Holstein Association USA has announced new classification changes, brought about by a recommendation of the Association’s Type Advisory Committee.
The decision puts more emphasis on long-term profitability traits and penalizes 2-year olds that are over 59 inches tall and shorter than 53 inches. This in essence, makes stature at two-way trait where the extreme is not rewarded. The goal is to have a more uniform breed, which in turn makes cows able to fit their facilities and manage herd members equally.
A cow’s final score is based on five major classification categories or breakdowns of front end and capacity, dairy strength, rump, feet and legs and udder. The classifier numerically assigns each breakdown a score ranging from 1 to 100 points. The numbers are based on the level of desirability exhibited by individual cows for each category compared to the true-type model. The final score is the weighted sum of the five major breakdown scores.
The two major breakdowns affected are front end and capacity, and feet and legs. Five of the scorecard points allocated to front end and capacity have been moved to feet and legs. This makes front end and capacity at 15 percent and feet and legs at 20 points. Udder at 40 points, dairy strength at 20 points and rump at 5 points remain unchanged.
Source: Patti Hurtgen, Hoard’s Dairyman Online Media Manager