1 FIRST RESULTS OF THE AUSTRIAN EFFICIENT COW PROJECT Fuerst-Waltl Birgit, Steininger Franz, Fuerst Christian, Gruber Leonhard, Ledinek Maria, Zollitsch Werner, Zottl Karl, Egger-Danner Christa

2 Human population will further increase, hence demand for dairy products will expand Pressure on resources (land, water, energy,…); higher costs for feed most likely Improvement of (feed) efficiency may increase profitability Background

3 Steininger et al., 2013 Percent Metabolism Feed and energy efficiency Claw health Inter- and cross-sucking Insufficient sucking reflex Temperament Umbilical hernia Suitability for automatic milking New desired traits in Brown Swiss (Questionnaire 2012) n = 398

4 Definition of efficiency parameters Analyses of genetic possibilities to improve production efficiency Evaluation of the optimal body weight to achieve the highest nutrient and energy efficiency Relationship between efficiency and functional traits Analyses of environmental impact of cattle production under Austrian conditions Efficient cow – project aims

5 In 2014, data of more than 3,900 Fleckvieh, 1,600 Brown Swiss and 1,200 Holstein cows kept on 167 farms collected Data recording

6 Land: pasture, silage, hay,..- resources of farm Farmer: health observations, veterinarian diagnoses, claw health,... Silo/Fodder supply: ration composition, nutrient profiles,... Farm: housing information, climate,.. Milking: yield, composition, MIR,.. Others: body weight, BCS, lameness, body measures, conformation recording, intake,... Genotypes: 2,000 Simmental, 1,000 Brown Swiss

7 All cows scored linearly once in 2014 Body weight, chest and waist circumference, BCS, muscularity and lameness scored at each performance testing (8-11 times/year) Claw diseases (veterinarians) and claw trimming protocols (hoof trimmer or farmer) Data recording body measurements, linear scoring, claws

8 Individual feedback for all participating farmers (workshops end of 2015) Overall overview (key figures, farm facilities), results across all participating farms, individual measurements Several graphs and tables, regional and nationwide comparisons (within breed) Feedback for farmers

9 Distribution of weight of Brown Swiss cows for farm (blue), region (green) and Austria (red) animals are slightly lighter than Austrian average

10 kg live weight ECM/kg metabolic live weight for cows within lactation (1, 2, 3+) standardized to 100 days in milk animals within same colour bars are similarly efficient curve represents average for breed and lactation in similar farms

11 FarmFederal country AUTNo of cows ø ann. Milk yield corn in ration organic > 358-9,000<35%No No. of farms Milk yield (kg) Fat (%) Protein (%) Live weight Waist circum. (cm) Chest circum. (cm) BCS Muscling score Lameness score Fat-prot.-ratio Urea content Feedback for farmers Selected comparisons for fictive Brown Swiss breeder

12 Overview results Brown Swiss COWSNLACT 1LACT 2LACT >=3 WEIGHT (kg)1,60312, WAIST (cm)1,60212, CHEST (cm)1,60212, MUSC (1-9)1,60212, BCS (1-5)1,60212, BS somewhat lighter than Holstein, lighter than Fleckvieh

13 Overview results Brown Swiss COWSNLACT 1LACT 2LACT >=3 WEIGHT (kg)1,60312, WAIST (cm)1,60212, CHEST (cm)1,60212, MUSC (1-9)1,60212, BCS (1-5)1,60212, BS lowest waist and chest circumference

14 Overview results Brown Swiss COWSNLACT 1LACT 2LACT >=3 WEIGHT (kg)1,60312, WAIST (cm)1,60212, CHEST (cm)1,60212, MUSC (1-9)1,60212, BCS (1-5)1,60212, BCS and muscling between HF and FV

15 Breed BS FV HF ECM/kg metabolic live weight by body weight and breed (for herd averages, standardized to 100 days in milk, min. 5 cows/herd and breed)

16 Lameness scores Animals (%) with atLactation least one lameness score123+ ≥2 Brown Swiss Fleckvieh Holstein ≥3 Brown Swiss Fleckvieh Holstein minimum 4 observations per cow and lactation (Egger-Danner, 2015)

17 Conformation and leg/claw health About 4% of cows veterinarian diagnoses for claw diseases, but ~ 40% positive results by hoof trimmers → hoof trimmer results would be very valuable! Lower feet and legs scores → higher proportion of claw diagnoses and lame animals For single traits, rear legs side view and pasterns promising traits

18 Rear legs side view (1 = straight, 9 = extrem- ely straight) and proportion of cows with lameness scores ≥ 3 More sickled hock angles → higher proportions of lame cows

19 Pasterns and (1 = weak, 9 = upright) proportion of cows with diagnoses for claw diseases Slightly tighter pasterns → lower proportions of lame cows

20 Estimation/calculation of Feed intake Feed efficiency parameters Heritabilities and genetic correlations Body weight based on measurements Greenhouse gas emissions ….. Next steps

21 Thank you for your attention