Simplified milk-recording protocols adapted to low-input environments with very small herd size

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Dairy Production
• Agricultural Economics

Background:

• Smallholder dairy farms in tropical regions often face challenges with cost-effective milk recording.
• Existing milk recording protocols may be too expensive or complex for resource-limited settings.
• Optimizing milk recording is crucial for genetic improvement programs in developing countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of simplified milk recording protocols on estimating cow milk production and bull breeding values.
• To compare less-costly milk recording systems with a reference protocol in tropical dairy farming.
• To assess the feasibility of simplified schemes for small farms with limited resources.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of milk production data from Holstein × Zebu cows in Indian small farms.
• Simulation of simplified milk recording protocols with extended test day intervals (4-8 weeks) and farmer-collected data.
• Comparison of simplified protocols against a reference protocol (AT2, bi-weekly technician recording) for bias and accuracy.

Main Results:

• Simplified protocols decreased the accuracy of estimating 305-day cow milk production.
• The reliability of estimated breeding values for bulls was only slightly affected by simplified protocols.
• Simplified schemes could significantly reduce milk recording costs per cow.

Conclusions:

• Simplified milk recording systems are viable for tropical smallholder dairy farms.
• These schemes can maintain the efficiency of progeny testing programs while reducing costs.
• Implementing simplified protocols allows for testing a higher number of bulls with the same resources.