{"id":96029,"date":"2025-05-12T18:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/96029\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:47:08","slug":"world-first-genetic-index-helps-aussie-farmers-breed-heat-tolerant-cows-to-maintain-their-welfare-and-milk-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/96029\/","title":{"rendered":"World-First Genetic Index Helps Aussie Farmers Breed Heat Tolerant Cows to Maintain Their Welfare\u2013and Milk Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dairy cows in Australia \u2013 Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash<\/p>\n

Australian dairies are breeding heat-tolerant cows and seeing big returns on hot days that are making the global industry stand up and take notice.<\/p>\n

Ever feel like wolfing down a big meal when it\u2019s 85\u00b0F out with 80% humidity? If you recoil at the thought, that\u2019s one thing you have in common with a dairy cow.<\/p>\n

Australian dairy farmers can lose between 25% and 40% of their herd\u2019s milk yield during the summer months.<\/p>\n

Against this financial heartbreak, farmers are putting their heads and herds together and diving into the science of genetics to help create the cattle of the future, using the Heat-Tolerance Australian Breeding Value or ABV for short.<\/p>\n

The history of genetic exploitation in animal agriculture isn\u2019t exactly a textbook on animal welfare: quite the opposite in fact. In this case, Dr. Thuy Nguyen, who pioneered the ABV, said it improves the animals\u2019 lives because it allows them to tolerate hot and humid conditions more easily.<\/p>\n

Key to Dr. Nguyen\u2019s method, created over 4 years of data collection, was using the right measurement: not core body temperature, surprisingly, but rather a reduction in the animal\u2019s social milieu on hot days.<\/p>\n

Dairy cattle on Trevor Parrish\u2019s Kangaroo Valley farm tend to become lethargic when it gets too stifling, eating less, or not at all. They crowd together for some reason, making it even hotter to their senses. Even if they do this under shade, they proceed to pee and defecate in the same spot, over and over again, increasing humidity yet further.<\/p>\n

Parrish was one of the first farmers in Australia\u2019s dairy industry to use the ABV, and while the first breeding bull he examined had a value substantially under 100 (heat intolerant) another pair each had values far in excess of 100\u2014showing him which ones to breed with.<\/p>\n

FARMING NEWS: <\/strong>Sunshine Coast Recycles Wastewater to Irrigate Farms\u2013Instead of Dumping into a River<\/a><\/p>\n

Developed in 2017, ABC News Australia reports<\/a> that the ABV has received substantial industry use and financial support, expanding its footprint to include multiple Australian states, and even receiving acclaim internationally.<\/p>\n

The acclaim arises from Dr. Nguyen and Parrish being the first among their professions in the world to a heat-tolerance marker for commercial breeding strategies, and now the US, Italy, and Spain are all investigating similar strategies.<\/p>\n

MORE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCES: <\/strong>Experts Demonstrate How Solar Farms Can Become Hubs for \u2018Biodiversity Enhancement\u2019 at Every Level<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe US tested our ABV and found that it works in their conditions so it\u2019s great to see it make waves globally,\u201d Dr. Nguyen told a special report series called Land Line from ABC<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it made a lot of sense to have a look into it and try and use bulls that were [more] heat tolerant so it would help the next generation moving forward,\u201d Parrish told the same program. \u201cI would totally encourage other farmers to use [the ABV]. It\u2019s not getting any cooler.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH the special report below\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

SHARE This Great Story Of Happier Cows And Bigger Bottom Lines With Your Friends\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dairy cows in Australia \u2013 Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash Australian dairies are breeding heat-tolerant cows and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[3971,933,186,51,7029,267,1984,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-96029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-climate","13":"tag-genetics","14":"tag-global-warming","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}