Sprechers, et al. in Theriogenology, in which a locomotion score 3 cow has already lost the producer money, I can pick these animals out left and right at dairies I visit. Those cows are not considered lame by the producer nor generally by the veterinarian, but I contend those cows have laminitis that is costing the producer money. As the locomotion scores go up, cows eat less and are less productive. I think the majority of those cows would benefit by seeing a hoof trimmer much earlier than they usually do. I would think that on a lot of our freestall dairies, 30 percent to 40 percent of cows are in the 3 locomotion score range. Let me make it clear, that is a prevalence estimate, not an incidence estimate. In many of our dairies, you can pick out cows with an abnormal gait. Dr. Harper: In central Texas, we have high humidity and lots of heat, and the freestall dairies tend to be easier to manage because of sporadic heavy rains. If drylots are not kept clean, there are problems. If drylots are cleaned excessively, down to the rock, cows aren t comfortable, though they are on a drylot. In New Mexico, we don t have many freestall dairies, but in the Texas Panhandle, more producers are going to freestalls because of cold, blizzards and other weatherrelated problems. Q What is the role of a hoof trimmer in preventing laminitis? Dr. Berry: I see the veterinary practitioner as being the person to help train people on the dairy to identify cows that should be brought to the hoof trimmer. Once a dairy gets into a program, trimming all dry cows and those in the 2 to 3 locomotion score range, they will eliminate a lot of laminitis problems and save the producer a lot of money. It is a lot cheaper than treating the problem, because once you treat the problem, you still have that loss of production throughout lactation. Burgi: There is no doubt that correct maintenance hoof trimming is the best way to reduce the severity of laminitis, but it is often a tough economic sale to make. A sole ulcer on a cow costs the producer about $600. If we prevent sole ulcers by professionally trimming the hooves of these animals, I have saved the producer a lot of money. Still, too many times, hoof trimming is looked at as an expense rather than an investment. Dr. Berry: Trimming will not prevent laminitis, but when it happens, prompt trimming will help to balance the wear and growth on the claws and spread the weight over the corium, ultimately reducing the likelihood that this animal will develop a $600 sole ulcer. Dr. Guard: There are two general objectives of hoof trimming: to restore a normal weight-bearing surface to the claw (distributing the weight of the animal evenly) and to remove excess growth. If the rate of wear exceeds the rate of growth, then the trimmer has an immense challenge. In our area of New York, trimming once a year is not adequate to meet either goal. Burgi: Nature didn t equip cows ideally to stand and walk on concrete. Through hoof trimming, we improve the balance and function of the hoof. Cows with properly trimmed hooves have an advantage, especially when they are forced to spend all of their time on concrete. If we don t have a regular maintenance hooftrimming program, it is very difficult to prevent laminitis. Dr. Cain: We have had a great deal of success using rubber in the feedlot industry to reduce hoof wear. Dr. Blackmer: Almost all of the new freestall dairies in California are going to rubber mats. If you give a cow the choice of walking on rubber or concrete, there is no way she is getting off the rubber. It s like they have military training they all march in rows. 26 Jersey Julie/July 2012

27 Thomas: When cows go from walking on concrete to rubber, their locomotion scores get better. You can see it, they get on rubber and they start moving more comfortably it is remarkable. Dr. Blackmer: We used to do claw amputations, with some obvious benefits. Then blocks came along and that is the domain of the hoof trimmer. If an effective hoof block is available, then hoof amputation may not be required. Burgi: When we apply blocks, we save cows, especially if lameness is treated immediately. If blocks are applied, but hooves are not trimmed properly, lesions will reoccur again after some time. It does not make sense to only treat lameness and not ask the question: Why is the cow lame? We need to improve all aspects of management to prevent laminitis. Q What causes heel warts? Dr. Berry: To quote my esteemed colleague, Dr. Richard Walker, The exact etiology of hoof warts is unknown. With that in mind, the cause of foot warts is multifactorial. There is a microbacterial component. There are five anaerobic bacteria in the genus Treponema that are associated with hoof warts. Constant moisture and depleted oxygen are environmental conditions necessary to cause hoof warts to affect animals. Cows in dairies with constantly wet stalls are at a much higher risk for hoof warts. Where the causal bacteria reside and how long they survive outside the cow is not clear. We do know that biopsies of skin from normal and infected hooves show a different microflora. So the Treponema bacteria are not present on uninfected hooves. We know that these Treponema bacteria are associated with the disease, but whether they are a primary or secondary causal agent is not clear. And, if they are a secondary causal agent, we don t know what is the primary cause of the disease. Stained smear of spirochetes and filamentous bacteria Q What is the prevalence and severity of heel warts? Dr. Cain: In Nebraska, in our freestall dairies, the incidence is very high, up to 40 percent. It s not new to Nebraska, we have seen it in our wet meadow ranches for years. I am convinced there is an association between heel warts and interdigital viral papilloma. And those are most often in cows and bulls that stay in the lower areas of our wet meadow ranches. The thing that bothers me most is that we see 10 percent to 15 percent heel warts in our replacement heifers. We would like to think they are 100 percent clean when they go into the milking parlor, but that s not the case. Dr. Berry: In the central valley of California, we are seeing 40 percent to 50 percent of our cows with lesions. Again, the consistent epidemiological factor is moisture. Dr. Harper: The only cows that I work with that don t have a problem with heel warts are down in south Texas. These are Jersey herds on dairies that export more than import cattle. In central Texas we have more of a problem, probably because of poorer feed bunk management. In New Mexico we only have drylot dairies, and those that manage corrals efficiently have fewer problems with foot warts. I do think lack of management, not just microbiological problems, is a primary cause of the disease. Dr. Shearer: In Florida, we ve documented anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent infection rates. In herds with the higher rate of problems, environmental problems are obvious they are messier and wetter. It s not always clear-cut though. I see some herds where there is good management and environmental issues are not significant and the incidence of the disease is still very high. Dr. Guard: In New York, we see clinical treatment for digital dermatitis ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent. Historically, those treatment rates were much higher before we developed better management techniques. Burgi: In Wisconsin, we have herds where things are great it all comes down to hygiene. When we see mud and manure buildups on the feet of cows, the incidence of hoof warts goes up. When you crowd animals together, the incidence goes up. I see a big difference in 4-row vs. 6-row barns. A 6-row barn has 30 percent more cows in the same square foot area. This results in deeper accumulation of manure between cleaning and extended standing time because of the lack of bunk space. I have seen infection rates of near 80 percent of the herd with such conditions. Dr. Blackmer: When it first hit in southern California, it was a very ugly, big disease. Now, I walk behind cows every day, and I don t see many dairies that don t have that atypicalshaped hoof that is so typical of animals that have recovered from the disease. Stained microscopic section of spirochetes invading living tissue QWhat do heel warts cost the dairyman? Dr. Jones: I liken the economic impact in terms of milk loss to laminitis. If a cow can t get to the feed bunk comfortably, she doesn t eat and she doesn t give you milk I would estimate a milk loss of 3 to 4 lbs. per day. Except in extreme cases, you Jersey Julie/July

