Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Minutes of the Business Meeting Chairman Kent Weigel called the business meeting of S-1040 to order at 8:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 13, 2008. Minutes of the 2007 meeting were reviewed and approved. Date and location of 2009 meeting  It was moved and seconded that Les Hansen, Kent Weigel, and Ignacy Misztal should investigate holding the meeting in Europe and meeting jointly with European dairy cattle breeders, and if that was not possible we would meet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After some discussion, there was a consensus that France would be an ideal location. The motion passed. Dr. Muquarrab Qureshi, USDA-CSREES, gave updates on the Farm Bill - Section7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. CREES will transition to the National Institution of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) by October 1, 2009. There are six divisions under the Research, Education and Extension Office: 1. Renewable Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment 2. Food Safety 3. Animal Health 4. Agricultural Systems and Technology 5. Agriculture Economics Appropriations for research will allocate 60% for basic research and 40% for applied research. Integrated research will account for 30% of the allocation. There was a consensus to share meeting presentations with S-1040 committee members and add to the publication list. John Cole was elected as secretary for 2008-09. Tony Seykora will serve as chairman for 2008-09. Roger Shanks will serve as the fall Dairy Council meeting representative and will send out the minutes to S-1040 members. Report of the resolutions committee [Roger Shanks (chair), Tony Seykora, Steve Washburn] 1. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee expresses its sincere appreciation to Kent Weigel for coordinating, hosting and chairing a most productive meeting. 2. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee express its appreciation to Dr. Muquarrab Qureshi for his commitment to our efforts by timely notification to member researchers of great opportunities at the Federal level. 3. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee thank Geoff Dahl for participating in our meeting as a representative of the southern department heads and chairs. 4. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee expresses their appreciation to Milo Wiltbank (UW-Madison) and Denny Funk (Genus/ABS Global) for their interesting and insightful presentations stimulating enthusiastic discussion. 5. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee thanks Ron Pearson for his many years of service to the regional research committee and express best wishes to him in his retirement. 6. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee thanks Gary Rogers for his many years of service to the regional research committee and invite him to participate as an industry representative in the future. 7. Be it resolved that the S-1040 technical committee thank Jack McAllister for shepherding the project revision though approval. Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 a.m.

Objective 1: Develop selection tools to enhance reproduction and survival using field data Georgia reported a genetic by environment interaction for the ranking of sires in the warm, humid southeast U.S. versus more northern states. Temperature and humidity data from weather stations can be used to quantify heat stress. At the University of Illinois, a graphical approach was used to characterize calf survival for sire families. Genetic evaluations for many sire families corresponded to a normal distribution of scores. However, sixteen sire families were found to have a bimodal distribution pattern. These families are excellent candidates for locating major alleles that may influence calf survival. At the University of Nebraska, records on 123,639 registered Holstein heifers between 2002 and 2006 were used to compare fitness of models analyzing the effects of inbreeding and age at first calving on milk yields under bST and non-bST treatments. Estimates of genetic parameters resulted in milk yield heritability estimates of 33% reflecting the adequacy of the choice of fixed genetic variance performed in Akaikes information criterion comparison. Utilizing records of 90,393 primiparous Holstein cows, Wisconsin reported genetic correlations