Genetic Evaluation Release Dates
UK - New breeding indices designed to help farmers in the UK make informed choices over breeding choices are to be published next week.
4 January 2010
1 minute read
The UK and International bull PTAs will be updated four times in 2010 in line with internationally agreed Interbull release dates.
The dates for 2010 are
- Tuesday 12 January
- Tuesday 6 April
- Tuesday 17 August
- Tuesday 7 December
Commenting last year on the work behind the index, Dr Mike Coffey from SAC, who led the research team said: "The index is an important development for the dairy cattle breeding industry and highlights the importance of milk producers taking part in national recording. We've only recently had sufficient data to undertake the background research, but now that it's complete, I'm delighted that DairyCo breeding+ will routinely include Calving Ease indexes in the genetic evaluations it publishes on an ongoing basis."
"The AI companies' own proofs which were used in the past were certainly helpful, but it's far better to have industry-wide figures expressed on a common UK scale," added geneticist Marco Winters, director of DairyCo breeding+.
"This gives farmers easy access to the calving ease information from just one list, without having to trawl through the plethora of individual bull catalogues."
UK cow results and herd summaries will be available on the Friday after the bull release dates.
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