The objective of this study was to compute economic values of traits for dairy cattle improvement using an empirical approach. Field recorded data were obtained from the Programme d'Analyse des Troupeaux Laitiers du Quebec (PATLQ) and genetic evaluation data were obtained from the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN). After the editing procedure, the data set consisted of 195,001 lifetime records of Holstein, Ayrshire, Jersey, Brown Swiss and Canadienne cows which calved for the first time between January 1980 and December 1994. / Different profitability measurements were computed and used as the dependent variables in covariance model to compute different sets of economic values. Since the majority of cows produced 5 lactations or less, results obtained by using lifetime profits and profits until the end of the fifth lactation are similar. A kilogram genetic increase in fat production had higher economic values than the same increase in milk production in all breeds. A unit genetic increase in conformation had the highest positive impact on profit while a same increase in capacity had a negative impact on profit. Results obtained by using lifetime profit adjusted for the opportunity cost of postponed replacement showed that this adjustement reduced the influence of type traits on profit. Finally, profits of first lactations were used to study consequences of changes in pricing systems occurred in Quebec in August 1992. Economic values attached to protein production changed drastically. A kilogram genetic increase in protein production had negative economic values in the 80's and positive economic values after August 1992.

The influences of some environmental and genetic factors on the incidence of abnormal test-days in milk-recorded cows enrolled in the Quebec Dairy Herd Analysis Service (QDHAS) was determined in this study. Conditions Affecting Records (CAR) codes, collected monthly by QDHAS's supervisors, are possible explanation for a reduced production in the day of test. For the purpose of this study, CAR codes were used to analyze the incidence of health problems under generalized linear models methodology. Poisson and logistic regression model analyses were able to model the number of cases of abnormal test-days and health problems per lactation. Herd, testing program, parity number, and stage of lactation were important systematic effects included in the analysis. However, calving year, season of calving, and herd production level were not statistically significant in most analysis. Sires significantly differed in the incidence of some health problems of their daughters. Low heritability values, between 0.02 and 0.05, were found showing that most variability was explained by non-genetic factors. Regardless of the low heritability, the genetic variability has been shown to be considerable, suggesting that a significant genetic improvement of the disease resistance is achievable if proper procedures are adopted.

No description available.

Globalisation causes continual change in the dairy industry, creating new opportunities and risks in countries, states, and regions. To survive and benefit from these changes, stakeholders from across each country's dairy industry need to co-operate to develop alternatives for their regions. The Australian and Brazilian dairy Research, Development and Extension (R,D&E) organisations recognise this need in their mission statements. They also have some initiatives for more effective interaction with the stakeholders in their dairy industries. In the 1990s Australia created Regional Dairy Programs, including a Subtropical Dairy Program (SDP) for tropical and subtropical areas of east Australia, to gather demands from the production regions in order to design R,D&E. To promote interaction between R,D&E efforts and agricultural industries the Australian government matches expenditure on R,D&E dollar for dollar. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation for Dairy (Embrapa Dairy) developed the Platform Project, with the objective of identifying constraints on dairy development in Brazil's main dairy production regions. Embrapa Dairy has also moved researchers to those regions to establish a link between stakeholders and the head research station in the design of R&D. There remains room for improvement in both countries' methods. In Australia's SDP, priorities for R,D&E are identified by regional teams consisting mostly of farmers and R,D&E people, but an evaluation has recommended involving a broader range of stakeholders to increase the diversity of ideas. In Brazil, dairy R&D priorities are identified mostly through quantitative surveys with farmers or panels of experts who consider large regions (of more than three states), without deeper involvement of farmers. Models and approaches in extension and systems thinking offer ideas for more effective and comprehensive approaches. The objectives of this study were to: 1. Develop a strategy to: - Involve a broad set of stakeholders in a dairy community to obtain a holistic view of their priorities for R,D&E, and - Help R,D&E people to understand the dairy farms and the production realities of small regions. 2. Document and compare the R,D&E priorities of dairy stakeholders in one Australian and two Brazilian regions, including the views of different groups of stakeholders within each region. Regional studies were conducted in three dairy regions, one region in the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, and two regions in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The research method within each region studied combined three approaches, each involving a variety of stakeholders from across the production communities. These were familiarisation through staying on a farm and building trust; individual interviews with a diversity of stakeholders from farmers to off-farm enterprises and R,D&E staff, and focus group interviews with participants selected from those already interviewed individually. The focus groups verified and enlarged upon the findings of the individual interviews, and enabled convergence among the participants' views. The three approaches produced complementary results. The strategy for eliciting R,D&E priorities worked equally well in all three case studies. Across the three cases, the individual interviews pointed out previously unrecognised R,D&E priorities, going beyond production technologies into issues such as communication, farm management, labour and finance. Pasture issues also remained important. The results from the focus group interviews corroborated communication, farm management and finance as important priorities for R,D&E, while adding marketing, industry policy and organisation of farmers, issues which had not stood out originally in the individual interviews in any of the three regions studied. This suggests a number of things. In terms of strategy for developing R,D&E priorities, both individual interviews and group processes are valuable, and may provide somewhat different outcomes. Further, the primary information needs for the industry lie beyond the farm and production technologies. The results also show that stakeholders would like R,D&E people to work as their partners in improving the dairy industry. The involvement of a broader range of stakeholders brought a more holistic and integrated view of each region's dairy development needs. It was particularly useful to engage people from throughout the dairy community with R,D&E practitioners in identifying priorities, since this broadened the picture of needs and showed the relative importance of production technologies alongside other, previously unrecognised needs. The results also suggest that research organisations should include staff capable of taking a more systemic view of dairy production systems, on- and off-farm, and potentially other industries. The academic significance of this study lies in the combination of systems thinking, stakeholder analysis and participation with extension science, towards a practical need.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Food and Business Economics." Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-127).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formated into pages; contains 1 v. (various pagings). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

