Dairy Cattle Genomics is Quietly Improving Sustainability | Knowledge Exchange Division
In the past 15 years, dairy farmers have been breeding cattle by traits to improve productivity, requiring fewer cows each passing year to produce the same amount of #milk. The U.S. #dairy herd today is just 1% bigger than in 2008 but produces 19.2% more pounds of milk. That translates to less methane production, a smaller carbon footprint and less feed required for each unit of milk.
Corey Geiger, lead dairy economist, explains why the dairy industry still has room to grow more efficient through genomics: A cow produced by combining the best-known genes would be three times more sustainable than the top Holstein bull on the market today.
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U.S. dairy producers are increasingly leveraging science's power to optimize the genetic pot…
