Campbeltowncowboy
VG87
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GMS/Herd Mating
The Genus/ABS GMS program and others have been running now for some time in the states and over here has anyone got heifers milking yet? Are they an improvement on their dams?
We have some about a year old and some look quite smart(Boltons) but it will be a while before they are milking, what do others think about these programs?
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21/7/2008, 22:34
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rossymons
GP82
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GMS/Herd Mating
Problem is that the results will also throw up bulls you will have never thought of, for better or worse.
I have a friend whos a technician for the company and hes quiered the results - who is going to buy one straw of bull to use on one particular cow?
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22/7/2008, 22:17
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foxleigh
Ex97
True blue dinky-di maverick
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Location: southern,oz
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GMS/Herd Mating
our holstein association used to do a program called checkmate that recommended up to 5 sires per classified cow.One of the farms I used to visit used this program and in the end we counted out all the cows that had the same sire listed in their 5 recommendations and went from 21 first choices to about 5 main ones and 3 that had 3 different sires making it much easier.I seem to remeber having a hard time getting my head around the fact that about a 3rd of the herd shouldve been mated to inspiration.
I have also seen herds in mn where the owners were tearing their hair out because they started with a decent herd,had an analyst/ai company mate it for 5 years and finished up with garbage.
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23/7/2008, 3:55
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Kristin1
EX90
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Re: GMS/Herd Mating
I provide this service to customers that request it as part of my job, using a program that was designed by the AI company I work for. It is a state of the art program with lots of flexibility, and along with the Semex mating program is the only program in Canada that uses exact inbreeding calculations, including all available pedigree data dating back 60 years to the beginning of AI. The other programs available only use 4 or 5 generations at most and greatly underestimate the inbreeding.
There is great variation between dairymen that request the mating guide. I have a Master Breeder herd that requests an updated one at least 6 times a year; and a bunch of other good breeders that like to have one for the hired man to use when they are away and for their own reference.
Then there are a lot of quite commercial herds that couldn't care less about how individual cows are bred, they just want to control their inbreeding and correctively mate her to one of the 4-8 bulls they have on hand at that time.
The program recommends 3 bulls/cow which is enough for any of my customers, so if they are out of choice 1, they use choice 2. As the majority of our customers are do it yourself AI herds, we only include the bulls that they choose to purchase.
The emphasis on production, type, and health/fertility categories can be changed along with each individual trait included in a Canadian sire proof; depending on their breeding goals.
I routinely get comments from breeders that notice an improvement in their herd since they started using it. I'm not saying its for everyone, but there are many people who don't have a passion for breeding cows, and for the commercial dairyman I think it is better than going with a bull of the week strategy.
Last edited by Kristin1, 23/7/2008, 7:04
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23/7/2008, 7:00
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Anyone that knows cows and can read a bull proof, will be doing much the same, and probably a lot better when they can take the cows pedigree into account.
