TopQ - 7 years of intensive breeding program

The co-operation of 5 breeding organizations (Landesverband Thüringer Rinderzüchter eG - LTR Rinderzuchtverband Sachsen-Anhalt eG - RSA Rinder-Union-West eG - RUW Weser-Ems-Union eG - WEU and Zucht- und Besamungsunion Hessen eG- ZBH) took up joint work in October 1999. According to the saying "joint forces make us strong" the TopQ partner organizations developed an internationally powerful breeding program - the first one of this kind, dimension and intensity. The experiences each partner organization had gained from its previous breeding work were gathered to serve as solid source for the joint program. Dr. Josef Pott considers the results as follows.

One principal component of the co-operation has been the clear allocation of responsibilities in the field of procuring outstanding genetics. While selection work in the own breeding areas is done by each organization itself knowing best the cows and farms in their home region, selection beyond the TopQ area is done in defined regions each by two partners. This allocation of responsibilities reduces not only the travel expenses, but increases also the intensity of selection.

It is agreed upon between the TopQ members that one partner prepares the inspection trip whereas the other assists in selecting on site. The involvement of a partner in everyday selection work is a gainfully supplement and makes sure that the work can be continued even in the event of holidays, illness etc.

TopQ sire analysts prepare the selection trips in the following areas assisted by representatives on site and supported in practical selection work by the expertise of honorary members of their organization:

Rudolf Goldmann, LTR: France, Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Saxony

Rainer Schulz, RSA: Canada, Italy, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Berlin- Brandenburg

Hartwig Meinikmann, RUW: Benelux, Ireland, Schleswig-Holstein

Rolf Oorlog, WEU: USA, East-Frisia

Bernd Koch, ZBH Denmark, lower-saxonian (Masterrind)

This work stretches everybody involved to the limit as they have to spend a lot time travelling in order to find the best cows and bulls worldwide and "separate the sheep from the goats". It is still a main principle of TopQ that mating cows are not contracted by the pedigree, but by intense selection and after having had a close look at them.

Josef Hannen, chairman of the RUW board, has already travelled several times on behalf of TopQ to the east of the US and describes the main points of practical selection work on the farms as follows: "After the animals had been pre-selected by their pedigree and their cow family, an intense assessment is done on farm. Special focus is laid on feet & leg and udder. The quality of feet & leg can be best evaluated in locomotion. Regarding udders it is the attachment and if they can be milked out neatly. There is no use for bulged fore udders and udder quarters tending to pocket formation.

Of special interest to me are the animal's somatic cell score (SCS) results and breeding value and it is very important that the animals' production is put into perspective (for example milking 3 x). The animals selected should be above herd average."

Andreas Lohmoeller, former member of the WEU board took part in several TopQ selection trips to the Midwest of the US and credits the professional preparation of inspection trips. "There are made no compromises regarding feet & legs. During the trips the Durham daughters attracted our attention. Their exceptional udder quality was apparent. Many Durham daughters that already had been pre-selected were contracted during the tour."

The objective target of TopQ's breeding program is defined clearly. What is needed is a healthy, smooth cows that are willing to milk and whose sound feet & legs and functional udders ensure a long productive life. Based on this objective target mating cows from approved and successful cow families are selected. The severe criteria of TopQ's inspection teams and their special focus on functional traits are known meanwhile. Procurers as well as breeding farms have realized that TopQ puts more emphasis on the animals' functionality than other breeding programs.

Thus, Rudolf Goldmann was already credited several times for selecting thoroughly bull mothers and bull calves in France. The detailed evaluation of the conformation of the potential test bull and its dam were said to be "exemplary" and would correlate excellently with the attitude of the French breeders. This also complies with the assessment of TopQ's agent in the US, Steve Berland who had worked as chief classifier for the Holstein Association for several years. He, therefore, knows the country, its people, cows and breeding programs very well and is one of the real insiders of "Holstein USA". His judge regarding the conformation of cows is throughout acknowledged and respected. When pre-selecting cows for inspection trips his comments are often as follows: "overall a cow, that shows …. and is used as mating cows by other AI studs, but out of the question for TopQ as TopQ puts more emphasis on feet & legs."

As is generally known "the devil is in the details" - this is also true for organizing such an extensive breeding program like TopQ has established. In order to prevent something to fall by the wayside, a frictionless organization is needed. In the last three years TopQ succeeded in practising an effective breeding program that resulted in 8804 mating/purchase contracts (2242 R&W; 6562 B&W) since the founding of TopQ. Due to the excellent co-operation and coordination between the sire analysts the number of contracts meets exactly the number TopQ's co-operation council had laid down so that there have always been enough bulls for testing.

table 1: Number of contracts, mean RZM, classification and mean production of mating cows (2005/2006)

As it is demonstrated in table 1, not only the number of contracts did fit, but also the quality of the animals selected. At a mean classification of 86.4 (R & W) and 86.8 (B & W) the bull mothers show a high performance with a mean RZM of 129 and a high absolute production with good components.

The ratio of young cow contracts of originally 36.9 % (B & W) and 39.3 % (R & W) had been reduced substantially in the last years and was at 15 % in 2005/2006. It is true that in the past, it was possible to procure high-classic genetics via young cow contracts, but it was experienced that there had been also a lot of losses. As many heifers did not meat TopQ's requirements that were laid down for bull mothers regarding production and conformation, only a few bulls from these contracts could be tested. The decrease of young cow contracts meant also a reduction of costs for TopQ's breeding program.

table 2: Mean proofs of sires and grand sires of TopQ mating cows

Mating cows contracted for TopQ have to meet highest requirements. They descend from proven cow families and their high total merit index as well as their performance, conformation and SCS show that they are allround genetics. Table 2 demonstrates the high quality of the so far selected mating cows by the proofs of their sires and grandsires.

As these figures impressively confirm, TopQ's selection considers animals whose pedigree show a balanced disposition for production and conformation. There can be expected improvements regarding SCS as in some countries there have still not been breeding values for this trait up to now. Whether TopQ's breeding program will have a sustainable success will not emerge before a sufficient number of bulls that resulted from this joint breeding program will have reliable proofs. All efforts and strains of selection work will be on trial at each evaluation run. As past experiences show not only the genetic disposition of a test bull, but also the way of performing the test run are decisive for the breeding value. Trans-regional exchange of semen for testing purposes make sure that TopQ meets the requirements in this aspect as well.

table 3: Mean pedigree indices for bulls expected from mating contracts (2005/2006)

Table 3 shows the development and steady improvement of TopQ's breeding program in the last years. Demonstrating the development of pedigree indices for mating contracts, it illustrates that the genetic disposition is not the limiting factor for success in the estimation of breeding values. Whereas in production a very high level could be reached already in the beginning, there is a constant development in conformation and somatic cell score. While at the beginning of TopQ bulls were used as sire of sons of which no proof for SCS was known, there is now more information available in this regard, so that a more sound selection work is possible.

When there is disposition for production and a pedigree level above average by almost two standard deviations, it can be expected that also in future TopQ will provide its members and clients with a large range of high class sires.