Het nieuwe veehouden: ontwerpateliers

"Het nieuwe veehouden" "New sustainable animal husbandry" is a project in which entrepreneurs in a design atelier, work together on sustainable husbandry practices. Together they work on a custom built business plan for each of the entrepreneurs. The results of this project are, in addition to (building blocks for) innovations in the field of sustainability, specific business plans for the deployment of sustainability in the livestock sector. Furthermore the result of this project is also an proven approach how to work together for everyone's own business plan. In this report the approach and the backgrounds are described. It is intended for anyone who wants to help entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to work toward sustainable animal husbandry practices

Genetics and genomics of fertility in dairy cows

The existence of significant and sufficient genetic variation in fertility is generally accepted and most leading dairy cattle breeding programmes have included fertility in their selection indices (Miglior and others 2005). This multi-trait selection has been very effective and reversed the negative genetic trend for fertility. Selection is based on traits derived from calving dates and insemination dates. These traits are biased by farm management decisions, whereas endocrine fertility phenotypes reflect a cow's physiology directly and are thus better than fertility traits for animal breeding. Genomic selection (Meuwissen and others 2001) predicts breeding values for a large number of genetic markers across the entire genome. Genomic selection will improve the rate of progress for the fertility traits. Current developments include the use of whole genome sequence information, with the prospect of using the causal mutations for selection, and the use of in-line progesterone measures to develop better fertility traits. For the future this holds the promise that farmers should spend less money, treatments and labour to achieve optimal fertility for their herd, since the genetic potential for fertility will improve due to more effective selection

Breeding for robus cows that produce healthier milk: RobustMilk

For centuries, animal breeders have very effectively been selecting livestock species, making use of the natural variation that exists within the population. As part of the developments towards broader breeding goals, the RobustMilk project was designed to develop new practical technologies to allow breeders to re-focus their selection to include milk quality and dairy cow robustness and to evaluate the consequences of selection for these traits taking cognisance of various milk production systems. Here we introduce the background to robustness, the value of expanding milk quality analysis (including the possibility of using milk quality characteristics as proxy measures for robustness traits), interactions between robustness and milk quality traits and the need for different breeding tools to enable delivery of these concepts to the industry. Developing a database with phenotypes from research herds across Europe, phenotyping tools using mid-infrared red spectroscopic analysis of milk, and the development of statistical and genomic tools for robustness and milk quality formed the core of the project. In the following papers you will read the outcomes and developments that happened during the project

How participatory design works as an approach for provoking system innovations towards sustainable pig production in the Netherlands, 4-7- July, Vienaa, Austria

Design is increasingly seen and tried as a vehicle for system innovative sustainable development. In a system innovative design project on pig production, called ‘Porkunities’, the authors tested the effect of a participatory and iterative approach. Does the approach serve the goal to provoke initiatives from stakeholders, without loosing innovative content of the designs necessary for system innovation? The results show that participation of stakeholders doesn’t limit the innovative potential of the designs. Iterations help to find a growing number of solutions for a growing number of sustainability questions, from a growing number of stakes. The heterogeneity of a design team contributes to the formation of multi-perspective innovation consortia. And the participatory approach served as an important catalyst in provoking joined stakeholder action towards integrated sustainability in pork production. The iterative and participatory approach as executed in the Porkunities project is found to improve the effect of Reflexive Interactive Design processe

Genetic parameters for cystic ovarian disease in Dutch Black and White dairy cattle

Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is one of the most frequently diagnosed gynecological findings in dairy cattle. It causes temporary infertility and is likely to affect reproduction as well as production parameters in cows. The objectives of this study were to investigate the heritability of COD in a Dutch Black and White population and to estimate the genetic and phenotypic relationships with milk production traits. In the data set used, the overall incidence of COD was 7.7ø1204 COD diagnoses in 15,562 lactations). The farm incidence varied between 1.9 and 11.3ÐThe estimated heritabilities on the underlying and observable scales were 0.102 and 0.087, respectively. The genetic correlations between COD and 305-d milk, fat, and protein yields were 0.345, 0.379, and 0.441, respectively. We concluded that a genetic predisposition for COD exists in Dutch Black and White dairy cattle. The genetic correlations between COD and yield traits indicate that ongoing selection for production will increase the incidence of COD

Central genomic regulation of the expression of oestrous behaviour in dairy cows: a review

The expression of oestrous behaviour in Holstein Friesian dairy cows has progressively decreased over the past 50 years. Reduced oestrus expression is one of the factors contributing to the current suboptimal reproductive efficiency in dairy farming. Variation between and within cows in the expression of oestrous behaviour is associated with variation in peripheral blood oestradiol concentrations during oestrus. In addition, there is evidence for a priming role of progesterone for the full display of oestrous behaviour. A higher rate of metabolic clearance of ovarian steroids could be one of the factors leading to lower peripheral blood concentrations of oestradiol and progesterone in high-producing dairy cows. Oestradiol acts on the brain by genomic, non-genomic and growth factor-dependent mechanisms. A firm base of understanding of the ovarian steroid-driven central genomic regulation of female sexual behaviour has been obtained from studies on rodents. These studies have resulted in the definition of five modules of oestradiol-activated genes in the brain, referred to as the GAPPS modules. In a recent series of studies, gene expression in the anterior pituitary and four brain areas (amygdala, hippocampus, dorsal hypothalamus and ventral hypothalamus) in oestrous and luteal phase cows, respectively, has been measured, and the relation with oestrous behaviour of these cows was analysed. These studies identified a number of genes of which the expression was associated with the intensity of oestrous behaviour. These genes could be grouped according to the GAPPS modules, suggesting close similarity of the regulation of oestrous behaviour in cows and female sexual behaviour in rodents. A better understanding of the central genomic regulation of the expression of oestrous behaviour in dairy cows may in due time contribute to improved (genomic) selection strategies for appropriate oestrus expression in high-producing dairy cows

Genetic parameters for cystic ovarian disease in Dutch Black and White dairy cattle

Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is one of the most frequently diagnosed gynecological findings in dairy cattle. It causes temporary infertility and is likely to affect reproduction as well as production parameters in cows. The objectives of this study were to investigate the heritability of COD in a Dutch Black and White population and to estimate the genetic and phenotypic relationships with milk production traits. In the data set used, the overall incidence of COD was 7.7ø1204 COD diagnoses in 15,562 lactations). The farm incidence varied between 1.9 and 11.3ÐThe estimated heritabilities on the underlying and observable scales were 0.102 and 0.087, respectively. The genetic correlations between COD and 305-d milk, fat, and protein yields were 0.345, 0.379, and 0.441, respectively. We concluded that a genetic predisposition for COD exists in Dutch Black and White dairy cattle. The genetic correlations between COD and yield traits indicate that ongoing selection for production will increase the incidence of COD