Genetic improvements in indigenous breeds may deliver 20x more milk in Global South

Editor's note: Image above shows herd of quarter-Holstein, three-quarter-Gyr cattle. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign animal scientists are set to deliver a potential game changer for subsistence farmers in Tanzania: cows that produce up to 20 times the milk of indigenous breeds. The effort, published in Animal Frontiers, marries the milk-producing prowess of Holsteins and Jerseys with the heat, drought, and disease-resistance of Gyrs, an indigenous cattle breed common in tropical countries. Five generations of crosses result in cattle capable of producing 10 liters of milk per day under typical Tanzanian management, blasting past the half-liter average yield of indigenous cattle. After breeding the first of these calves in the US, project leader Matt Wheeler, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at Illinois, is ready to bring embryos to Tanzania. “High-yielding Girolandos — Holstein-Gyr ...