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29 don t get culling as a result of hoof warts. Burgi: I had a herd about three years ago that was in an expansion mode and the dairy facility was extremely overcrowded. The farm had a heel wart epidemic, but the cows were still producing 90 lbs. of milk per cow. I sat down with the farmer and we implemented a treatment protocol to get rid of the lesions. I came back five weeks later and these guys were the happiest farmers in the county they had reached 100 lbs. per cow in their 350-cow herd. Dealing with problems instantly can significantly increase milk production and profits. Dr. Shearer: To go along with milk loss, there was a study done in Mexico that showed a significant impact on reproductive performance. It is assumed that hoof warts can cause a tremendous loss in milk as well, perhaps 2 to 3 lbs., but this hasn t been documented. Dr. Blackmer: Some of the more informed dairymen I work with have looked at using the Treponema vaccine (Treponema Bacterin). They say no question about it, using the vaccine would be cheaper than footbaths. Dr. Cain: We started out using footbaths, but ran into environmental concerns with the EPA over copper sulfate, and with OSHA when using formaldehyde. We put part of one herd on digital dermatitis vaccines. We found these animals easier to monitor and made sure the animal got treated properly because we were not wondering whether the footbaths were right or not. In Nebraska, with concerns over polluting groundwater and odor problems, I would say if we can be sure vaccines work as well as footbaths, we would probably go totally away from footbaths. Thomas:We already put a lot of copper in the manure pen through the footbaths. I did some calculating and on our 160- to 180-cow farm, we were putting on 7 lbs. of elemental copper per acre per year. In New England, the maximum lifetime copper limit on soils is 74 lbs. In some of our operations, we will reach that limit in about 10 years. We have a case in Vermont where we confirmed 30 lbs. per acre per year application rate that one farmer was putting on, because he was putting all of this spent copper sulfate solution on a limited amount of land. Data out of Australia showed that a single application of 10 lbs. of copper on very sandy soils did cause toxicity. Animal and crop toxicity can be a problem, but crop toxicity is a much more realistic one. We ve made changes at our farm. By dropping back our use of copper sulfate by about 70 percent, our copper levels are headed back down. So while it s easy to get into a copper accumulation problem on the farm, it s possible to get your numbers back down. I was told that copper sulfate is an EPAregistered product, but footbaths are not a registered use. I tried to check on the Internet, but I didn t find any registration for copper sulfate for use in footbaths, so I assume the guy is probably right. My question is: If we ever get into a problem with copper sulfate in footbaths, what is the farmer going to fall back on? Dr. Blackmer: All of the dairymen who told me they could use the vaccine cheaper than footbaths were really motivated because of fears of buildup of copper in the soil. Formaldehyde has a human health risk. Studies show that formaldehyde buildups are not a realistic threat, but the company that sells it to us makes sure to point out that they are not going to share in liability if we have problems. I think Novartis would be well-served by getting into a heifer ranch, getting animals vaccinated and get a trial going that shows the economic advantage of vaccinated animals going back to dairies where hoof warts are an endemic problem. That would be a tremendous bonus to the industry. Dr. Jones: It gets to the issue that you don t want to bring contamination onto the farm. If you can certify that you are not at risk, in terms of bringing replacement animals onto the farm that is worth a premium. Vaccinated heifers not being a source of heel warts that s worth extra dollars in bids from the producer. Dr. Harper: I think you have to address the whole lameness problem, not just as three individual diseases. Keeping cows dry and clean is the first step. Vaccination is the second step. I have done wholeherd vaccinations on two herds: one with excellent results and one with marginal results. The difference was management vaccination cannot overcome lameness problems if the environment is bad. In our case, in one herd we eliminated footbaths and the other we couldn t. One had good management of feed lanes and corrals and the other didn t. QWhat causes footrot? Dr. Berry: It is basically bacterial, but then there is a skin trauma component which doesn t seem to be the case with digital dermatitis. Treatment for footrot is more efficacious, and footrot tends to be more of a sporadic problem. One year it can be really bad and the next year not bad at all. What s the difference? I don t know. Burgi: I agree it is sporadic. Again, to go back to the laceration or damage to the skin, if we have a problem with digital dermatitis, sometimes there is more problem with footrot. The skin is opened up for the bacteria to enter. Producers who have a really good skin care program (healthy skin all around the claws) experience little problems with footrot. Dr. Berry: I think moisture also contributes to footrot and interdigital dermatitis. But with footrot, it can infect a dry foot that has trauma from rocks or other objects that traumatize the skin. Dr. Cain: My opinion of footrot is that we basically see two different types: One starts out as laminitis and gets infected, and the infection comes up the white line through a broken coronary band or something. The other is more a foreign body puncture trauma to the skin. The incidence is sporadic, but depending on the operation, can be endemic. We had really good success treating both of those types of footrot with Fusogard. Because footrot is so sporadic, it was difficult to do good field trial research. When the Fusogard product came out, it was the most awesome challenge I had ever seen. The protection level was 100 percent vs. the control animals. We still have a problem convincing producers of the benefit of the vaccine because of the sporadic nature of the disease. However, in operations where the disease is endemic, we just put it to bed. I had this one feedlot with 26,000 head. Footrot was the number one problem we had, but within six months after going to a vaccination program, it was not one Jersey Julie/July

