Cecilia Morse
ENG 137H
Casey Wiley
Paradigm Shift Paper
The Perfect Milk Machine
“So what are you willing to sell for?”
It was finally here. The long awaited question that I have been dreading for five months. Looking
into his eyes I could tell he was a serious potential buyer. I took a deep breath giving me time to
finally solidify my answer.
“I have decided I won’t take any less than $120,000.” I can’t even fathom the amount of money
coming from my own mouth. He stared up at me, and I was unable to read his expression until his
mouth finally opened.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” The man shook my hand as he reached into his pocket for his
check book.
I couldn’t believe it. I had just sold my six month old calf, yes, a baby cow, for one
hundred and twenty thousand dollars, the price of a small house. While many people in this
world would find this completely ridiculous, those familiar with the recent advancements in the
dairy industry see it as a brilliant investment. An investment backed by the recent paradigm shift
from traditional breeding methods to the use of genomics for all types of cattle.
For hundreds of years, farmers have been trying to enhance their herd quality by breeding
their animals for improved milk yield, fat and protein yield, feet and legs, udders, capacity, and
"dairyness." To enhance all of these features in an animal each generation would lead to a
genetically perfect line of cattle. Unfortunately, farmers were not guaranteed that every excellent
trait contained by their chosen bull would transfer to its offspring. Instead, the farmers would
choose the bull according to their proofs. Proofs are recordings of every daughter the bull sires
and their classifications, milking records, and show records. If was guessed that the higher the
proof of the bull, the better traits and genotypes the bulls possessed. But that was exactly the
problem, it was all a guess.
The traditional approach of using selective breeding has been very successful, except it is
impossible to know the exact genes that have increased or decreased in frequency in the
populations. This approach is often referred to as a “black box” approach, since it is unknown
what genes have been affected. The use of very effective progeny testing programs and the heavy
use of well-proven, elite bulls has been very successful, but no matter how many advances were
made in this “traditional proof” breeding selection, there were still different phenomenon’s that
the proofs could not explain, and farmers were stuck in a hit or miss breeding system, that is,
until now.
About ten years ago, a new way of breeding selection was introduced to the dairy industry called
genomics. An evolving concept, genomics is continually providing means for steady genetic
improvement. The tests are continuously increasing in accuracy and potential value. Since their
public release in 2007, genomic tests have become more enhanced and economical for on-farm
use. Specifically, one of the most recent genomic developments is the opportunity to evaluate not
only bulls, but cows and heifers with a 3K genomic test. The 3K SNP test gives dairies greater
accuracy when predicting a calf’s future when compared to evaluating parent averages. Since
September 2010 the 3K test has been providing an estimate of an animal’s genetic merit for
many traits, including milk production and animal’s net merit. Net merit is an estimate of the
expected lifetime profit of a female compared to the breed base of an average cow born and
raised in the same environment. Net merit includes traits that capture an economic impact, such
as milk yield, health, longevity, fertility and calving ease. The breeding value of an animal is her
genetic merit compared to the genetic merit of the breed base animal. Evaluating 3,000 SNPs, the
3K test compares an animal’s DNA to a database that associates DNA patterns with the genetic
merit of certain traits. Results from a 3K genomic test take a month or two to be returned and
provide producers with an additional tool for making herd decisions.
Farmers are now using the application of genomics to design their herds in ways never
before thought possible. The new implementation of livestock breeding programs is showing
promise in gains all across the value chain, from show to production, all the way to consumption
cattle. Genomics is expected to increase the efficiency and productivity of animal breeding, and
enhance security and quality of animal products for consumers. Being expected with the use of
genomics are new insights into the growth, nutrition, health, and protection of animals, providing
a better understanding of any and all traits of interest. Therefore, genomics enables further
opportunities to improve selection accuracy while reducing generation intervals, and exploiting
new sources of polymorphisms to enhance the industry as a whole.
In a very traditional industry, and genomics being relatively very new, the breeding selection
“shift” taking place, like all paradigm shifts, is very much dependent upon the views of the
breeders. Despite the science backing up this new and supposedly improved selection process,
there are still many skeptics in the industry. Some breeders refuse to use a bull without a proof,
saying that you cannot physically see they proof that the animals have these traits. This is
creating what could be named as a genotype/phenotype gap between industry leaders, something
that should and very well may be fixed within the upcoming years. As new, young bulls with
high genomics are used by the “genomic investors” and produce more and more offspring, that
offspring will be classified and eventually they will have genomic proofs, which is a proof that
not only shows quality offspring, but offspring that contain traits reflected directly by their
genomic numbers.
(Additional paragraph on how genomic numbers differ from proof numbers will go here.)
While it is obvious how genomic breeding selection will affect farmers and the people directly
involved with the dairy industry, it is important to understand that genomics will not only affect
those immediately connected to cattle, but just about everyone in the world. (not finished with
this paragraph)
(I’m not sure what else I am going to add at this moment…)
(There will be a conclusion, I promise!!)