NZMI

New Zealand Merit Index has been developed after extensive research as a result of collaboration with leading geneticists in Australia and Holland over the past 5 years.
With New Zealand having approximately 12,000 dairy farms, and not all of these have use the same management or feeding systems.

 

NZMI is designed for those farmers who are wanting to breed cows that produce at high levels, are easily managed in terms of calving ease, fertility and temperament, as well as having capacity and udder quality to ensure durability over multiple lactations.

The development of this index gives New Zealand dairy farmers a choice of cow and sire selection improvement opportunities.

 

Focus on the traits that keep cows in the herd longer and subsequently improve profitability is the key objective of the index.

With scientists we developed an index which would breed towards ‘Cow 2015’.
This index was named; New Zealand Merit Index (NZMI)

Attributes of ‘Cow 2015’
• Efficient producer of a high-value milk
• Long-lasting (>4.3 lactations per cow)
• Good shed traits
• Fertile
• Strong udders

A 14kg gain in protein yield is predicted from using NZMI over 10 years.
The gain in fat yield over the same period is 16kg. This balanced increase in milk solids production will be accompanied with a 440litre increase in milk yield.

Cow 2015 will be much improved for shed traits and overall opinion.
Adaptability and shed temperament improvement mean a more easily-managed cow essential for many cow operations.
The cow will be faster milking which is becoming a desired trait.

High fertility or high in-calf rates to AI are essential in herds of the future.
Herds selected under NZMI will be more fertile, as well as having better rump angle and superior body condition.

Rump angle is important for calving ease and fertility.
A high rump angle is undesirable (red line). Level or slightly downwards is the ultimate angle to ensure easier calving cows and subsequently higher fertility.

Many New Zealand dairy cows have a weakness in their leg set as it is commonly set in a sickled position.
This leads to leg weakness and poor heel depth.

NZMI straightens legs which improves leg strength and provides greater heel depth which is necessary for today’s requirements for commercial dairy cows.

 

Rump width and capacity have an effect on the cow’s ability to calve.
Narrow rumped cattle subsequently have narrow pin bone set which hampers calving ability.

Capacious cows have a wider rump width and wide set pin bones which improve calving ability.

A cow’s centre ligament is fundamental to udder quality - shape and teat placement.
If a cow has a weak ligament you can expect the udder to drop and the teats will begin to point east and west.

Once the udder drops somatic cell increase is highly likely.
Udder quality is closely correlated with herd life and SCC.

Strongly attached udders are essential for long herd life.
The height and width of the rear udder in young in-milk heifers will determine how long an udder will last under commercial farming conditions.
The red area shows how the udder will develop using NZMI.

NZMI will increase cow weight by approximately 8 kgs in 10 years.
This increase in liveweight will be due to increases in cow capacity rather than cow height or length.
Cows will be heavier and stronger not taller.

Cow capacity should be measured from a number of perspectives including depth of rib and chest width.  Cow height is not a measure of capacity.

Muzzle width is strongly correlated with capacity. The more capacious the cow the stronger/wider the muzzle.

 

 

Chest width is also a measure of cow capacity.  Weak chested cows will not last long in the modern dairy herd.
As you can see, the cow on the right shows all the characteristics for a capacious dairy cow.

 

 

 

 

When we introduced TOP Charts into Dairy Sire Catalogues it was a first.
Farmers could very quickly identify the traits that we consider important for their herd.
These traits, known as Breeding Values are supplied from Animal Evaluations. 

 

 

It is not uncommon in Sale Yards throughout New Zealand that our dairy cattle are the first and most popular to be purchased. Not only that, but there is a premium paid for Genetics.

This is a result of over 30 years of breeding following our Breeding Philosophy.

Should you choose to use NZMI as your breeding objective, offers full herd testing and recording options.

We can offer you complete services which include cow catalogues with values. Dairy farmers are understanding the value of and are commenting on how it reflects the true genetic merit in their herd.

 

Direct and Indirect responses
High response in Protein
Similar response in Fat
Moderate increase in Milk
Small increase in Liveweight
Increase in Capacity
Increase in Condition score
Decrease in Somatic Cells
Higher Fertility
Small increase in Calving Difficulty
Vastly improved Overall Opinion
Vastly improved Capacity
Vastly improved Udders including Udder Support
Very encouraging increase in Total Longevity
‘Cow 2015’ lives 22 days longer, will return $88 extra. (1kg MS/d @ $4/kg MS for 22 days)
Overall effect is ‘Cow 2015’ will return $40 more, due to her longer productive life even though in each lactation she is producing a little less fat.