Farmers and vets at the Precision Livestock Farming in Practice conference (23 to 24 November, York Biotech Campus) were first in the country to hear how individual high somatic cell count (SCC) cows can be identified from DNA analysis of a bulk milk sample.
Richard Miller from National Milk Records (NMR) said just one tissue sample per animal, as a calf or adult, would be required for genomic analysis to make this possible throughout each cow’s lifetime. Conference goers were told the service currently in development by NMR will be called GenoCells.
In addition to identifying high SCC cows for culling, Richard said that, in conjunction with sexed semen, it meant farmers could also avoid breeding future herd replacements with a genetic pre-disposition to high cell counts.
For conference organiser RAFT Solutions, vet Jonathan Statham said: “This remarkable development has potential to be a game-changer in managing udder health and UK milk’s unique provenance. The conference was staged because there’s no escaping that raising the precision of resource use is critical to the future of UK livestock farms and their vets.”
It took place at the York Biotech Campus, home of the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA).