30 of the problems ever mentioned. I am convinced that was a laminitis-induced footrot problem because of the endemic population in the feedyard. QWhat are the economics of footrot? Dr. Shearer: The disease can cause the loss of the cow. When lameness due to footrot occurs in early lactation, it can have a big effect on milk yield. Most statistics I have seen come from studies in Europe, where the incidence is about 5 percent or less. I believe ours would be similar. The incidence of the disease may be higher in some dairies, but in most dairies the disease is of lower incidence. Dr. Blackmer: The economic impact is different in different parts of the country. I work in southern California and in New Mexico. We don t see much problem at all with footrot in California, but it is very prevalent in New Mexico. Dr. Jones: A study reported in Journal of Dairy Science in showed 39 out of 2,000 cows infected in year one and 76 head in year two. In both cases, in weeks 0 to 3, those dairies lost from 2 to 4 lbs. of milk per day. QHow do we treat for footrot? Dr. Berry: It is a disease that, when caught early, can be effectively treated with antibiotics. Dr. Jones: When you start talking about vaccinating, the first question is how frequently am I going to have this animal contracting the disease? If you are talking about a month or two of low milk production, then treat it with antibiotics and get it up and running. Dr. Blackmer: Sometimes the antibiotics are used after the problem has gone on too long and they are just a waste. With all the concern being made over the use of antibiotics in food animals, I don t think we should make the assumption that they will always be available to treat footrot. Dr. Shearer: I have reviewed the literature on the use of feed additives, zinc methionine and biotin, and there appears to be an effect on incidence of footrot. Burgi: The same management and environmental factors that add to problems with the other diseases probably add to footrot. In some cases there are benefits to using vaccines and other treatments, but they don t overcome problems associated with cows standing in moisture for long periods of time or other environmental factors that prevent the cow from being dry and comfortable. Q Are there management and genetics issues to consider when dealing with lameness? Burgi: I will address the genetic predisposition question quickly. Most every farm today has a similar genetic makeup because of AI. If there would be a genetic influence, why do some farms using similar genetics have very low lameness rates? I believe that it all comes down to how we manage our dairy animals. If we manage well, we can manage around anything. Dr. Harper: I don t think genetics are the limiting factor for anything on a dairy. Dr. Berry: I think there are lots of things on dairy cows that are a result of indirect selection. Specifically, selection on milk production has led to a lot of other effects. And I think there is a genetic component to lameness and hoof structure and integrity. Dr. Jones: Part of it is that we push for production and all of a sudden, we realize we have fed too high a ration and the cow is coming up with acidosis and lameness problems. Sometimes scaling back is better than dealing with the health problems associated with high-producing cows. Burgi: I work with this one herd that has lameness levels of less than 2 percent with very high production. Why? It s probably because these cows lay down 14 to 16 hours a day and every aspect of the dairy is managed to the fullest extent. Dr. Berry: Many freestall operations, in order to save land mass, are eliminating dirt exercise pens, and I think this is a mistake for a couple of reasons. One, you get your freestall barns so close together that you reduce air circulation. And second, I think cows benefit from getting on dirt and off concrete social interaction is better and so is heat detection. Thomas: In some areas, nutrient management plans are going to make dirt exercise pens difficult to do. In New York, even moderatesized operations have to have nutrient management plans developed by professionals. They want the exercise areas to be 50 percent to 100 percent vegetated, and that s difficult to do year-round. Dr. Berry: To me, the most injuries I see are from cow comfort issues: where the pavement is too slippery and the cow goes spread-eagle, or cows getting injured going in and out of freestalls. Dr. Blackmer: Those type of injuries occur much too frequently. We have to improve our facilities. Burgi: One thing we haven t begun to look at is the prevalence of sole ulcers and white line lesions when we have slippery floors. I think there is a high correlation between flooring and footing and all the aspects of mechanical lameness or laminitis. Dr. Shearer: Cow handling is another important issue. A New Zealand veterinarian observed that when an individual cow walked across a concrete pad with rocks on the walkway, the cow almost never stepped on the rocks. However, when that same cow and others were crowded together and forced across the same walkway, they frequently stepped on rocks, which can lead to bruising. Dr. Cain: The last comment I have about injury-related lameness is: I see it as structure and design flaws in the freestalls. And I can go clear down to using some pads and stuff on some things. That s the problem I run into, much more so than with genetics. I think I can work with most genetic problems, but I m having a hard time dealing with structural problems. 30 Jersey Julie/July 2012

