Whereas

Whereas the problem of Crampy has been known for many years, particularly in the Holstein breed;

Whereas this problem has been the subject of initial research, but insufficient data has prevented the presentation of results satisfactory to breeders;

Whereas the lack of transparency and the absence of concrete actions taken within the industry to prevent the condition from spreading have made Crampy a problem whose prevalence is neither negligible nor without economic consequences for breeders;

Whereas the limited data available, particularly the prevalence in a bull’s offspring, is relatively inaccessible, as it is presented in a format that is not easy for most breeders to understand.

Therefore

Therefore, Lactanet and the various partners involved are asked to modify the display of genetic evaluations by improving the transparency and accessibility of information concerning Crampy in bulls and cows.

Whereas

Whereas the problem of Crampy has been known for many years, particularly in the Holstein breed;

Whereas this problem has been the subject of initial research, but insufficient data has prevented the presentation of results satisfactory to breeders;

Whereas the lack of transparency and the absence of concrete actions taken within the industry to prevent the condition from spreading have made Crampy a problem whose prevalence is neither negligible nor without economic consequences for breeders;

Therefore

Therefore, Lactanet and various industry partners are requested to continue the data collection effort and research on Crampy, including (but not limited to) using trained people to visit farms and collect more accurate information on affected animals, the specificities of the phenotype observed in these animals, and through additional study related to pedigrees, as well as data collection related to the pathophysiology of the condition in different affected animals.

Whereas

Whereas of the 100 Brown Swiss bulls available in Canada, only 5 have a Semen Fertility value;

Whereas only 23 Brown Swiss bulls have a Semen Fertility value in the Lactanet genetics database;

Whereas it currently takes 100 first inseminations with convention semen by A.I. technicians over a period of 12 months to have a publishable Semen Fertility value;

Whereas all matings made outside the A.I. technician network are excluded when the bull has sexed semen available during the said 12-month period:

Whereas if the number of 100 conventional first inseminations is not maintained for the new 12-month period, the Semen Fertility value is no longer publishable;

Whereas the majority of Brown Swiss breeders store semen for future use;

Whereas there is a reasonable threshold for the percentage of reliability of this trait;

Whereas semen fertility has an impact on the pregnancy rate in the herd.

Therefore

Therefore, Lactanet is asked to look at what can be done to ensure that a greater number of bulls have a publishable Semen Fertility value and that the latter remains so

Whereas

Whereas the CDN website is an indispensable tool for many breeders in Canada,

Whereas this site presents the required information in a concise manner,

Whereas that on its website Holstein Canada has changed the destination of the CDN link to the Lactanet genetic evaluation summary page,

Whereas that breeders should have the choice of quickly consulting either of the sites by clicking on the link of their choice, and

Whereas that speed and convenience of consultation are important to breeders.

Therefore

Therefore, it is requested from Lactanet and Holstein Canada that the link between the Holstein Canada site and the CDN genetic evaluation summary page be restored and that modifications be made to the Lactanet portal to improve ease of consultation, simplicity and clarity.

Note:
Lactanet recently conducted an extensive survey to better understand the user experiences and areas of the Genetics section of the Lactanet website needing improvement. Regardless of how Holstein Canada wishes to address this request, Lactanet will be fully transitioning away from the former CDN website, when appropriate to do so.

Whereas

Whereas we see a lot of stiffness symptoms in our cows from good Holstein sires,

Whereas the considerable financial losses caused by the premature culling of these cows,

Whereas that in cows more slightly affected, production decreases, which is a negative impact on their well being and the profitability of our business,

Whereas that rearing costs are constantly on the rise,

Whereas that this syndrome has been known for more than 60 years (Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine – June 1956 – J G Lafortune – Une affection spasmodique des bovins),

Whereas that inbreeding is on the rise and that a genetic cause is conceivable,

Whereas that breeders have voluntarily contributed to this study, and

Whereas that Lactanet should have completed the data collection phase begun in 2021 aimed at understanding the prevalence of this syndrome and developing new tools and strategies to reduce the expression of this syndrome, which is too costly for breeders.

Therefore

Therefore it is requested that Lactanet, Holstein Canada and the Dairy Farmers of Canada publish a progress report.

Note:
The information collected from Canadian dairy farmers is currently the topic of a graduate student’s project at the University of Guelph to determine if the development of a national genetic evaluation system is warranted. Depending on the outcome of the research, a national system for the collection of Crampy data may be developed and implemented.

Whereas…

Whereas Lactanet’s genetics services are funded by breed associations and artificial insemination centers.

Whereas the main users of the Lactanet site are Canadian breeders.

Whereas they require quick access to their data.

Whereas the ease of use of the Lactanet site should have a beneficial effect on the number of visits to the site by Canadian producers.

