How Hungary can help Kazakh farmers increase their return on investment in dairy production

A tool for unlocking genetic potential

One of the limiting factors in the development of livestock breeding is the insufficient reliability of the data used in breeding work. Deficiencies in recording and processing information negatively affect the realization of the genetic potential inherent in each breeding animal used. The lack of reliable information does not make it possible to make the right selection decisions, which leads to direct losses for the enterprise due to loss of income.

Solving this problem, livestock enterprises in advanced countries are actively introducing genomic assessment into the reproduction process to obtain genetically valuable young stock. This contributes to the achievement of better zootechnical performance of the farm and provides additional income from the sale of breeding stock with a high market value to the side.

Successful reproduction work is becoming possible in advanced countries thanks to the widespread introduction of genomic assessment of livestock and the provision of farms with breeding animals that have a comprehensive index of breeding value. This index characterizes the real genetic level of livestock and allows for the consolidation of bulls for sustainable and rapid selective development of the farm's livestock in accordance with the selected goals.

What makes the Hungarian experience unique?

Hungary today is one of the world leaders in the dairy industry. The Hungarian Association of Holstein-Friesian Breeders led the implementation of the national breeding development program, which ensured that the average productivity in the country reached a high world level in a short period of time. The results of this transformation, unique in speed, are high profitability of dairy production and a quick return on investment in the dairy industry.

The experience of this country is of interest to Kazakhstan due to the similarity of the climatic conditions of the two countries and the large scale of industrial dairy farms.

Active breeding work with its own livestock began in Hungary in the early 1970s of the last century. At that time, the red stock (a local Simmental type breed) predominated in Hungary. A new stage of development began with a large-scale purchase of North American genetic material; over the course of several years, a large number of breeding heifers, bulls, embryos and semen were imported, distributed among anchor livestock enterprises, which later became suppliers of their own breeding young stock for the entire industry. By 1999, the country's average milk productivity had increased significantly and amounted to 6,723 kg of milk. The set goals for a significant increase in gross milk yield per head were achieved.

The next step in the development of selection was the collection, storage and analysis of information. The main indicators of the exterior of Hungarian Holstein cows by functional type were determined, and a system for assessing the limbs, udder and body structure was developed.

Based on these indicators, Hungarian breeders established a relationship between the productivity of first-calf heifers and their final classification assessment of the exterior.

As a result, a national Holstein Global Breeding Value Index (HGI) was introduced, assigned to each Hungarian Holstein breeding animal, allowing its genetic potential to be assessed in terms of further breeding work.

Genomic assessment as a tool for efficiency

Significant further acceleration of breeding development was achieved through the widespread introduction of genomic assessment of breeding stock and newborn young animals on the basis of the national state program.

Industrial dairy farms are an aggressive environment for raising and further maintaining young animals. Genomic assessment of the herd makes it possible to select the best representatives from the newborn young animals, who form the breeding core of the enterprise. From a practical point of view, this means that there is no point in using expensive sexed semen on genetically unpromising animals. And there is no point in raising animals that are generally not suitable for reproducing a herd as dairy heifers, but it is more profitable to immediately fatten them for meat.

In this case, breeders determine the strategy of breeding development independently.

In general, due to the introduction of genomic assessment of livestock, the degree of reliability of the information used for each animal participating in the breeding development program has significantly increased. Based on the genotyped livestock, the national breeding value index of the Holstein breed was supplemented by the GHGI genomic index, which has a significantly higher degree of reliability. The use of the GHGI breeding value index has allowed farmers to link genetic potential to a numerical value, which in turn allows them to increase the efficiency of developing their own breeding strategy.

GHGI includes economically important parameters that reflect the structure of a dairy farm :

∙ milk productivity;

∙ health of limbs and udder, productive longevity;

∙ fertility;

∙ ease of calving.

All these parameters are taken into account in the Hungarian genomic assessment.

Thus, mass genomic research of livestock and its correct interpretation became the basis for the success of the Hungarian breeding program. This allowed Hungary to take a leading position in the world dairy farming with an average productivity of 10,436 kg and an average number of dairy cows on the farm of more than 450 heads. Today it is sixth in the world in terms of productivity and first in the world in terms of the average number of birds per farm.

The Hungarian Holstein-Friesian Association, using its accumulated experience, intends to provide professional support to the Republican Chamber of Dairy and Combined Cattle Breed Qazaq Sut in intensifying breeding work on Holstein cattle within the framework of the national breeding development program, the development and implementation of a national index of breeding value of the Holstein breed in Kazakhstan. Hungarian colleagues will support the entry of the Qazaq Sut Chamber into the World Gosztin Association WHFF in November of this year. This will provide Kazakh livestock farmers with direct information access to all the world's leading achievements in the dairy industry.

The time has come to adopt a national program for the selection development of dairy cattle in Kazakhstan, ensuring the necessary state support measures for its successful implementation.