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35 Sandringham D E U R A n a n d i B r o o k s Kaasfees 2012 Die jaar het ons (Altus en Anandi Brooks) weer Jersey SA gaan verteenwoordig op die Kaasfees. Ons het een koei en `n 3 maande oue kalfie daar gehad. Ons het die jaar besluit om `n suiwer Jersey kaas te laat maak, sodat die mense kan proe hoe romerig en unieke smaak jersey kaas het. Ons het toe `n 3 maande beleë Cheddar laat maak. Almal wat geproe het was verbaas hoe heerlik en romerig die kaas is, en wou net dit koop. Ongelukkig het ons nie so baie laat maak om nog te verkoop ook nie. Elke middag 2 uur het ons die koei gemelk en kon die mense na die tyd die melk vars uit die koei drink. Dit was `n groot aardigheid! Ons het die koei en kalfie partykeer vir `n uitstappie tussen die mense geneem, maar ons het so 2 tree op `n slag gevorder, want almal wou eers aandag gee en foto`s neem. Ons was ook die enigste melkras wat dit met sukses tussen die mense kon doen, omdat Jerseys so pragtige temprament het. Jersey Junie/June

36 Inbreeding of the SA Jersey Breed BY Dr BE Mostert, SA Studbook, PO Box 270, Bloemfontein, 9300 The algorithm of Aguilar & Mistzal (2008) of the University of Georgia is used to calculate inbreeding coefficients as part of the LogixMelk Genetic Evaluation. This algorithm allocates an average inbreeding level (according to the specific generation involved) to unknown parents to give more reliable estimates of inbreeding in comparison to conventional methods that assume unknown parents to be unrelated. In Figure 1 the average inbreeding per year of birth of the SA Jersey breed is indicated. Figure 2: Number of animals born per year and percentage of animals with inbreeding coefficients of more than 6.25% of the SA Jersey breed. It is urgently recommended that Jersey breeders should actively guard against inbreeding and use breeding programs to select bulls that are least related to their cows. Inbreeding robs dairy producers of profit in subtle and insidious ways by reducing conception rates, increasing early embryonic loss, increasing stillbirth rates and by reducing disease resistance. Figure 1: Average inbreeding per year of birth of the SA Jersey breed. Since 1980 inbreeding increased at a rate of 0.14% per year, or 0.70% per generation (assuming a generation interval of 5 years). In Figure 2 the number of animals born per year and number of inbred animals with inbreeding coefficients of more than 6.25%, is indicated. From Figure 2 it is clear that almost a third of the Jerseys born in 2011 had inbreeding coefficients of more than 6.25%. Visit the Jersey SA website for a list of the Active Bulls and their inbreeding values. click on Breeders Resouces and select Inbreeding Coefficient. 36 Jersey Julie/July 2012

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38 Prysuitdelings DINEE Baie dankie aan Meadow Feeds wat die geleentheid jaarliks vir ons borg Danie Giliomee ontvang die prys namens die Overberg Klub vir die Modelklub toekenning. Die nuwe Junior Beoordelaars v.l.n.r Jan van Niekerk, Christon Burger namens Pierre-Jacques Human, Guy Bird & Arno Theron Rosafield Jerseys het die toekenning vir die Poena v Niekerk Wisseltroffee vir die meeste Jersey SA aktiwiteite gekry. V.l.n.r Quinton Simpson namens Rosafield Jerseys en Poena v Niekerk Die Taurus bul van die Jaar Toekenning het gegaan aan Stargazer geteel deur Daan v Niekerk. Op die foto v.l.n.r Guy Bird van Taurus, Daan van Niekerk Elevation Barber Bill Blu ET het die troffee vir die koei met die hoogste totale vastestowwe geproduseer in 305 dae ontvang. V.l.n.r. Kenny v.d Merwe en Dr. Johan Jooste. 38 Jersey Junie/June 2012

