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Dairy producers to gain from genomic feed efficiency study data

A University of Wisconsin researcher says their dairy genomic feed efficiency study will help farmers reduce future production costs.

Dr. Kent Weigel

Dr. Kent Weigel tells Brownfield producers will see useful information from the study soon, so they can get more milk from less feed.  “What you’ll see, probably in December, are sire summaries for dairy cattle or more likely in April of next year, our genetic predictions for what’s called feed saved.”

Weigel tells Brownfield most of the weighing, measuring, and body scoring of nearly 8-thousand cows is done, and they’re working with the data.  ““We’re now working with USDA and the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding to try and translate this research into routine genetic predictions that farmers can use for their selection decisions for buying semen, or for deciding what heifer calves to keep and cull, and that sort of thing.”

Weigel says even modest genetic progress for improving feed efficiency can save farmers hundreds of millions of pounds of feed every year, saving a lot of money.

 

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