The 11th annual CDCB Industry Meeting brought together 200 people in The Tanbark at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., last Wednesday, October 1. Another 375 people joined the event virtually.

“Introducing the Next Genetic Tools” was the focus of the meeting, which featured updates from CDCB staff on current research projects as well as a look to what questions could be explored in the future. To give perspective on how those traits are applied on farms, a panel of dairy farmers discussed cow longevity.

Before looking ahead to what’s to come, CDCB geneticist Kristen Gaddis, Ph.D., provided additional context to CDCB’s newest trait, Milking Speed (MSPD), which was launched in the August evaluations for Holsteins.

“Milking Speed is a story of collaboration and innovation,” Gaddis said, commending the cooperation of farmers and data providers that made the research possible and acknowledging that MSPD is a groundbreaking accomplishment. It is CDCB’s first trait to use sensor data, so a new data pipeline and extensive review was needed to bring this trait to the industry.

The ultimate trait provides an alternative to subjective scoring of milking speed and provides real opportunity for farmers to boost milking parlor efficiency with its 42% heritability.

Just because a trait is available doesn’t mean further work can’t be done. Gaddis noted two opportunities that remain with MSPD. Developing MSPD for breeds beyond Holsteins will be straightforward once sufficient data is collected. Additionally, expanding the trait to include data from automatic milking systems is of future interest.
CDCB staff, along with partners at USDA’s Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory (AGIL), are moving toward delivering selection options to help dairy producers tackle three of a farm’s most expensive issues: reproductive performance, lameness, and calf health.

Taylor McWhorter, Ph.D., CDCB geneticist, has been leading the review of the Daughter Pregnancy Rate, Cow Conception Rate, Heifer Conception Rate, and Early First Calving traits. Many herd management changes have occurred in the two decades since most of these traits were introduced, so refinements being proposed include incorporating a variable voluntary waiting period (VWP), updating variance components, and developing a new trait, First Service to Conception, that does not take VWP into account.

Ashley Ling, Ph.D., CDCB support scientist, explained the two-sided solution to lameness being explored. On one hand, hoof trimmer records are being evaluated to understand potential hoof health traits for infectious lesions (like digital dermatitis) and noninfectious lesions (like white line disease), which appear to be similarly heritable to traits like the fertility measures. Additionally, a potential mobility trait is in the research stage as daily locomotion scores captured by cameras on six participating farms are evaluated.

John Cole, Ph.D., CDCB chief research and development officer, discussed work done to bring traits for calfhood diarrhea and respiratory disease to the Holstein and Jersey breeds. Animal records were analyzed by AGIL and uncovered heritabilities similar to those for cow health traits, 2.6% for diarrhea and 2.2% for respiratory disease. Now those traits are going through testing and validation in order to potentially be released as early as April 2026, Cole shared.

Selection tools create more productive cows, but those animals must be able to capitalize on that potential. Albert DeVries, Ph.D., professor of animal science at the University of Florida, challenged the audience to redefine longevity and instead look at how profitable cows really are. Maximizing profit per stall may or may not mean replacing an older cow with a first-lactation heifer.

With that in mind, three dairy farmers took the stage to talk about how they view longevity on their farm, particularly in the frame of genetic selection.

• Kristen Metcalf of Glacier Edge Dairy in Milton, Wis., noted that they would ideally like to be able to keep their Jerseys in the herd for at least five or six lactations before choosing to cull them. “If we’re using management tools correctively and really looking at some different traits when we’re breeding, I don’t think you should be burning cows out,” she said. “They should be able to live productive and healthy lives until they naturally reach that dip in milk production.”
• Glenn Kline from Y Run Farms in Troy, Pa., credits genomic testing as the farm change that’s most impacted longevity. “Boy, that’s made a huge difference on our herd. We did expand here three years ago and we had to buy some animals in. There was really a significant difference with our original animals lasting longer.”
• Eric Grotegut from Grotegut Dairy in Newton, Wis., also highlighted that improvements in genetic selection and management decisions have strengthened their herd. “Fifteen to 25 years ago, it seemed like I was selling cows every day; lameness, mastitis, and pneumonia…there was something all the time. Now, most cull cows are one day a week. They don’t have to go [as early].”

If you missed the event or want to revisit these topics, speaker slides are now available on the CDCB website [ cdcb.com ] , and the recording of the meeting can be found on the CDCB YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CouncilonDairyCattleBreeding