| UMOTEST Genetic Program : Selection to Provide Top Proven Sire | ||
UMOTEST Genetic Program is based on a wide recorded population (>325 000 Montbeliarde cows) the knowlegde of many technicians working all over France, and the use of the very "up to date" techniques resulting from research in genetics (INRA Paris). All that for one goal : provide to the dairy breeder the best Genetic. |
Do you know that... |
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| 1- From generation to generation, for 55 years, the improvement of the qualities of the Montbeliarde Breed through A.I. Selection took place. The objective of this selection was initially to increase the dairy production of the cows. Today, breeding goals include quality of milk and meat, type of the cow, and functional ability (fertility, longevity, cells...) |  |
The technique of the Animal Insemination (AI) developed in the Fifties, allowed to erase a great number of diseases transmitted by stockbulls between farm. Today A.I. is generalized in France with nearly 90% (a vérifier) of dairy cows inseminated. A.I. allowed high improvement of the French Breeds, like Montbeliarde, which are know famous in the whole world. |
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2 Selection is choosing the best animals on objectively measured criteria. Initially on the male itself (conformation, growth, feed and roughage conversion, aptitude to produce good frozen semen) and then on approximately 80 of his daughters born of the A.I. (production and dairy quality, conformation, fertility, cells...). The knowledge of the ascent of each bull on at least four generations allows to evaluate the evolutions of each line and thus select the most promising animals. On 350 young procreated males, 130 only (that is to say less than one third) will be put in progeny testing. Ten to 15 bulls approximately (that is to say only 3%) will be finally used in A.I.. The pressure of selection is strong ! | The semen of the bulls in production is collected twice per week. A sample is analyzed under the microscope to check its concentration in spermatozoa and its fertilizing capacity. The best samples are conditioned in straws and frozed in liquid nitrogen. Regularly, in accordance with the E.U. requirement, blood analysis done by independant laboratory, check the good health of all bulls. |
| 3 To create the males calves canditates to progeny testing, the key is to know very precissely the females which will be the Bull Dams. The technicians analyse each generation in terms of production but also in terms of breeding ability, to ensure the best mating. All the best femalle of the breed (more than 2 200 cows) are supervised by the regional UMOTEST Technicians. The elite (#1000) are qualified Bulls Dams. Every Bull Dams get a planed mating, in order to bring to their calf the requested qualities. Embryo transfer (#600/year) and Ovum Pick Up (#40/year) permit to go faster and multiply the number of sons (or daughters). |  |
The semen straws are small plastic tube of 2 mm diameter and 135 mm length. The straws filled of semen (0.25 ml) are frozen and preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196°c. Each straws contains a minimum of 8 000 000 alive spermatozoon. The UMOTEST Semen, meet all the toughest standard of quality, insuring to breeder a very good semen fertility, recognize all over the World ! |
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4 Nowadays, the animal selection largely uses biotechnologies of the reproduction. Primarily animal insemination (A.I.) and the embryo transfer E.T.. The A.I permit to spread the use of good bulls, and thus, multiply the progeny of the best bulls. Embryo Transfer consists in provocating a multiple ovulation and then to collect 5 to 10 embryos by flush. These embryos are then established in receiving cows who will give birth and rise calves having the genetic inheritance of the best parents. Since year 2000 UMOTEST uses a very advance Genetic Method, coming directly from the last high-tech research. "the genetic markers" or Marker Assisted Selection M.A.S. makes possible to follow, thanks to a simple blood test, the transmission of the desired characters from one generation to another. Note: these technologies just help us to select the best animals, no genetical modification occurs nor cloning. |
An adult bull gives in average 500 to 800 straws a collect. This means a monthly production of 5 000 to 8 000 straws.
Each year, in order to spread the family diversity and multiply good animals, UMOTEST does more than 600 Embryo Transfer. |
| 5 Today, each animal is defined with 38 criteria, including 5 for the dairy characters, 27 for morphology and 6 for the functional characters (health & breeding ability). These traits are gathered in 3 indices: the INEL (Economic Dairy Index ), the morphological index Type Final Score, and the Total Merit Index of the breed (ISU) which gathers the two first and 3 indices of breeding ability. This indice ISU gives, for each bull, the economic value of its daughters compare to the average. The higher the ISU, the higher your income. Fitness and Functionnality, play a big role in ISU (50%) this assures you geting long lasting cows producing milk without problem. |  | It's an hard work being a Dam: only the 0,1% of our best animals may receive the tittle. This tremendous pressure of selection lead to excellence. Every young UMOTEST sire is progeny tested on a region counting for 75% of the female of the breed. Furthermore, other region are all inter-connected. That means all the bulls are progeny tested in all the range of environmental situations (valley, mountains, south / northern France, low input farm, highly productive industrial type…) therefore data are unbiased and INRA index gives a very high reliability. |