Moving towards sustainable breeding objectives and cow welfare in dairy production: a South African perspective

Genetic advancements have resulted in improved dairy production over many decades, due to the focus of breeding objectives on production as the driving force for genetic progress and overall farm profitability. Major advancements were made in the easy-to-measure traits with moderate to high heritability, which resulted in unintended consequences on herd fertility, health, and welfare of cows. In addition, climate change and animal welfare concerns demanded balanced breeding objectives and selection approaches for sustainable production—including health and longevity. The inclusion of genomic information into genetic evaluations has been proved to benefit traits associated with welfare and sustainable production. Cow welfare traits remain complex and suitable phenotypes are not always easy to measure or readily available for genetic evaluations. The challenge for improvement of cow welfare often lies within implementation of sensitive and measurable parameters. The aim of this review was to explore the reconsideration of breeding objectives in the dairy industry towards sustainable dairy production and cow welfare with reference to selection of dairy animals in South Africa.

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1. Department of Animal Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa Lize-Mari Erasmus & E. van Marle-Köster

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Equal contributions by Lize-Mari Erasmus and Este van Marle-Köster. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Lize-Mari Erasmus, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Erasmus, LM., van Marle-Köster, E. Moving towards sustainable breeding objectives and cow welfare in dairy production: a South African perspective. Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 470 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-02914-w

• Received : 01 March 2021
• Accepted : 10 September 2021
• Published : 21 September 2021
• DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-02914-w

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