Genetic Advancements Enhance Dairy Productivity in New Zealand
Genetic advancements are playing a pivotal role in enhancing dairy productivity in New Zealand. Since the national cow numbers peaked around 2014, driven by environmental regulations, economic pressures, and land-use changes, the focus has shifted to increasing productivity per cow rather than expanding herd sizes. According to geneticist Becky Curry from NZ Animal Evaluation, this shift emphasizes efficiency over scale, aiming for cows that produce more within existing systems and environmental constraints.
Genetic Improvement Behind Production Gains
New Zealand cows are producing more milksolids than in 2005, a growth attributed to changes in farm management and significant genetic improvements. Approximately two-thirds of the increase in per-cow milksolids production is linked to genetic changes in the national herd. This underscores the essential role genetics play in boosting productivity and efficiency in the dairy sector.
Accelerating Genetic Gain through Genomics
Traditional breeding methods typically require about five years for a bull to achieve proven breeding indexes. However, genomics has reduced this time to two or three years by allowing earlier identification of high Breeding Worth (BW) bulls. This accelerates genetic gains by shortening the time between generations and increasing the number of offspring with desired traits.
Becky Curry notes that faster genetic gains support higher productivity, improved efficiency, and long-term sustainability. Additionally, genomics provides farmers with greater agility, enabling quicker responses to market demands, climate changes, and economic conditions.
Closing the Genomics Gap
A report from the Industry Working Group (IWG) in mid-2024 highlighted that New Zealand is trailing other dairy nations in genomics use, impacting its rate of genetic gain. This lag is attributed to lower confidence in genomically evaluated young sires. Efforts are underway to improve confidence through projects like OneBW, which consolidates genomic and non-genomic evaluations into a single, consistently published BW index verified by DairyNZ.
The OneBW project is part of the Future Focused Animal Evaluation (FFAE) programme, involving DairyNZ, NZ Animal Evaluation, LIC, and CRV. These organizations are collaborating to address challenges identified in the IWG report.