Time budgets, avoidance distance scores-related behaviour and milk yield of pasture-based Jersey, Friesland and crossbred cows. by Madodana Sunson Dodzi The study was conducted at the University of Fort Hare farm to determine the time budgets, the avoidance-related behaviour variables and their relationship with milk yield in three pasturebased dairy genotypes: Jersey, Friesland and crossbreed. Twenty one clinically health dairy cows aged between 52 and 55 months, in mid lactation and comprising of seven cows from each genotype were used in the study. The time spent on different activities (grazing, lying down, standing and others) at pasture was recorded using stop watches across four seasons. The behavioural responses of the three genotypes to humans were determined by recording their avoidance distance scores (AD), exit speed (ES), pen scores (PS), pen behaviour scores (PBS), plat form scores (PLS) and the occurrence of kicking (KCK) and stepping (SPG) during milking on four consecutive days in four seasons. Time spent standing was higher (P < 0.05) for Friesland compared to Jersey and crossbred during the hot-wet season. In the cool-dry season the Jersey spent more time (P < 0.05) grazing than the other breeds. The Friesland and crossbred on the other hand devoted most of their time lying down compared to Jersey in the cool- dry season (P < 0.05). There were season differences in time spent on all activities (P < 0.05). Time spent on grazing was longest in post-rainy seasonal and lowest in hot- wet season (P < 0.05). The longest lying down period was observed in the hot-dry season and lowest in hot-wet season (P < 0.05). iii Daily milk yield Varied (P < 0.05) with genotype with the Friesland and Jersey producing higher yield than the crossbred. The highest amount was produced in hot-dry and the least in hot-wet season. Milk yield was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with lying down. Standing was negatively correlated with milk yield (P < 0.05). The Friesland had the highest avoidance distance scores (P < 0.05) and the Jersey had the lowest avoidance distance scores in all seasons. There was an association (P < 0.05) between genotype and exit speed scores, pen scores and stepping behaviour scores. The Friesland exhibited the highest exit speed scores than the other breeds. The Jersey had the lowest (P < 0.05) kicking behaviour scores. There was a relationship (r = 0.64) between avoidance distance scores and exit speed. Exit speed scores were correlated with pen score(r= 0.23). Milk yield was significant related (r= 0.17) to the occurrence of kicking behaviour. The genotypes showed different levels of sensitivity to season and milk yield was influenced by breed and season. It can be concluded that time budgets vary with season and farmers need to adopt measures that buffer the effect of season on welfare of dairy cows. It can also be concluded that avoidance distance scores differs according to genotype with Jersey being more confident to humans than other two breeds. It is therefore recommended that provision of shades or cooling mechanism should be adopted to buffer the effects of hot-wet season. Improving quality of feed during the cool-dry season may be critical for Jersey cows. Finally positive handling of the dairy cows is recommended in order to improve the welfare and milk yield of pasture based dairy cows.

