Judge shares tips on ranking cows

Holstein Friesian New Zealand (HFNZ) and international breeding company Semex arranged for Carscadden to teach up-and-coming dairy farmers different aspects of showing and judging dairy cattle at an all-breeds youth judging day. He spoke to breeders about the changing role of a sire analyst with the introduction of genomics.

Cascadden has judged in 20 countries before coming to New Zealand to judge at New Zealand Dairy Event at the end of last month. He grew up on a dairy farm and started showing cattle himself at the age of seven. As he grew older he worked his way around the world fitting (preparing the cattle for showing) and traded cattle to pay his way through university. He is a sire analyst for Semex selecting Holstein Friesian sires that are sold all around the world.

HFNZ says 30 young participants took advantage of Carscadden's knowledge. They learnt about what a dairy cattle judge looks for in a cow when she is presented in the show ring. He explained a judge is looking for a cow with correct, functional type, describing the different traits and linking them back to the cow in the farm dairy.

"I am looking for a dairy cow and when I judge I look with an emphasis on the udder, but I still look at other traits such as rump angle because we still want this cow to get back in-calf," Carscadden told participants.

Judging cows made available for the day, Carscadden was able to predict their reproductive and productive ability, which he verified with host breeder Craig Rowe of Maire Farms, Palmerston North.

He offered the participants tips on showmanship, how to present the cow at its best to the judge in the show ring and explained how to halter train a cow.

He then brought together a line-up of cows for the participants to judge, explaining the different highlights of each animal and tips to look for.

"You should be confident in your decisions and reasons when you give them and always stand by your judgment," he says.

In the genomics seminar, Carscadden did a presentation to a group of interested breeders about the introduction of genomics and how it has affected his job as a sire analyst. He explained his role has changed over the last three to four years, but still the outcome is to get the best proven bulls.

"Genomics is the biggest change in the AI industry since the advent of frozen semen," Carscadden says.

"Genomics is a measure of their transmitting ability not their phenotypic measure."

In other words genomics is not a measure of the bull daughters' actual performance, he says.

He explained under the Semex system, bulls are given a genomic proof in both USA and Canada. The company has genotyped an increasing number of bulls every year, in 2011 they genotyped 2900 bulls with 200 selected for market, "The greatest thing about genomics is that it tells us what bulls to leave at the farm. It doesn't tell us which bulls are the best bulls."

Carscadden said he felt there was still a need for sire proving as there was a misconception that genomic bulls will take over the breeding world.

He talked about an impending date, March 2013, up until that date only breeding companies in North America have been able to have animals genotyped, however after that time, any breeder will be able to test animals through the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN) or the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) and he fears breeders may then choose to sell their genetics to the highest bidder.