Therefore…

Therefore, it is proposed that the list of offspring of an animal be, by default, the list of its Canadian offspring and optionally its international offspring.

Whereas…

Whereas the composite index system for major type traits is not perfect.

Whereas the composite system allows bulls to benefit from bonuses in their indexes, by possessing a quality in a defect of the breed.

Whereas the composite system inflicts penalties on bulls for having a common defect with the breed.

Whereas modifying the genetic indices with bonuses and penalties completely distorts the understanding of the individual.

Whereas modifying a genetic index to help a breed out of genetic tendencies (straight legs, short teats, taller stature) is not the only way Lactanet has.

Whereas modifying a genetic index to help a breed get out of genetic tendencies (straight legs, short teats, tall stature) makes some breeders feel like they are being mothered by Lactanet.

Whereas some breeders feel bereaved following the disappearance of linear indices in the major criteria; a benchmark from field data that allowed them to better cross their animals, (including exhibition).

Whereas some A.I. centers have already followed suit to carry out so-called composite matings, by mating males and females with the desirable traits together and thus get a maximum of bonuses to fictitiously boost the proof of their young bulls.

Whereas this will lead to the next way of getting bulls that are over-evaluated.

Whereas current breed defects (straight legs, short teats, tall stature) originated from breeders who only mated the best animals together based on total indexes (TPI, LPI, PRO$, CONF) regardless of inbreeding or to conformation criteria and not to the breeding choices of breeders-selectors.

Therefore…

Therefore, it is proposed to ask Lactanet to make the linear indexes of the major type traits available for consultation by the user somewhere on their site (new column, separate tab, etc.)

It will never be asked to abolish the composite indexes, but it would be interesting for any breeder to be able to compare, if he wishes, the two types of indexes for the major type traits for the same bull for example. We thought that presenting in this way is very possible. This is in the spirit of consultation and comparison of major indexes. All with the aim of making the best purchase first, and to mate our animals even better. Raising a heifer costs over $4000 today with inflation, it is better to know more than not enough before making our purchases and our inseminations.

Whereas…

Whereas the Relative Breeding Value (RBV) for the trait MILKING SPEED is based on subjective evaluations, without direct measurement, made in first lactation.

Whereas the person doing the subjective assessment is not always a person who does the milking, and therefore not able to offer a fair assessment.

Whereas acow can be evaluated with a fast milking speed (desirable) because her milk production is low and conversely, a cow can be evaluated with a slow milking speed (undesirable) because her milk production is high.

Whereas genetic selection based on the RBV for MILKING SPEED, mostly on young bulls with a genomic evaluation, offers disappointing and inconsistent results for this trait in the barns.

Whereas withrobotic milking systems, the amount of milk and/or fat per minute from each cow influences the economic performance of the herd.

Whereas with these systems, productive and fast milking cows are preferred.

Whereas many milking systems offer accurate milking speed data from which it is possible to calculate a produced amount of milk and/or fat per minute for all milkings of each animal.

Therefore…

Therefore, it isproposed that Lactanet develop a new genetic index based on objective milking system data, measuring the ability of cows to give a high milk yield quickly that would be expressed as a Relative Breeding Value (RBV), based on a calculation of the amount of fat produced per minute of milking.  This new index would set aside any subjective evaluation and replace the current index.

Whereas…

Whereas the raw production of animals is not published (except on an individual basis). Those raw data always seem to be modified before being published;

Whereas LPI and Pro$ do not always represent the actual ability of daughters to generate the optimum income earned from the milk volume and the components produced. (The true on-farm profitability);

Whereas the genetic indexes decrease as the animals get older and directly influence the value of those animals, even if they deliver very good performances as well as very good progeny.

Therefore…

Therefore it is proposed to ask Lactanet to develop an index that reflects the performances of the sires offered by insemination centres based exclusively on the raw data collected on farms (milk volume, components, classification). This would allow to compare the sires with one another according to the revenues generated by the production of their daughters, the latter being compared to their herd mates.

Whereas…

Whereas the COMPASS program is a great tool to assist Canadian dairy breeders and;

Whereas the current program provides a list of bulls and a herd inventory but not a mating report and;

Whereas breeders must release their herd inventory to an artificial insemination company to get a mating report and;

Whereas all Ontario licensed dairy farms pay a check off to Lactanet’s subsidiary, Ontario DHI, and farms using milk recording services pay Lactanet for that service, yet those farms cannot access their data through Compass to generate their own mating report and;

Whereas breeders should have the choice to use their herd data to create mating reports without commercial bias and create such reports as frequently as they want without having to consult an artificial insemination company.

Therefore…

Therefore, be it resolved that COMPASS be designed to allow breeders, or their chosen advisors, to create a mating report based on their sire criteria and with consideration for inbreeding and haplotypes and that the mating recommendations can be sent to the Lactanet mobile application.