between gestation length and dystocia ranging between .13 to .39; between gestation length and stillbirth ranging between -.30 to .37, and between dystocia and stillbirth ranging between .62 to .73. Wisconsin is also modeling reproductive data from 108 large commercial farms. Iowa reported a joint analysis of days open and calving success to further enhance the identification of cows with greater genetic merit for reproductive performance. The joint analysis enhances the reliability of detecting true genetic differences between cows for fertility. Minnesota is doing a genetic analysis of Minnesota DHIA Elisa milk tests for Johnes. Approximately, 45,000 tests were conducted from January 2007 to September 2008. Pennsylvania investigated environmental factors influencing survival of cows. Factors that decreased survival included: larger herd size, free stall barns versus stall barns, and being fed a TMR. Objective 2: Evaluate the biological and economic impact of crossbreeding on lifetime performance of dairy cattle. Minnesota is continuing the analysis of about 1500 crossbred and Holstein cows in 7 California dairies for lifetime profit. Florida is cooperating in this project. Breeds represented include Holstein, Normande-Holstein, Montbeliarde-Holstein, and Scandinavian Red-Holstein. Minnesota is initiating a crossbreeding study with ten cooperating large Minnesota dairies. Currently, there are 4185 heifers and cows enrolled in which 40% will be bred to Holsteins, 30% to Swedish Red, and 30% to Montbeliarde. Minnesota is also analyzing their Holsteins and Jersey-Holsteins for lifetime profit. Also cooperating with the analysis of the Jersey-Holstein crossbreds are Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Wisconsin reported that their Holstein versus Holstein x Jersey backcross project is continuing. There have been 98 Holstein heifer calves and 305 ¾ Holstein ¼ Jersey heifer calves born. 74 Holstein and 150 backcrosses have completed 1st lactation. 39 Holsteins and 55 Jersey have 2nd parity records. Holsteins averaged about 8% more lbs. milk for both parities and a lower somatic cell score in 2nd parity. Feed intake will be measured for a 16 week period in early lactation using Insentec RIC system. Virginia is also collecting feed intake data on Holsteins, Jerseys and crossbreds. Preliminary data suggests that Jerseys and crossbreds appear to use a higher percentage of energy for production than Holsteins in 1st lactation. Wisconsin is cooperating with a Tennessee study, utilizing data from 38 herds in 14 states that have inseminated Holstein cows with Norwegian Red semen. Preliminary results indicate conception rate up 3.6 percentage points and stillbirth rate down 1.9 percentage points. Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina are continuing their collaborative effort of comparing Holsteins, Jerseys and reciprocal crosses for biological traits and economic merit. Virginia and Tennessee are now milking offspring of the reciprocal crosses out of Scandinavian Red and Brown Swiss sires. Objective 3: Develop breeding goals and appropriate indexes for optimum biological and economic improvement of health, reproduction, survival, and production of dairy cattle [BREEDING GOALS AND INDEXES] At the University of Illinois, two methods of evaluation are to be tested for potential of enhancing breeding goals. One method is Relative Net Income adjusted for Opportunity Costs (RNIOC). The second is milk per day of life. Both methods will be applied to data from the Holstein-Jersey diallel crossbreeding experiment underway at Virginia Tech. Advantages and disadvantages of these methods will be determined. Purdue is continuing to develop divergent lines for dairy form. There are current 24 1st generation high dairy form cows and 18 low dairy form cows. The high dairy form cows are producing slightly more milk as a reflection of the higher PTAs for milk of their sires. Pennsylvania reported on beginning a large scale study using cooperating herds to measure feed intakes. DNA is also being collected to search for major genes that may influence feed efficiency in dairy cattle. Objective 4: Develop and recommend selection and crossbreeding protocols of optimum economic utility for adoption by US dairy farmers No final recommendations in this area. Results to date indicate that a three breed rotational cross may be optimal for many US dairy farmers.

