Dairy is one of Canada’s most important and dynamic industries. Global demand for dairy products is set to expand further in concert with the middle-class of emerging economies, the need for safe, affordable, nutritious and high quality milk protein in developing countries and world population expansion. At the same time, the dairy industry is also facing a number of emerging issues important to governments and consumers, related to human and animal health, environmental impacts, sustainability and social acceptability.
This project is a follow-up to the Efficient Dairy Genome Project and will develop genomic tools to select for more ‘resilient’ cows. To do so, we focus on 8 intersecting research activities.
The first 3 focus on the development of phenotype collection in the key areas: closer-to-biology fertility, enhanced disease resistance, and feed efficiency & methane reduction. Our goal is to integrate these phenotypes into the routine breeding program. This is the fuel that drives the engine of our project which is composed of understanding genomic and environmental relationships between both novel and existing traits, incorporating multigenerational analyses and epigenetic information. All of this will be made possible through efficient and thorough data management. The oil of our engine which will help optimize traits for maximizing sustainability and societal acceptance will be done through the component on genomics and its ethical, economic, environmental, legal and social aspects (GE3LS). This strong foundation together with close collaboration with end-users will ensure rapid and meaningful translation and implementation of project results.
Ultimately, this will lead us to our goal of developing genomic tools to select for sustainable cows. By focusing on aspects such as increased feed efficiency, reduced methane emissions, improved fertility and enhanced disease resistance, the dairy industry will be able to produce environmentally sustainable dairy products while maintaining production and enhancing fertility, health, and welfare – providing economic and social benefits for the Canadian dairy sector and society as a whole.