Unique genetic data for fertility traits

And the icing on the cake is that extensive analysis of this “Real World Data’ has discovered that there is a direct link relating to how genetics can impact the way in which a cow gets through the transition period.

Thus Real World Data has not only provided farmers with an innovative and extremely accurate database for selection of high fertility sires but has also resulted in a revolutionary new trait, called ‘Transition Right’, that farmers can use to select genetics which minimises the need for preventative and reactionary measures to health issues during the transition period.

Commenting on the Real World data figures Ervin McKinstry, Ireland Manager for Genus ABS said: “Currently there are 401 million records recorded from 32 million cows across 2015 herds. The UK currently has 454,000 cows from 312 herds feeding into the database. Thus the traits we provide are not just based on small scale trials but on millions of records from thousands of cows globally.”

Ervin went on to emphasise that no other company has a database which started nearly ten years ago and which grows each day with customer data. Real World data improves accuracy from existing fertility models as it is accessed directly from Genus ABS herds globally rather than a single country.

He continued: “Real World Data is ‘real’ data from farms just like every single one of our customers. As a company we will use the power of this data to build innovative and proprietary traits/indexes for our customers to help them deliver genetic progress in their herd by breeding for a more efficient and profitable cow to suit their system.”

Real World Data fertility rankings are calculated from all highly reliable bulls with more than 1000 inseminations results from at least eight herds.

These bulls are then ranked from one to five, with Genus ABS actively marketing sires with three stars and above.