39 Manhu Paramount Olympia het die Dennis Solomon Trofee ontvang vir Aktiewe Koei met die hoogste leeftyds produksie vir BF en P. V.l.n.r Kenny v.d Merwe en Jannie Nel. Ander toekennings wat gegee is tydens die geleentheid: Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 2x Melking Waterbron Luger Fancy Tweede Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 2x Melking Waterbron Iatola Loeri Derde Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 2x Melking Mollshoop Sultan Lena Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 3x Melking Rovia Arnold Genstar Tweede Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 3x Melking Watervlak Jasinto Gerda Derde Hoogste Produserende Eerste Laktasie Koei 3x Melking Linto Pencil Tandi 809 Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 2x Melking Elevation Barber Bill Blu - ET Tweede Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 2x Melking Waterbron Paramount Litte Derde Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 2x Melking Mollshoop Ferreira s Emily Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 3x Melking Elevation Jace Morn3 -ET Tweede Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 3x Melking Elevation Lemvig lee - ET Derde Hoogste Produserende Volwasse Koei 3x Melking Elevation Beaver Meta Die Modelkudde Toekenning het gegaan aan J.C.C. Moll van Ficksburg. Hier ontvang Cobus Grobler die toekenning namens Jacques Moll. V.l.n.r Cobus Grobler en Chris Kruger (Meadow Feeds) Die SA Stamboek troffee vir Genetika is gedeel deur Schoongezicht Jerseys en RE Visser. Hier ontvang Mnr Johannes Uys (links) dit namens hulle vanaf Dr. Pierre v Rooyen van SA Stamboek Die tweede plek met die Modelkudde Toekenning het gegaan aan K.C. v.d Merwe van Oudtshoorn. V.l.n.r Kenny v.d Merwe en Chris Kruger (Meadow Feeds) Jersey Junie/June

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41 Taurus KI bul seleksie Seleksie van n jong Jersey bul om n KI bul te word is tradisioneel gebaseer op teelwaardes en kennis van suksesvolle koei families. SA Jersey speel n groot rol in seleksie van jong bulle op grond van hul stambome en teelwaardes. Vandag maak ons ook gebruik van genomiese toetse, wat die pre-seleksie van jong bulle wat nageslag getoets gaan word baie meer akkuraat te maak, aangesien die akkuraatheid van teelwaardes omtrent dubbel so akkuraat is as die stamboom alleen. Om die beste jong bulle te idenitifiseer bly egter n kombinasie van doelgerigte beplanning, mense met n werklike talent vir Jersey teling, effektiewe gebruik van tegnologie, en natuurlik n bietjie geluk. Taurus volg n baie streng seleksie proses om uiteindelik net die beste Jersey bulle aan die mark beskikbaar te stel. Vir elke bul wat Taurus aankoop word omtrent 40 bulletjies oorweeg, en besluite word gemaak met die hulp van kundiges. Jersey SA help Taurus om die beste stambome te identifiseer om jong bulle genomies te toets, maar baie telers stuur self hulle bulle se DNA weg en lê dan die beste resultate aan Taurus voor. Gedurende die pre-kwarantyn proses vind verdere seleksie op semen kwaliteit en siektevrye status plaas sodat Taurus net siekte-vrye semen met baie hoë kwaliteit morfologie, bakteriologie en motiliteit aan die mark beskikbaar stel. Nog n gevolg van die baie hoë standaarde is dat Taurus die enigste geregistreerde uitvoer KI stasie in Suid-Afrika is. Taurus toets meer bulle per dosis semen verkoop as enige ander KI stasie in die wêreld. Hierdie oortoets het tot gevolg dat n wye verskeidenheid beproefde bulle vir verskillende markte beskikbaar is. Bulle soos Luger, Banger, Fan, en Bono is goeie voorbeelde van die resultaat van baie bulle toets, Rocket Milly (94%), moeder van Maddox wat akkuraat geselekteer is. n Moontlike nadeel van n KI stasie wat oortoets is om genoeg dogters van elke bul te hê, maar met Luger se 1500 dogters (2de oes) en Banger se 130 dogters word die balans gelukkig gehou. Die genomiese bulle se nuwe rangorde verduidelik hoe die standaard van bulle wat selekteer word, aanhou verhoog. Met die nuwe Jersey ontledings en vier nuwe genomiese bulletjies beskikbaar is dit weer tyd dat ons na die nuwe top lys kyk. Ons kombineer die genomiese en SAINET (ouer gemiddeld) waardes 50:50. Die genomika is deur Igenity gedoen en die formule van langslewendheid + dogtervrugbaarheid SST + (2 x melk) + kg vet + kg proteïen toegepas. Die SAINET het n ingeboude tipe faktor en is met n nuwe BLUP metode wat variansie komponente hanteer gedoen, wat later ryp bloedlyne beter hanteer. RANG- BUL GENOMIESE SAINET TOTAAL ORDE TELLING Shaya Lions Lambo Len Robin Maddox Die nuwe proewe, gekombineer met genomiese uitslae, dui duidelik die steeds groeiende standaard aan. Die indeks weerspieël nie alle Jersey boere se seleksie doelwitte nie, maar is n goed gebalanseerde formule om die beste tipe, produksie en bestuurseienskappe te identifiseer. Die Genomiese bulletjies is as groep soveel beter as die nageslag beproefde bulle, dat indien hulle as n groep gebruik word, die meerderwaardigheid opmaak vir die effens hoër risiko. Gebruik tot 50 % van jou semen behoeftes die genomiese bulle om die vinnigste geneties vordering te maak. Kyk ook oor n paar maande uit vir semen van nog jong bulle wat Taurus reeds aangekoop het: Hotline is n Headline uit Golde van Poena van Niekerk John en Cyril Walker se Fantom uit n MB Future met die hoogste genomiese melk produksie tot op hede. Riaan Strydom se Broiler uit Hot 37 Legal x Artist uit Glynton se Noel familie Taurus, jou vennoot in genetiese vooruitgang, toetsbulle vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Jersey boer! Jersey Julie/July

