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Efficient dairy production
Feeding costs account for more than 50% of all dairy production costs. Wageningen University & Research, Animal Breeding & Genomics has developed a genetic evaluation for dairy cows to obtain breeding values for individual feed intake of cows.
2 cents per litre
This can be used to select cows that use their feed most efficiently to produce milk. In practice it has been found that costs can be reduced to as little as 2 cents per litre of milk.
Implementation
This breeding value was implemented in 2014 by the Dutch breeding company Coöperatie Rundveeverbetering (CRV). On the basis of this breeding value, for example, farmers can choose which bull they would like to use for their next generation of healthy, efficient dairy cows.