Animal health and welfare issues have emerged as important factors for efficiency, competitiveness and public acceptance of livestock keeping and breeding worldwide. In dairy cattle, health monitoring has been in the focus of multiple research projects since the 1970s. Information on diseases from veterinary records and on-farm documentation systems are the main sources of direct health data, for which routine genetic evaluations were first implemented in the Nordic countries and more recently in a few other countries. The goal of the ICAR Functional Traits Working Group is to deliver information and tools that facilitate the use of health data across sectors and countries, thereby supporting the implementation of sustainable health monitoring and improvement systems. The ICAR guidelines for Recording, Evaluation and Genetic Improvement of Health Traits cover different approaches for the collection and use of health data in dairy management and breeding, and recommend best practices. Standardization is essential for building up the required information base on dairy health by collaborative and integrative approaches, and the hierarchically structured, comprehensive key for health data recording can serve as a reference which facilitates the connection of data sources. International and terdisciplinary exchange of experiences and collaborations can contribute to the development of efficient breeding strategies with increased weight on health and welfare traits. The ICAR 2013 Health Data Conference showed the potential of broad adoption of the available health data standards for the benefit of all stakeholders in the dairy sector. Clear and restrictive regulations regarding access and use of health information help increase the rate of data integration which is needed for maximum performance regarding support of short- and long-term improvements of the dairy herd. Based on internationally harmonized recording of direct health data, joining of sectoral, regional and national initiatives is expected to propel the targeted improvement of health, welfare, and longevity in dairy breeding.
نوع الوثيقة:
conferencePaper
وصف الملف:
23
اللغة:
English
Relation:
39 th Conference of the International Committee for Animal Recording, Berlin, Germany (19-23 May 2014)