42 BY Peter Durham How to manage data integrity in a large herd some ideas used at Glynton Jerseys 42 Jersey Julie/July 2012

43 As Stud Breeders the Integrity of our data is an extremely important aspect of our business. Any breakdown in this aspect will ultimately have an impact on our herd s value and the way other breeders will view our herd. Often this aspect is compromised, as our herds have grown and the pressure on the day to day management grows. It is not to say that we do not care about it, but often what happens is that we do not have the protocols and systems in place to cope with this growth and extra pressure. In addition farmer s being the more practical sort, rather than office tiffies and results in the data capture and paperwork taking a back seat. Some of the systems that we have in place could benefit our fellow breeders. Inseminations 1. You need some plastic bank bags and a roll of selfadhesive labels 2. When the inseminator is done he places that days used straws into a packet, writes the date on it, plus each cow number and the bull used next to it onto the packet. 3. The same details are written into the AI book either before or after AI ing 4. When the data is entered into the computer or whatever other data capture mechanism is used, then the straws are checked and verified against the packet label and AI book before data capture takes place. 5. That way you at least ensure that you start the process with a verification procedure and if there is an error it is sorted out there and then whilst still fresh in everyone s memory. 6. Finally what we have been doing for the past few years is posting used straws of any new bull to Unistel Laboratory for them to do a DNA profile. It does not cost anything as Monroe Marx would like to build up his own profiles on these bulls. The big advantage of this is that should you have a parentage verification query at a later date, they have the profile available for you to use. They can also run it against any of the bulls that you may have been using at that time. Calving The second phase that is critical is the correct identification of calves at birth. 1. Here you need to have the wrist bands that they use in hospitals they are cheap and can be bought at any medical wholesalers. 2. Print out the cows and heifer numbers that are due to calve the following month. 3. Write each cow number on a baby band and if you plan to keep the calf if it is a bull calf write the letter K on the band as well. 4. Place these bands in an old 25 L container with its side cut open on 3 sides to keep them dry and hang it up close to the calving areas to be easily accessible. 5. The person who checks the calvings and gives the calf its colostrum then signs the band before attaching it to its leg. 6. A calf can then be traced back to that person if she develops early scours as a result of not feeding colostrum or not ensuring that the colostrum is managed hygienically. 7. This band stays on the calf till it is in the pen and is tattooed or written on the individual pens. 8. Tattoo calves on a regular basis to ensure that permanent identification is done before mistakes happen. (Metal ear clip tags can help as an interim measure but this requires additional data capture and more room for errors) 9. Wherever possible, calve cows down in separate paddocks to ensure cows do not steal each other s calves otherwise ensure that the responsible person attaches the bands immediately after birth. 10. Lime these paddocks periodically to ensure disease build up is limited. Some Other Tips 1. Note the Days in Calf when the cow calved to ensure that she calved to the AI that she is In Calf to as at times she may have calved to a previous AI. 2. If heifers are running with a bull ensure that the date the bull entered and was taken out of the herd are diarised at the back of the AI book or some other place for safe keeping. 3. Ensure that there is a 3 week gap between one bull being removed and another entering the group to enable you to identify the sire accurately if conceived to that transition period. 4. Make use of a Gestation and Interval Calculator this can be bought at the Hoards Dairyman Shop over the Internet along with some other useful publications. www. hoards.com This makes easy calculation of insemination date from a known calving date to verify your data. Jersey Julie/July