This study, being part of a larger project - "Canadian/New Zealand GxE Interaction Trial" - is comparing Canadian and New Zealand sired heifers for growth traits within Canada, since differences for growth traits were found in the Polish strain comparison (Jasiorowski et al., 1987) and due to selection programs in the two countries. Twenty Canadian Holstein and twenty New Zealand Friesian progeny tested, A.I. bulls were randomly mated to over 1,000 cows in 10 Canadian herds. 3,539 records of weight and wither height from 475 heifers (i.e. 241 Canadian and 234 New Zealand sired) were generated. Subsets of the data for different stages of heifer maturity were analyzed separately. Herd and strain effects least squares means were estimated using analysis of variance. Genetic and phenotypic and correlations and heritability for weight and wither height were estimated by a Derivative-Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood (DFREML) algorithm and an animal model (AM). No differences were found between sire strains for weight except at 15 and 18 months where sib groups of Canadian (CN) sires were heavier than their New Zealand (NZ) contemporaries (393 vs 386 kg and 447 vs 445 kg, respectively). CN sired heifers were taller at all ages except at birth, 3 and 9 months of age. At 24 months CN heifers were 136 cm while NZ heifers were 133 cm. Heritability estimates for weight at birth was 0.62 for the CN strain and 0.59 for the NZ strain. CN estimates (3 to 6 months) and NZ estimates (3 to 9 months) were close to zero. Between 9 to 24 months CN strain estimates ranged from 0.44 to 0.69 while NZ estimates were 0.17 to 0.51. The joint estimates ranged from 0.10 to 0.66. Heritability estimates for wither height for CN strain at birth and between 9 to 21 months were between 0.34 to 0.66 and close to zero between 3 to 6 and at 24 months. The NZ estimates at birth, 18, 21 and 24 months were between 0.36 to 0.93 but close to zero between 3 to 15 months. The joint estimates ranged from 0.32 to 0.75 between 12 to 24 months. Genetic correlations between weight and wither height ranged from 0.62 to 1.0 for CN strain and from -0.04 to 0.91 for NZ strain between 4.5 to 21 months. At six months of age the genetic correlation for CN strain was -0.01 and NZ strain was 0.54. At birth, both sire groups had a genetic correlation of 1.0. At 24 months NZ strain had a genetic correlation of 0.84 while that of the CN strain was 0. Genetic correlations for the joint analysis ranged from 0.61 to 1.0 for all ages except at 6 months (0.18). Phenotypic correlations between weight and wither height were between 0.33 to 0.60 for CN group and 0.33 to 0.62 for NZ group. The joint estimates were 0.36 to 0.61. There were no differences in the phenotypic variances except at 9, 12 and 15 months. Genetic variances were different at all ages except at birth for weight. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Background: The business scenario has been changed at a rapid pace as the “information communication technology” has changed the course of business. It is observed that “information communication technology” develops new opportunities for the business. The companies are significantly used the ICT as a tool to enhance their brand management strategies. In the dairy market, the recent implication of e-commerce has brought considerable changes toward brand identity.  Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of e-commerce on the brand identity of the dairy company. It is observed that with time the dairy companies have left the traditional channel of business and now incorporating the new e-commerce channel. That is why this research is investigated the Bright Dairy company which is one of the leading brands of the dairy industry and recently implement an e-commerce channel with the facilitation of Alibaba.  Method: The research design of this study is based on the Qualitative Research Method in which qualitative data is collected from the managerial level employees of Bright Dairy. The data collected in this research is qualitative which provides considerable facilitation to understand the problem under investigation. A total of 7 interviews are conducted by using a detailed interview guide.  Conclusion: It is concluded from this research that the information gathered from the respondents has indicated that currently, the dairy industry has digitalized its relationship with the customers. The focus of the companies is to ensure the development of their brand by strongly focusing on brand identity. The results also highlight that the dairy companies must have to implement e-commerce and it had a strong impact on the brand identity.