A dairy producer’s dream and goal is a low-maintenance herd with minimized disease instances, great fertility and longevity. Where can they achieve these results? The answer: in the calf barn. The early days of a calf’s life can dictate the trajectory of its future profitability and productivity. Pneumonia and scours can stunt their prospects of becoming successful members of the milking herd. This heightens the need to focus on and improve calf well-being in every way possible, including recognizing how a genomic testing program can influence calf health.

Ever wondered how the bulls you work with get a genomic evaluation? It's a detailed process; learn more about it from NAAB geneticist Sophie Eaglen.

The U.S. has high-quality data pipelines for the flow of production, fertility and health records, but there is not currently a pipeline of hoof health information. As an essential first step, CDCB, the University of Minnesota (UMN) and several collaborators are working to consistently identify and record hoof health traits.

A healthier herd. It’s a simple-sounding concept that’s proven difficult in practice. Finding genetics that resist routine pathogens across environments on dairy farms has been a focus of the industry over the last 10 years

Standing ringside at a competitive cattle show is a type of high that has captivated so many in the registered dairy cattle industry. Watching your time, money and energy parade across the shavings, looking the best she ever has, gets your heart racing analyzing the judge's every move and nervously tapping your toe. 

Research shows beef-on-dairy calves have improved eating quality, meat color stability and carcass yield when compared to traditional dairy animals.

Performance is a combination of genetics and environment. According to the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), milk production is 20% correlated to genetics.