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47 Judge: Poena van Niekerk Photos: Wayne Southwood Grand Champion Cow; Senior Champion Cow; Senior Champion Udder; Best Udder on Show; Super Cow RUBICON ROCKETS JANE Lotz & Theron Sire: O.F. Barber Rocket Dam: Soete-Drome Berretta s Jane 1st oyal Show R oyal Show Reserve Grand Champion Cow; Champion Young Cow; Champion Young Cow Udder JONSSON LEGACY SNOWFLAKE J Jonsson Sire: Hollylane Lilibet s Legacy ET Dam: Jonssons Paragons Snowcloud Champion High Producer; Reserve Senior Champion Udder; Reserve Senior Champion CINTON GOLDEN CINDY 3RD A.D. Schwikkard Sire: Golden Boy of Ferreira Dam: Cinton Declo Cindy 1 Champion Aged Cow SELDOM-HOME TALENT 2003 Q.N. Simpson Sire: Au Glenwood Talent - ET Dam: Seldom-Home Hermit Age 832 Reserve Champion Young Cow; Reserve Champion Young Cow Udder UMOBA ACTION FIONA E35 W.J. Woolridge Sire: Forest Glen Avery Action ET Dam: Umoba Tsunami s Fiona A25 Junior Champion Cow ROSAFIELD JORDAN PARIS Rosafield Jerseys Sire: Summetz Jace Jordan ET Dam: Rosafield Rocket Paris Jersey Junie/June

48 Royal Show Champion Heifer ROSAFIELD JORDANS FRAN Rosafield Jerseys Sire: Summetz Jace Jordan ET Dam: Jonssons Rogues Francisco Reserve High Producer TETBURY IATOLA LOBELLIA R.H. Bruton Sire: SC Gold Dus Paramount Iatola Dam: Rosafield Golden Lobellia 2nd Reserve Champion Heifer TETBURY HEADLINE KATHERINE R.H. Bruton Sire: Schultz Rescue Headline ET Dam: Tetbury Illustrious Katherine Reserve Junior Champion Cow TETBURY LS QUALITY R.H. Bruton Sire: Tetbury Lobellia Sultan Dam: Tetbury GLC Quality SA Jersey Tarrifs 2012: Breeders FULL COLOUR Full Page (A4) R1 610 Half Page (A5) R1 200 Quarter Page R 600 Eighth Page R 200 CLOSING DATES September 31 August December 16 November Jersey SA, P.O. Box , Brandhof, 9324 Tel: , Fax: , tessa@jerseysa.co.za Contact person: Tessa Opperman 48 Jersey Junie/June 2012

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50 Kampioenskappe Beoordelaar: Danie Giliomee Foto s: Wayne Southwood Noordelike Groot Kampioen Koei; Reserwe Beste Uier; Kampioen Hoë Produseerder; Senior Kampioen Koei; Reserwe Senior Kampioen Uier RUBICON ROCKET S JANE Lotz & Theron Moeder: Soete-Drome Berretta s Jane 1st Vader: O.F. Barber Rocket ET Beste Uier; Reserwe Jongkoei Kampioen; Kampioen Jongkoei Uier SPRINGBOURNE DELCO S IDA Omikron Boerdery Moeder: Springbourne Saber s Ida Vader: Omikron Action Delco Reserwe Groot Kampioen Koei; Kampioen Jong Koei; Reserwe Kampioen Jongkoei Uier; Reserwe Hoë Produseerder MANHU MECCA WANDA Driedoring Jersey Trust Moeder: Manhu Berretta Wanda Vader: Sunset Canyon Mecca ET Reserwe Senior Kampioen Koei; Senior Kampioen Uier SCHOONGEZICHT ROCKET LASS Driedoring Jersey Trust Moeder: Schoongezicht Lester Lass Vader: O.F. Barber Rocket ET Reserwe Junior Kampioen Koei; Reserwe Junior Kampioen Uier SPRINGBOURNE INKOSI S KIDDIE Omikron Boerdery Moeder: Springbourne Leland Kiddie Vader: Glynton Iatola Inkosie ET Kampioen Junior Koei; Junior Kampioen Uier VOORLOPER MEGATON BEAU Lotz & Theron Moeder: Voorloper Sultan Beau 2 Vader: Glynton Blair Megaton 50 Jersey Junie/June Julie/July 2012

51 Noordelike Kampioen Vers MANHU REBEL BELLE PJ Human Goedgelee Bdy Moeder: Manhu Detective Belle Vader: O.F. Mannix Rebel Reserwe Kampioen Vers DRIEDORING T-BONE SWEETY Driedoring Jerseys Moeder: Driedoring legacy Sweety Vader: Richies Jace Tbone A ET Notice Kennisgewing Die September uitgawe van SA Jersey, gaan handel oor Koei families. Kontak ons met jou koei families en om n advertensie te plaas. The September is of SA Jersey, will be all about cow families. So please contact us with your cow families and to place an advert. Jersey Junie/June Julie/July

52 Kampioenskappe Beoordelaar: Cobus Behrens Assistant: Rob Slater Groot Kampioen Koei; Senior Kampioen Koei; Senior Kampioen Uier AVONDROOD ACE MANDA Avondgloed Trust Moeder: Avondrood Lomu Manda Vader: Senn Sational Paramount Ace Reserwe Groot Kampioen Koei; Junior Kampioen Koei; Junior Kampioen Uier TIERWIL MIKES S CINDY Tierkloof Boerdery Moeder: Tierwil Cindy Vader: Tree Valleys Country Miles Kaapland Reserwe Senior Kampioen Koei; Reserwe Senior Kampioen Uier LOUSCH BADGER GUN Dr. W.A. Putter Moeder: Lousch Gun 0333 Vader: Beulah Taranak Badger ET Kampioen Jong Koei SOLDERSKRAAL NAPKEI CHARISMATIC S ALIDA Solderskraal Jerseys Moeder: Napkei Belelendeen s Alida Vader: Bridon Sambo Charismatic ET 52 Jersey Junie/June Julie/July 2012 Kampioen Oukoei AVONDROOD BEAN TWIGGY Avondgloed Trust Moeder: Avondrood Jas Fan Twiggy 1 Vader: Spring View Mr Bean Reserwe Kampioen Jong Koei AVONDROOD BADGER WINA Avondgloed Trust Moeder: Avondrood Jack Wina Vader: Beulah Taranak Badger ET

