High Input
Which animals are most suited to high input feeding?
 There’s a common misconception that for intensive feeding you have to farm the bigger Holstein-Friesian type cow, but that’s simply not true – the PREMIER SIRES Bulletin and the Your Choice magazine often feature farmers who are farming intensively using New Zealand bred sires. The Holstein-Friesian Strain Trial found that high BW cows of predominantly New Zealand ancestry were more profitable than high BW overseas bulls across the range of pasture-based systems typical of those found in New Zealand.
The BW is a measure of profitability that takes the cost of feed into account. So a high BW is what you need. The RAS List, which ranks bulls on their BW, is dominated by LIC bulls. So whether you use PREMIER SIRES or Alpha Nominated bulls, you will get an animal suited to intensive feeding.
However, to give high input farmers even more help to breed the animals suited to their systems, LIC has developed the High Input Index.
High input farmers are not just interested in BW. They want animals producing high milksolids, and with good type (especially udder support) to carry the extra milk volume.
The High Input index differs from the BW in three respects:
1. The BW uses information and economic weights appropriate for an average farm with an all-grass feeding system, whereas the High Input index uses information and economic weights appropriate for the average high input system.
2. The BW considers the economic values of seven traits (milkfat, protein, volume, liveweight, fertility, somatic cells and residual survival), whereas the High Input index considers all of those plus udder overall (which is highly correlated to udder support).
3. The effective percentage weight of each trait in the index is different. Generally, the High Input index places slightly more emphasis on the somatic cell score, and weights almost one-tenth of the index on the udder.
BW is the best all-round tool for selecting animals for breeding. Other indexes should, as we always advise, be used in conjunction with BW, not instead of.
The High Input index will allow nominated farmers to fine-tune their breeding programmes to breed the animals they need for their high input management systems.
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