Canadian judge Doug Savage

World Illawarra Conference keynote speech

by Doug Savage

A review of global dairy cattle numbers makes for interesting and at times surprising reading.

While most people would think of western Europe and north America as the world’s leading dairy producers, these regions are far from having the largest dairy cattle populations.

By a large margin the leading country is India, with around 82 million head, followed by Brazil with 15 million. China has the fastest growing population, now at 10 million and currently surpassing the US.

A large portion of the world’s dairy cows are in economically developing countries, have low level production per animal, and are generally in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

When it comes to the need for improved genetics and better livestock management, these countries represent the future markets of the world. Most regions in more temperate climates already have highly developed and competitive markets when it comes to livestock genetics. This point is very relevant when setting the long-term breeding goals for the Illawarra breed. What the world will need in the future is a high performance animal that has good fertility, good calving ease, is resistant to the eye and skin cancers that plague the Holsteins in tropical climates, and is generally adaptable to the hotter environment.

Because of the perishable nature of dairy products, around 94% of the world's dairy production is consumed within the country it is produced with just 6% traded internationally, half of which comes out of New Zealand and Australia. That scenario is not likely to change, with the burgeoning human populations in these developing countries requiring dramatic improvements in their own domestic dairy industries.

A good measure of genetic improvement programs around the world is to look at the numbers of young sires tested annually through structured young sire sampling programs. Here the Holsteins set the pace for genetic improvement with well over 6000 bulls sampled annually around the globe.

The dual purpose red breeds, usually based on Simmental bloodlines, follow with around 1200, while the red dairy breeds test 500, and the Brown Swiss and Jersey breeds around 400 each.

If we look at the individual red dairy breeds we see that the Scandinavian countries – Norway, Finland and Sweden – have each sampled around 100 per year, and by an interchange of genetics between them, together with adding a little North American Ayrshire, have been able to maintain good genetic gains without use of red Holstein blood. Most other countries with smaller numbers – such as the Danish Red and the German Angler – have found it necessary to make significant outside infusions including red Holsteins.

Over the past few years as interest in cross-breeding has gained attention, the red dairy breeds have gained a golden opportunity. Accordingly, both the Danish Red and the Angler have ceased the addition of further red Holstein genes so that they can join Sweden, Norway and Finland in being seen as a cross-breeding alternative for use over Holsteins. With the Swedish Red bull Peterslund having now sold over 700,000 doses, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue, the stakes are high.