Peer-reviewed publications: Bewley, J. M., A. M. Peacock, O. Lewis, R. E. Boyce, D. J. Roberts, M. P. Coffey, S. J. Kenyon, and M. M. Schutz. 2008. Potential for estimation of body condition scores in dairy cattle from digital images. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 3439-3453. Bohmanova, J., I. Misztal, S. Tsuruta, H. D. Norman, and T. J. Lawlor. Short Communication: Genotype by environment interaction due to heat stress. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 840-846. Caraviello, D. Z., K. A. Weigel, M. Florent, A. H. Souza, C. Rawson, N. R. Zwald, and M. C. Wiltbank. 2008. Predicting the impact of body condition score on reproductive performance in large commercial dairy herds. Animal Reproduction. (Submitted). Chang, Y. M., O. Gonzalez-Recio, D. Gianola, and K. A. Weigel. 2008. Genetic analysis of count data using threshold models. Genetics, Selection, and Evolution. (Submitted). Dechow, C. D. and R. C. Goodling. Mortality, culling by 60 days in milk, and production profiles in high and low survival Pennsylvania herds. J. Dairy Sci. (In press). Dechow, C. D., H. D. Norman, and C. A. Pelensky. 2008. Short Communication: Variance estimates among herds stratified by individual herd heritability. J. Dairy Sci. 91:1648-1651. Dechow, C. D., H. D. Norman, N. R. Zwald, C. M. Cowan, and O. M. Meland. 2008. Relationship between individual herd-heritability estimates and sire misidentification rate. J. Dairy Sci. 91:1640-1647. Heins, B. J., L. B. Hansen, A. J. Seykora, A. R. Hazel, D. G. Johnson, and J. G. Linn. 2008. Crossbreds of Jersey x Holstein compared with pure Holsteins for body weight, body condition score, dry matter intake, and feed efficiency during the first one hundred fifty days of first lactation. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 3716-3722. Heins, B. J., L. B. Hansen, A. J. Seykora, D. G. Johnson, J. G. Linn, J. E. Romano, and A. R. Hazel. 2008. Crossbreds of Jersey x Holstein compared with pure Holsteins for production, fertility, and body and udder measurements during first lactation. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 1270-1278. Hoffman, P. C., K. A. Weigel, and R. M. Wernberg. 2008. Our industry today: Evaluation of equations to predict dry matter intake of dairy heifers. J. Dairy Sci. (In press). Huang, C., S. Tsuruta, J. K. Bertrand, I. Misztal, T. J. Lawlor, and J. S. Clay. Environmental effects on conception rates of Holsteins in New York and Georgia. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 818-825. Lopez de Maturana, E., D. Gianola, G. J. M. Rosa, and K. A. Weigel. 2008. Predictive ability of models for calving difficulty in U.S. Holsteins. J. Animal Breeding and Genetics. (Accepted). Lopez de Maturana, E., X. L. Wu, D. Gianola, K. A. Weigel, and G. J. M. Rosa. 2008. Exploring biological relationships between calving traits in primiparous cattle with a Bayesian recursive model. Genetics. (Accepted). Maltecca, C., K. A. Weigel, H. Khatib, M. Cowan, and A. Bagnato. 2008. Whole genome scan for quantitative trait loci for birth weight, gestation length, and passive immune transfer in a Holstein x Jersey crossbred population. Animal Genetics. (Accepted). Schlesser, H. N., R.D. Shanks, P.J. Berger, and M. H. Healey. 2008. Graphical approach to evaluate genetic estimates of calf survival. J. Dairy Sci. (Submitted). Toshniwal, J. K., C. D. Dechow, B. G. Cassell, J. A. D. R. N. Appuhamy, and G. A. Varga. 2008. Heritability of electronically recorded daily body weight and correlations with yield, dry matter intake and body condition score. J. Dairy Sci. 91:3201-3210. Vazquez, A. I., D. Gianola, D. Bates, K. Weigel, and B. Heringstad. 2008. Assessment of poisson, logit and linear models for genetic analysis of clinical mastitis in Norwegian Red cows. J. Dairy Sci. (Submitted). Wiggans, G. R., J. B. Cole, and L. L. M. Thornton. 2008. Multiparity evaluation of calving ease and stillbirth with separate genetic effects by parity. J. Dairy Sci. 2008 91: 3173-3178. Wiggans, G. R., S. Tsuruta, and I. Misztal. 2008. Technical Note: Adaptation of an animal-model method for approximation of reliabilities to a sire-maternal grandsire model. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 4058-4061. Reports: Gutierrez, G.A., P. J. Berger, and M. H. Healey. 2008. Joint genetic analysis of conception and maintenance of pregnancy in dairy cattle using a linear-threshold model. A.S. Leaflet R2303. Gutierrez, G. A., M. H. Healey, and P. J. Berger. 2008. Genetic analysis of days open using a random regression model. A.S. Leaflet R2304. Shanks, R. D. 2008. A revolution in dairy cattle genetics. IL Dairy Day Report. p. 37-38.