Stuart and his wife Jacqui, who farm at Waratah Bay in Victoria’s Gippsland region, were part of the initial 10,000 cows project that led to GINFO to create a massive female reference population for the Australian dairy industry’s genomic evaluation system.
“We were one of the early invites into the system,” Stuart said.
“We got involved because we wanted to know where our herd was at. We’d always been a progeny test farm and kept good data on our cows and you always look for the next step.”
While keen to have better data to help select better bulls for their herd, Stuart and Jacqui also had an eye on the bigger picture.
“We were keen to be in these programs to improve our breeding knowledge as an industry,” he said.
Their long and dedicated commitment to better breeding has paid off.
In DataGene’s August release of Australian Breeding Values, their herd ranked 6th in Australia for balanced performance Index (BPI) with an average of 375, marking their first top 10 entry putting the herd in the elite category.
It’s also the new number one health weighted index Holstein herd with an average 342 HWI.
The BPI is a measure of a herd’s genetic merit for the key traits that affect dairy farm profitability. The health weighted index helps fast track health traits such as fertility, mastitis resistance, gestation length and feed saved.
The herd was around breed average until 2018 but since then has been making consistent improvements, with significant genetic advances for protein, fertility, longevity and mastitis resistance.
The family milks 600 Holsteins and three-way crosses, with a push towards more pure Holsteins in recent years. There are 160 purebred Holsteins and many second crosses, and they rely on genomics data to continue to improve quality.
“Because we now have a fairly complete genomic history of our herd, we’re joining the top 60 per cent of the cows based on genomic testing to dairy and the bottom 40 per cent to beef,” Stuart said.
“We started with 25 per cent bred to beef and using some sexed semen on the better cows and heifers, but we were still getting too many heifers.
“With the export heifer market dissipating, we lowered the rate of sexed semen and raised the number of cows we join to beef semen.”
The shift has created a new revenue stream.
“The beef stream gives us an extra value-add source of income but it also cuts back on bobby calves, which is something we have to do to improve the image of the industry,” Stuart said.
“We’d rather be proactive than reactive.”
Stuart is a strong supporter of the DataGene Good Bulls Guide which has become an invaluable part of their breeding program.
“We always use the guide and I tend to focus quite highly on the health weighted index. “Since the fertility ABV became available, I’ve focused on breeding high fertility into our herd and that has worked well for us.
“We’ve noticed a steady increase in fertility, particularly the heifers.”
Before using the Fertility ABV, up to 10 per cent of heifers were empty before they entered the herd.
“There was something clearly wrong with our breeding program.
“When the fertility ABV was available, we could see that some of the bulls we had been using had really poor fertility indexes. We changed and had a strong emphasis on fertility and we’re much happier with the results.”
While enjoying their new top 10 status, Stuart doesn’t breed for accolades.
“It has been a goal to improve and have a productive, efficient herd, but it wasn’t necessarily a goal to aim for a high-ranking herd, though it’s nice to have it.”
Australian Reds and Jersey are used with Holstein in a three-way cross breeding program, but the herd Holstein percentage is increasing because of their marketability.
“The cross-breds are, I think, a more efficient cow, but they’re not valued so highly in the dairy market so if we have cattle to sell, the Holsteins are more marketable.”
Genomic testing every calf is accelerating improvement across the herd, especially in health and longevity.
“We’ve really focused on health traits,” Stuart said.
“We don’t want to use a low BPI bull and aim for a high BPI bull with emphasis on health traits. However, if they’re lower on fertility, mastitis resistance or longevity, even though they’re a high BPI bull, we question whether we want them in our breeding program.
“We don’t want to stray from our breeding goals.”
Production remains strong at around 600 kg/Ms per cow, though it was pushed harder in the past before backing off to focus on more home-grown feed to reduce the cost of inputs.
The farm has undergone a major transformation over the past eight years with the introduction of a regenerative system and multispecies pastures.
The herd previously peaked at 750 cows but several wet winters meant the higher stocking rate was too damaging on paddocks.
Stuart and Jacqui have now been joined by their middle child Angus and his wife Ruby in the business.
They have a seasonal calving herd, calving all cows in autumn.
They are happy with their current breeding strategies and plan to continue the status quo.
“We’re really happy with the progress we’ve made and don’t see any reason to adjust at the moment,” Stuart said.
“We will definitely continue to genomically test all the calves. It makes it easier to target breeding the right animals in our herd and speeds up our genetic progress in the process.”
For more information contact: DataGene 1800 841 848 or enquiries@datagene.com.au or www.datagene.com.au.