Whereas

Whereas breeders are constantly looking for better cows and ways to select the right animals to breed;

Whereas Holstein Quebec and its clubs are always looking for the best ways to honor the production of their cows;

Whereas Lactanet now publishes an annual report with the kg of components and the production and dollar value per day of life on the animal’s birth date

Therefore

Therefore, Lactanet is asked to work in collaboration with Holstein Canada to make it possible to have lists of the best cows, either in dollars per day of life according to the animal’s birth date, or in kg of components per day of life according to the animal’s birth date, by province and by club.

Whereas

Whereas if breeders do not contribute to the services, no data will be collected and the value of genetic evaluations will be affected;

Whereas breeders pay for services to access data (classification, milk recording);

Whereas all producers benefit from this data, regardless of their level of contribution to genetic services;

Whereas it is the insemination centers that truly benefit from the data for the evaluation of the bulls.

Therefore

Therefore, Lactanet, Holstein Canada, and the insemination centers are asked to find a solution to the inequity that disadvantages breeders who contribute to the services, and therefore pay more, and/or to ensure a return to breeders who contribute to the services.

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