Canada publishes breeding value for methane emissions from dairy cows

The breeding value was developed by the University of Guelph in collaboration with the Canadian Milk Control Organizations. Research was first carried out on five hundred cows, where methane emissions were measured using so-called sniffers. This was then expanded with the 700,000 'milk mid-infrared spectroscopy data' of dairy cows in the first lactation from the milk control. In April, Lactanet will publish the methane efficiency breeding values, which producers can use to significantly reduce methane emissions in their herd. For genomic bulls it is 70 percent reliable. And genetic selection alone is estimated to reduce emissions by 20 to 30 percent by 2050. methane index In addition, Semex customers who have had their animals genotyped by means of an ear biopsy also receive a methane index for these animals. Peter van Beek, International Sales Manager at Semex, is enthusiastic about this: 'You can take this to your dairy processor to demonstrate that methane emissions are ...