How do you create cow longevity?

ZISK
Oct 13
1 min read

Dairy herds have become markedly older in recent months. While this is an immediate result of a tight national dairy heifer supply and sky-high prices for dairy-beef calves, the reason dairy farmers can make the choice to keep cows in production longer is because of improved genetics and better management decisions.

Longevity is a matter of profitability on dairy farms; keeping cows sufficiently productive means they return more on the investment of their rearing. Geneticists have recognized this since 1994, when the first predicted transmitting abilities (PTAs) were published for Productive Life. In the decades since, farmers have made breeding progress on numerous traits correlated with longevity, while also sharpening on-farm tools to take better care of their animals.

For Glenn Kline of Y Run Farms in Troy, Pa., genomic testing has been the most significant farm change to impact longevity. They began using the technology in 2011. “Boy, that’s made a huge difference on our herd,” he said during the CDCB Industry Meeting held at World Dairy Expo. “We did expand three years ago, and we had to buy some animals in. There was really a significant difference with our original animals lasting longer.”

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