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55 Kaapland Kampioen Jongkoei Uier TIERWIL REVENGE S MAUD Tierkloof Boerdery Moeder: Tierwil Lasso Maud Vader: Schoongezicht 0151 Rocket s Revenge ET Kampioen Vers KOPPIE EXPLOIT MANDY 14 H Uys Moeder: Cohanma Permiter Mandy Vader: Bridon Jade s Exploit ET Reserwe Kampioen Jongkoei Uier DOORNVLEI ICON FULL Doornvlei Jerseys Moeder: Doornvlei XF Vader: Renstof Ingrid s Golden Icon Reserwe Junior Kampioen Koei; Reserwe Junior Kampioen Uier SERENE HARVEST ROBIN Serene Jerseys Moeder: Serene Iatola s Hotshot Vader: Sunset Canyon Golden Harvest ET Reserwe Kampioen Vers KLUITJIESKRAAL XF A.J. Schoonwinkel Moeder: Kluitjieskraal XF 3107 Vader: Oomsdale Jace Gratude Gannon - ET All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow. Grant Wood Kampioenskappe Jersey Junie/June Julie/July

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57 Nasionale Jersey Jeugskou Die Boy Human Wisseltroffee vir die beste span het gegaan aan die VS A Span Groot Kampioen en Reserwe Groot Kampioen. V.l.n.r Peter Durham -President Jersey SA, Kleinjan Marais, Daniel v Niekerk, Poena v Niekerk & Serena Lombaard van ABS Junior Kampioen en Reserwe Junior Kampioen. Die vers wat as prys gewen is, is geskenk deur Nonna Trust. V.l.n.r Tineke v Zyl & Comien v Niekerk. Die Senior Kampioen en Reserwe Senior Kampioen. Die vers wat as prys gewen is, is geskenk deur Tierwil Jerseys. V.l.n.r. Daniel v Niekerk & Kleinjan Marais. Die Groep Klas is gewen deur die Suid-Kaap Span. Zander Barnard; Kleinjan Marais, Darius de Wet Serena Lombaard & MC Smith ABS Jersey Julie/July

58 Die Seniors in die Skouring Die Vrystaat Span Die Juniors in die Skouring Natal Team Die beoordelaars Overberg Span Suid- Oos Kaap Span 58 Jersey Julie/July 2012

59 Dairy news from around the world BY Jannie Nel Vitamin D could serve as natural mastitis remedy Lower price from cautious Fonterra The first new season price announcement has confirmed rumours that farmgate prices will be less than last season with Fonterra announcing its opening price will be in the range of $4-$4.30 per kilogram of milk solids. However, results from the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction and encouraging statements from dairy Australia regarding strong global demand suggest processors are being cautious, not pessimistic. Fonterra released a statement saying it expected the final farmgate return for 2012/13 to be 15 cents/kg MS either side of $4.75/kg MS. Last year, the company opened at $4.65/kg MS and is currently paying $5.30/kg MS. Fonterra Australia managing director Simon Bromell said global supply and demand played a key role in the company s market outlook for 2012/13. Globally, strong milk production has now run ahead of demand since early this year, which has created a short-term surplus of milk, he said. This has in turn caused commodity prices to soften. Currently demand has eased slightly as the global economy slows, but we expect this to recover into Dairy Australia manager strategy and knowledge Joanne Bills said there had been a complete switch between demand and supply on the international market. In the past few years price increases have been driven by demand, now this has reversed with additional supply driving prices lower, Bills said. In the Southern Hemisphere we are seeing lots of clearing of stocks as the season comes to a close, while the Northern Hemisphere is gearing up for another year of strong production. Mastitis is the most costly and common disease in the U.S. and costs the economy $2 billion each year. Since the disease reduces milk production, quality and income, effective treatment methods are crucial. Antibiotics are often used to treat mastitis, but new research may have found a natural remedy. Scientists at the ARS National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa discovered that Vitamin D delays and lessens the severity of mastitis infection. They used a natural form of vitamin D, prehormone 25-hydroxyvitamin D, that is found in blood. One group of cows received vitamin D by infusion directly into the infected quarter and another group received no treatment. The result showed that, in the early phase of treatment, cows treated with vitamin D ha a significant reduction in bacterial counts and fewer clinical sign of severe infection than untreated cows. Additionally, milk production was greater in the treated cows. The research also suggests that vitamin D could potentially reduce other bacterial and viral diseases such as respiratory tract infections dairy- cattlevitamin-d.html Jersey Junie/June

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