Dairy cattle farmers' preferences for different breeding tools.

Area of Science:

• Animal Breeding and Genetics
• Agricultural Economics
• Dairy Cattle Management

Background:

• Advanced breeding technologies like sexed semen, genomic testing, and embryo transfer offer significant potential for genetic gain in dairy herds.
• Despite the availability and decreasing costs of these tools, their adoption rate among Swedish dairy farmers remains notably low.
• Understanding farmer preferences is crucial for promoting the uptake of effective dairy cattle breeding technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the preferences of Swedish dairy farmers regarding various available breeding technologies.
• To identify factors influencing the adoption and utility of specific breeding tools among different farmer segments.
• To provide insights for optimizing the development and promotion of dairy breeding technologies in Sweden.

Main Methods:

• A survey incorporating a discrete choice experiment was administered to 204 Swedish dairy farmers.
• Conditional logit modeling was employed to compute utility and part-worth values for nine distinct respondent groups.
• Analysis focused on preferences for sexed semen, beef semen, genomic testing, dairy crossbreeding, and multiple ovulation embryo transfer (MOET).

Main Results:

• Sexed semen and beef semen were the most strongly preferred breeding tools across all respondent groups.
• Genomic testing showed significant preference, while multiple ovulation embryo transfer (MOET) was largely disfavored, except in large herds.
• Combinations of sexed semen, beef semen, and genomic testing (without dairy crossbreeding) emerged as the most preferred tool packages.

Conclusions:

• Swedish dairy farmers express a clear preference for advanced breeding tools like sexed semen, beef semen, and genomic testing.
• The perceived cost of genomic testing and time investment for MOET may hinder adoption, despite recognized benefits.
• There is potential for increased utilization of breeding technologies, particularly preferred combinations, by addressing cost-benefit perceptions.