Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    Twitter LinkedIn
    • FREE Email Newsletters
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    Twitter LinkedIn
    Podcast
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    • News
      • Arable & Agronomy
      • Dealership News
      • Environmental Land Management Scheme/Policy
      • Event News
      • Health & Safety
      • Machinery
      • People
      • World News
    • Farm Machinery
      • Amenity & Maintenance
      • Cultivations
      • Drilling
      • Grassland Equipment
      • Harvesting
      • Muck & Slurry
      • Sprayers
      • Telehandlers
      • Tractors
      • Tractor of the Year
      • Tyres & Tracks
      • Whatever happened to?
    • Precision Farming
    • Markets & Policy
    • Profiles
      • National Arable and Grassland Awards
      • Company Profiles
      • Reader Profiles
    • Livestock
      • Beef
      • Dairy
      • Sheep
    • Magazines
      1. July 2025 issue
      2. June 2025 issue
      3. Cereals event guide 2025
      4. May 2025 issue
      5. April 2025 issue
      6. March 2025 issue
      7. 2025 Tyre Developments supplement
      8. February 2025 issue
      9. National Arable and Grassland Awards supplement
      10. January 2025 issue
      11. December 2024 issue
      12. November 2024 issue
      13. October 2024 issue
      14. September 2024 issue
      15. August 2024 Issue
      16. 2024 Drills and Seeds supplement
      17. July 2024 Issue
      18. Cereals Supplement
      19. June 2024 Issue
      20. May 2024 Issue
      21. April 2024 Issue
      22. Tyres and Tracks Supplement
      23. March 2024 Issue
      24. National Arable & Grassland Award – Meet the Finalists
      25. February 2024 Issue
      26. January 2024 Issue
      27. December 2023
      28. Agritechnica Preview Supplement
      29. November 2023
      30. October 2023
      Featured

      July 2025 issue available now

      By Matthew TiltJuly 9, 2025
      Recent

      July 2025 issue available now

      July 9, 2025

      Cereals event guide 2025 available now

      June 20, 2025

      June 2025 issue available now

      June 2, 2025
    • Events
    • Podcast
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    Dairy

    New mastitis PTA will be launched next month

    chrislyddonBy chrislyddonMarch 27, 20173 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

    A new mastitis genetic evaluation will be published by AHDB Dairy to coincide with the issue of next month’s bull proofs (4 April) for the dairy cattle breeds. The new evaluation gives an indication of a bull’s ability to transmit mastitis resistance on to his daughters and is expressed as a percentage on a scale of about -5 to +5.

    As with the Somatic Cell Count PTA (Predicted Transmitting Abilitiy) – which has been used successfully by milk producers to breed lower cell counts into dairy cattle for many years – negative figures are desirable for mastitis.

    This means that for every one percent decrease in a bull’s Mastitis PTA there will be a corresponding one percent decrease in the proportion of his daughters expected to get mastitis.

    Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB Dairy explains: “The degree to which any animal can be improved through breeding depends on the heritability of the trait being improved – in other words, the degree to which it passes from one generation to the next – and how reliably we are measuring that trait.

    “In the case of the new mastitis evaluations, we have used extensive national records from all of the UK’s milk recording organisations to assess the degree to which each bull’s daughters are able to resist mastitis, and from that information, we have established every bull’s breeding pattern.”

    Using this information it has been established that the heritability of mastitis is about four per cent. This is on a par with several traits being improved through breeding and it is higher than some which are making good genetic progress, including female fertility.

    “This means we are confident dairy producers can improve the mastitis rates in their herds through breeding which – although a slow and long-term process – reaps rich rewards over the generations,” he says.

    The existing SCC PTA will continue to be published alongside the new mastitis evaluation since – although they are similar – the two traits are not identical.

    “The majority of bulls which reduce their daughters’ cell counts will also reduce mastitis,” says Mr Winters. “This is seen in a correlation between the two evaluations of +0.8, indicating there’s a strong, but not exact, likeness between the two traits.

    “However, there are a few bulls which will reduce one and not the other trait, and this  new information will help pinpoint those bulls,” he continues. “It means farmers can consider both traits and they can make their breeding decisions with this extra knowledge and according to their herds’ precise needs.

    “As with all individual trait PTAs, the Mastitis PTA should be used as part of a broader breeding strategy,” he says. “The recommended starting point for this is selection based on the Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI), with subsequent shortlisting based on the herd’s specific needs.”

    The mastitis evaluation will be published for all dairy breeds and for daughter-proven and young genomic sires.

    Tweet
    Share
    Share
    Pin
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
    Previous ArticleOptimise dairy cow diets to avoid costly drops in fertility
    Next Article NADIS Parasite Forecast – April 2017
    chrislyddon

    Read Similar Stories

    Hi-Spec to introduce new diet feeder at Royal Highland

    June 16, 2025

    Lely introduces the Vector MFR Next

    April 3, 2025

    Palm-free fat supplement helps dairy farms to cut CO2

    March 31, 2025
    Most Read Stories

    Polish manufacturer looks to UK for growth

    July 14, 2025

    Latest updates to applicators

    July 14, 2025

    High-quality bales and reliability key to baler

    July 13, 2025
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer

    The UK's leading agricultural machinery journal

    Twitter LinkedIn
    © 2024 MA Agriculture Ltd, a Mark Allen Group company

    Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Terms & Conditions

    • Farmers Weekly
    • AA Farmer
    • Poultry News
    • Pig World

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.