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New figures published today to help cattle become more TB resistant

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 14:14:07 GMT

A brand new genetic index for Holstein bulls – the TB Advantage – has been published today (19 January) by AHDB Dairy. The index represents the culmination of months of research using hundreds of thousands of cow records, and will help dairy farmers breed improved resistance to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) into their herds.

Expressed on a scale which typically runs from -3 to +3, many of the highest Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) bulls also have a good positive score for TB Advantage (see tables).

“PLI has been a national breeding goal for UK dairy farmers for a number of years and the high scoring PLI bulls have generally come through with very good indexes for TB Advantage,” says Marco Winters, head of genetics for AHDB Dairy. “This is both reassuring – in that it indicates cattle breeding is already heading in the right direction – and unsurprising, since health and fitness traits represent an important component of PLI.”

In fact, health and fitness represent around 68 per cent of PLI, and analysis has shown there’s a favourable correlation between the TB Advantage and general health and fitness.

Furthermore, Mr Winters remarks that the youngest sires with the most modern genetics, on average have the highest TB Advantage, with scores ranging from -2.2 to +3.3 for the actively marketed group.

“This is another positive trend and a further demonstration that progress in breeding is being made,” he says.

In fact, from a complete dataset of bulls whose average TB Advantage is zero, only the best bulls are marketed to UK farmers, which explains why the average TB Advantage for all actively marketed bulls is +1.

“All of this means that UK farmers will have plenty of choice when selecting bulls to breed their dairy replacements, and suggests that the bulls with the poorest indexes for TB Advantage, as with other key traits, will never reach the market,” he says.

However, he is keen to remind breeders to keep any single trait index in context, and to use it only as part of a broader breeding strategy which takes on board all of the considerations which are important to a business.

Furthermore, he remarks: “Farmers should be aware that the reliability of the TB Advantage – or its likelihood of not changing over time as more data is added – is not as high as for most other indexes.

“This reflects the fact that bovine TB is not a problem for many of the countries with which we traditionally share genetic information so we are using a smaller dataset than would be the case when assessing many other traits.

“Of course, this doesn’t mean the index won’t be valuable in predicting future performance and if all other traits are equal, it would definitely be preferable to use a bull with a positive TB Advantage,” he says.

The new index has been widely endorsed across the farming industry who see it as an effective long-term strategy which will have cumulative benefits over the generations.

However, all are equally keen to point out that current disease control measures must continue to be adhered to as part of the UK’s bTB eradication strategy.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Minister of State, George Eustice, said: “England has the highest incidence of bovine TB in Europe which is why we are taking strong action to deliver our 25-year strategy to eradicate the disease through tighter cattle measures, improved biosecurity and badger control in areas where the disease is rife.

“Reducing the risk of disease entering a farm is crucial to end the devastation bovine TB causes for farmers and rural communities.

“We welcome the new AHDB TB Advantage index which can help dairy farmers select bulls for their herd.”

Top 20 daughter-proven bulls ranked on Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) showing new TB Advantage (January 2016)

Rank	£PLI	£PLI Rel %	Bull Name	TB Adv	TB Rel %	Company GB	Company NI
1	603	83	KINGS-RANSOM ERDMAN CRI	0.3	49	BUL	AIS
2	599	91	GEN-I-BEQ LAVAMAN	1.6	48	SMX	SMX
3	591	75	DE-SU RANSOM	1.1	43	TAG
4	573	73	CO-OP ROBUST CABRIOLET	0.7	43	BUL	AIS
5	570	77	NO-FLA ALTAEVERGLADE	0.2	44	ALT	GG
6	553	76	CO-OP RB OBSR INDY	1.9	45	BUL	AIS
7	546	71	UNITED-PRIDE ERDMAN EVAN	0.8	44		AIS
8	545	74	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN	1.8	45	KSS/MOL
9	543	72	FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY	1.4	45		WFE
10=	541	88	PREHEN OMEN	1.8	52	BUL	AIS
10=	541	76	WEIGELINE OBSERVE PUZZLE	0.9	45	BUL	AIS
12=	533	98	MAINSTREAM MANIFOLD	0.6	91	SMX	SMX
12=	533	88	LAURELHILL CLASSIC	1.5	63	GEN	GEN
14	527	99	GRAN-J OMAN MCCORMICK	1.7	98	GEN	GEN
15	524	73	DE-SU RB MOONRAY 11038	0.2	43	CBL	CBL
16	520	90	AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO	1.3	48	SMX	SMX
17	519	75	MR OCD ROBUST DONATELLO	0.4	43	CBL	CBL
18	512	80	PIROLO SOLEMIO	2	48	SMX	SMX
19	511	85	BEYERCREST RAMOS JOE CRI	0.8	52	BUL	AIS
20	510	88	ABS SIMON	1.7	60	GEN	GEN

Top 20 young genomic bulls ranked on Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) showing new TB Advantage (January 2016)

Rank	£PLI	£PLI Rel %	Bull Name	TB Adv	TB Rel %	Company GB	Company NI
1	724	64	SANDY-VALLEY-I PENMANSHIP	1.3	41	SMX	SMX
2	683	63	STANTONS CHECKERS	0.4	43	SMX	SMX
3	682	63	APINA NADAL	1.5	43	GEN	GEN
4	676	63	SEAGULL-BAY-MJ SOLARIS-ET	0.9	40	GEN	GEN
5	665	63	TOPCROFT PESKY TRIX	1.5	42	GEN	GEN
6	660	62	PEAK ALTAFIREBIRD-ET	0.5	40	ALT	GG
7	657	62	CO-OP STOIC CAYMAN-ET	1.5	43	BUL
8	655	62	JETSTREAM	2.2	42	BUL
9=	649	63	DE-SU 12365 ENDEAVOR	2	43	GEN	GEN
9=	649	63	COMESTAR LOIC	1.6	43	SMX	SMX
9=	649	63	BALLYCAIRN DARIUS	2.2	43	GEN	GEN
12	648	63	COGENT PEAK ALEX	0.6	41	CBL	CBL
13=	643	65	DE-SU 11756 OCTAVIAN	1.5	43	GEN	GEN
13=	643	65	ALL.NURE UNO PLACEBO	2.2	43	CBL	CBL
13=	643	64	DE-SU FIREWALL	1.3	41	SMX	SMX
16	639	63	PES009 BOARDSHOP	1.4	41	SMX	SMX
17	638	63	DE-SU 12272 APEX	1.4	41	GEN	GEN
18=	636	63	REQUEST	1.1	43	MGN
18=	636	63	MIDAS-TOUCH BULLSEYE	1	43	GEN	GEN
20	633	63	SEAGULL-BAY COLONIAL-ET	1.5	43	GEN	GEN

Key: AIS = AI Services; ALT = Alta; BUL = bullsemen.com; CBL = Cogent Breeding Ltd; GEN = Genus ABS; GG = Global Genetics; KSS = KingStreet Sires; MGN = Mastergen; MOL = Molecare Genetics; SMX = Semex; TAG = Trans-America Genetics; WFE = Western Farm Enterprises; PLI = Profitable Lifetime Index; Rel % = reliability.

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New figures published today to help cattle become more TB resistant