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SE Manitoba | I'm not sorry and appreciated the length of your reply - - - - you read all of what I said and also responded to the points - - - - deeply appreciated.
I agree that over time certain traits would result in a certain amount of coalescence - - - but there is also a problem with that coalescence.
When the genetic poor has shrunk there just isn't the ease to move the breed in a different direction.
IIUIC the demand for butter has increased (at least here but I think its generic across north america).
Almost all the dairy breeding in north america has been with a goal of increased fluid milk. With the coalescence of the genetics it is going to be very difficult to find the genetics to enable a shift in the breeding to increase the butter fat content level.
I can remember when 'homo' (homogenized) milk was rated at 4% MF (milk fat) and for I'm not sure how long it is now rated at 3.25% MF.
A butter producer needs to have some use for all the skim milk and dumping more skim milk powder into the ocean just isn't a great idea and me, for one, find the low fat milk products all too often severly lacking in the flavor and/or quality like their full fat cousins. Given the incredible pendulum swings that human nutrition has done over the last about 50 years (that I know about at least) it won't be too long before there is a push for full fat milk products for reasons of physical health and not just for flavor profiles.
But where is it going to be possible to find Holstein genetics that have 4.5% MF or greater?
So long term selection for production has negative consequences carried along.
You may wish to investigate the selection process and the changes therein in the French Lacaune sheep.
Previous to starting in the 60s the Lacuane had been considered purely a meat sheep (bred for carcass usage likely with some wool but likely little). For about 25 years selection was done looking for fluid milk increases. In the 90's the increase in purely volume was connected with pulling up the MF % ages and the milk solid percentages (makes for more and better cheese production (that was the reason for the sheep milk in the first place!)). About 10 to 15 years after that milestone udder morphology was also added into the selection criteria. The increase in milk volume per generation has slowed considerably BUT there has been large strides in ALL of the other areas (over the 20+ years). The breed norms have been changed from where Lacaune was considered a meat sheep 60 years ago to where today it has 2 distinct strains one considered to still be meat and the other as a dairy breed. It is a strong enough strain so that it can compete with the other 'dairy' sheep breeds and really doesn't leave much behind.
I don't really think there is enough genetic diversity left in the north american Holstein herd to enable those kind of changes but I would love to be proven wrong and genomic testing just might enable the finding of what would be the 175 percentile (or greater) outliers - - - -but I think the would be very very very rare.
Thank you for an interesting discussion (would love to continue further if you wish!)!!!!!
The Holstein breed just doesn't have that genetic resource diversity to enable | |
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Are Angus the new terminal breed?
