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Dairy Event and Livestock Show 6 & 7 September at the NEC
We are most grateful to those stalwarts who have come forward to support the British Friesian classes of Junior and Senior Cow on Wednesday the 7th. Judging commences at 10am.
Members of the Club will be in attendance on the Holstein and British Friesian (HUK) stand in the Cattle Shed, and hope very much that you will come and visit us there. South West Dairy Show 5 October
Once again we will be in attendance on the HUK stand, next to the show ring as last year, but now alongside rather than at the far end. HYB Workshops
We were delighted that the first workshop was held on a British Friesian farm, and pleased to report on the useful day it proved to be. Youngsters of all ages were given detailed explanation of classification, coached in the art of placing cows and giving reasons, clipping and understanding bull proofs. With fewer and fewer dairy farmers we are encouraging all our youngsters to join in with their local club, and benefit from their specific events. After all a good cow is a good cow, whatever its identity, and most principles apply across all black and whites. Hopefully this should lead to a greater understanding and closer integration within the Society. Bull Progeny Competition
We would like to remind you that entries close on the 27 August, so time’s running out! If you have lost your entry form, do get in touch with our Secretary.
Following discussion at a recent committee meeting, it has been decided to change the rules of this competition in order to encourage more entries and, hopefully, widen genetic diversity. The condition that the bull HAS to be alive will be removed, and an alternative option of semen available, included. Please see entry forms for full details. Langley herd visit
The visit was much enjoyed and our thanks to John Carnell and his family for hosting it. Blue Tongue
It is good to learn that the country has been declared Blue Tongue free. So let’s hope we can remain so! Cross breeding
Not all of you receive British Dairying, so we are repeating a response on behalf of our breed. We apologise if some of it is repetitive but the opportunity to reach a wider audience through the magazine was not to be missed! ‘The debate over cross breeding is certainly timely (Graham Waterman’s article, ‘Strategy for Improving Dairy Herd Performance’ British Dairying, June 2011). He argued against the need for crossing on the Holstein, maintaining that yield and value of the herd would be compromised, and that there is a wide enough choice of genetics within the breed.
However, the reasons given by those seeking to cross-breed are poor fertility and a general lack of robustness. Calving intervals have lengthened substantially and replacements are scarce. These costs are burdensome and for some the need to change direction is urgent.
There are those who claim the problems can be corrected with better management, but the evidence is growing that there really is an issue with the modern black and white cow.
A review of the SAC’s Langhill herd data confirms that ‘selection for increased milk production unequivocally leads to deterioration in genetic merit for fertility and condition score’. Dr Dick Esslemont (of ‘DAISY’ fame) has recently quantified the resultant costs at 7ppl, equivalent to £55,000 for an average size herd on average yields of about 7,500. To earn a margin of this order, cows would have to yield an extra 3,000 to 4,500 litres of milk, depending on the start point.
Ultimately, the strength of any breed is in its commercial application. The idea that ‘one size fits all’ was always inappropriate, considering the varied systems of milk production and skills in the UK, and the importance of grass based systems for low cost production in the face of competition from the Emerald Isle!
Those of us who have seen the importance of maintaining the diversity of traits to be found in the British Friesian cow, now see from the greatly increased sales of semen that many farmers are choosing the British Friesian to improve fertility, longevity and income from male calves, whilst retaining the inherent value of the black and white cow.
Even within the pedigree world, farmers are taking advantage of the unique position of the British Friesian within the HUK herd book to re-balance their cows. The HUK open herd book allows for the registration of both breeds; the breed code for Holsteins is 01, and for British Friesians 20. For the latter, 87.5% British Friesian is the qualification. (NZ Friesians are unlikely to qualify.) The breeds are evaluated together for production and type and breed code 20s are then re-run on their own base. The same genetic data for fitness traits is available for the British Friesian as for the Holstein and, although evaluation comparison across breed is not recommended, the very substantial difference in Fertility Index of 9 points in favour of the British Friesian cannot be ignored.
Biologists recognise the need for wide genetic diversity to sustain a healthy population. Inbreeding in the American Holstein has now reached 6%. It is only the amount of Friesian in the back pedigrees of some UK animals that has delayed this fate for the UK herd. Fortunately, the DairyCo Breeding does at least provide the means to identify the inbreeding % for each animal in the herd, whether pedigree or not, provided that official milk records have been kept up. As a result, any savvy farmer with a black and white herd can use the information from the superb HUK website, together with the inbreeding data to improve the quality of their herd.
The importance of genetic diversity cannot be emphasised enough. It is well established that inbreeding leads to lack of disease resistance and the risk of genetic defects. Of course, we need data for evaluating bulls, but the ranking by index method has resulted in closer breeding and the methodology needs urgent attention. Although we now have a much improved PLI, with more emphasis on fitness traits, the existing index, which is reset every five years to speed up so called genetic gain, still compounds the problem, and even more so as genomics are introduced to move even faster. The precautionary principle should be applied to any new experiment, for this is essentially what Index breeding and the use of genomics, is.
There are questions to be asked about just who benefits from this new technology in the light of the substantial commercial interests involved. Some even predict the use of genomics will lead to the demise of the Breed Societies, as they seek to control our futures. This should be a wake up call to HUK. The first Society importations from the FRS herd book, in 1914, were selected for functional type, and in the early days these pioneering dairy farmers saw to it that strict control was maintained. Times have certainly changed with the ‘internationalisation’ of cattle breeding. Considering the tremendous part that the Society has played over the past 100 years in developing the black and white cow, we would hope it will find continuing support from our UK dairy farmers, as it offers such diversity of genetics from Holstein through to British Friesian.’
Mary Mead, British Friesian Breeder.
For sale/wanted
31 August - Dispersal sale for FD Pullen and son at Home Farm, Brookfield Lane, Churchdown, Glos. GL3 2PS
Tel 01452 712346 Wanted
Friesian sale catalogues – Oakenhurst 1974, Grove 1983, Ullswater 1989 and any Dalton catalogues.
Steve Grundy 07541 209863 Stop press
Tuesday October 25 at Bristol Sales Centre (1 mile J17 M5) there will be a special section for British Friesian cattle in this popular monthly fixture. Enquiries to T Brooksbank :07836 592501 or G Richards 07768 020393
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