Please be informed that the 41st  Meeting of Dairy Club (Joint Venture of Alltech and UVAS) was held on Wednesday Dec 10, 2014 at Syndicate Room UVAS. Following was the agenda of meeting:

Minutes of meetings are as follows:

Mr. Waqas Aslam opened the house and gave warm welcome to the participants. He introduced explained the agenda and invited the speaker to share his experience.

Mr. Shiraz Altaf presented on Modern breeding techniques in the west to be adopted by modern dairy industry of Pakistan: Artificial Insemination and Embryo.

Artificial Insemination: Advantages

1. Genetic Improvement: AI Allows us the use of genetically superior bulls
2. Venereal disease transmission: Eliminates the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and improves the hygienic control
3. Management: Natural service sires can be dangerous for both cows and people
4. Economy: There is no need to work with herd bulls, saving costs for feed, transport, housing and veterinary expense

U.S. DHI dairy statistics (2011)

1. 9.1 million U.S. cows
2. ~75% bred AI
3. 47% milk recorded through Dairy Herd Information (DHI)
1. 4.4 million cows
1. 86% Holstein
2. 8% crossbred
3. 5% Jersey
4. <1% Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, Red & White
2. 20,000 herds
3. 220 cows/herd10,300 kg/cow

The speaker at the meeting Mr. Shiraz Altaf, Director, Altaf and Co further mentioned that:

Genetic evaluation advances

Dairy cattle traits evaluated by USDA

World Record for Milk Production in 2010:
Ever-Green-View My 1326 > 32,000 kgs in 365 days

Genetic Terminology

Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA)

1. Portion of EBV that is passed to offspring
2. Half of the estimated breeding value
1. Example:
2. PTA = +1000 lbs.
3. Under identical management conditions, a mature daughter of this bull would be expected to produce 1000 lbs. more milk per lactation than daughters of a bull with PTA = 0

He further explained about ConceptPlus Bulls, G Star and Future Star Bulls.

Embryo Transfer Technology:

1. A superovulation (ovulation multiple ova) is initiated by hormonal treatment of a dairy cattle
2. The cow if fertilized with semen
3. 6-8 days after insemination the eggs are flushed out of uterus of the cow
4. In average around 5-6 fertilized eggs will be harvested in one embryo flush, however it can range from 0-25 egss

Purposes of Embryo Transfer Technology:

1. Being able to get multiple offspring of female superior genetic animals
2. It is easier to market and ship embryos around the world than live animals
3. Embryos can be used as well to get infertile cows pregnant

Questions/Answers Session:

Col. Arshad: Sahiwal breed has no problem with it. Actually we have set wrong standards for this breed and we are not ready to accept any change in those standards. If we want to bring improvement in this particular breed, there will be change in physical appearance, body conformity and milk composition.

Col. Arshad: Please tell us about Genomic Bull.

Mr. Shiraz: For a particular young bull, gene mapping is done to know about the ability of bull to transmit it characteristics to next generation. From gene mapping we can be 70-76% sure. Whereas, in progeny bulls we are 85-90% sure.

Dr. Mushtaq: Nutrition is a major cause of poor conception rate in Pakistan. In this situation, is it wise to import elite genetics to Pakistan?

Dr. Anum: Why we are not developing our own breeds and focusing on import of genetics?

Col. Arshad: Cholistan has highest fertility rates. Intercalving interval is not more than 16 months. The reason is that these cows produce very little milk which fulfills the requirements of their young ones mostly. Our problem is we want to do everything at the same time. we have to set our priorities.

Dr. Fawad: High protein feeding also decreases the conception rate.

Sardar Zahid: We have been trying Artificial Insemination in our herd but conception rate has been very poor. Then we brought a bull and most of herd remains pregnant and we get milk round the year.

Mr. Shiraz: For short term it looks good but to improve genetics and farm profitability we have to rely on AI.

Dr. Haroon: If conception rate is too low, we need to cheque the expertise of AI Technician because in AI, detection of heat and proper insemination has major role.

Many thanks for your participation and contributions,