Sick of treating calf scours? New genetic tool slashes disease rates by 44%! Discover how selecting the right bulls could revolutionize your dairy farm’s health and profits.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Lactanet Canada is set to launch a game-changing Calf Health Index for Holstein breeders in August 2025. This innovative genetic tool allows farmers to select bulls whose daughters show significantly improved resistance to diarrhea and respiratory diseases in calves. Based on extensive data analysis from over 78,000 heifers, the index reveals dramatic differences between top and bottom-ranked bulls, with potential to reduce disease rates by up to 44%. The index will be expressed as Relative Breeding Values (RBVs) and integrated into Canada’s Lifetime Performance Index by 2026. With nearly 3,000 bulls already evaluated, this breakthrough promises to transform calf health management, reduce treatment costs, and boost long-term profitability for dairy operations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• New Calf Health Index debuts August 2025, focusing on diarrhea (0-60 days) and respiratory problems (0-180 days) in Holstein calves
• Top-ranked bulls produce daughters with up to 44% fewer cases of diarrhea compared to bottom-ranked bulls
• Index combines genetic data with economic analysis to maximize impact on farm profitability
• Will be incorporated into Canada’s Lifetime Performance Index by April 2026, reflecting industry shift towards health and sustainability traits
• Offers potential to significantly reduce treatment costs and improve lifetime productivity of dairy cattle

You know those endless battles with calf scours and pneumonia that keep us up at night? Well, I just learned about a genetic solution coming our way, and honestly, I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Lactanet Canada is launching a brand-new Calf Health Index for Holsteins this August (2025). I was chatting with some folks in the industry last week, and they’re buzzing about this. It’s a genetic tool that helps us select bulls whose daughters are naturally more resistant to diarrhea and respiratory problems in calves.

Think about it – what if you could cut your calf treatment costs by making smarter breeding decisions? That’s precisely what this index promises.

The Science Behind It (Don’t Worry, I’ll Keep It Simple!)

Lactanet didn’t just come up with this idea out of thin air. They’ve analyzed nearly 89,000 health records from over 78,000 heifers across more than 1,200 Canadian farms. Data nerds like me find this stuff fascinating—they looked at records from 2007 through December 2024!

What they found confirms what we’ve all experienced in our barns: about 19.5% of calves deal with respiratory issues, while 21.1% battle diarrhea. Those numbers match pretty closely with what I’ve seen over the years.

But here’s where it gets exciting. Check out this table showing the difference between the top and bottom bulls:

When I saw these numbers, my jaw dropped. The top bulls for diarrhea resistance produced daughters with 95% healthy calves, while the bottom bulls’ daughters were healthy only 51% of the time. That’s cutting your disease rates in half by picking the right genetics!

What’s In It For Your Farm?

You might wonder, “Okay, but what does this mean for my operation?” Great question!

Here’s the deal: if you’re using bulls with an RBV below 90 (that’s their Relative Breeding Value), their daughters are 1.8 times more likely to get diarrhea and 1.3 times more likely to get respiratory disease compared to daughters of bulls with an RBV above 110.

And we all know these diseases aren’t just a short-term headache. Calves that get sick often produce less milk in their first lactation and have fertility problems, too. It’s like a gift that keeps giving – in the worst way possible!

How They Built This Thing

The new index puts more weight on diarrhea (70%) than respiratory problems (30%). At first, I thought that seemed odd, but it makes perfect sense when you understand their reasoning. Diarrhea often leads to respiratory problems later on, so if you can prevent the first domino from falling, you might avoid the whole cascade.

Genetic science is pretty cool, too. Even though the heritability isn’t super high (5.4% for respiratory problems and 4.4% for diarrhea), there’s a strong genetic correlation of 0.53 between the two traits. This means for you and me that when we select one trait, we’re making progress on the other one, too. Talk about efficiency!

Putting This to Work in Your Breeding Program

When the index rolls out this August, it’ll use the standard RBV system with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 5. Any bull above 100 is better than average for disease resistance. Simple enough?

The good news is there are already 2,974 bulls with official evaluations, so you’ll have plenty of options. And with a reliability of about 84.6%, you can trust these numbers aren’t just guesswork.

I’m already talking to my genetic advisor about how we’ll incorporate this into our breeding decisions. You might want to do the same – get ahead of the curve!

Where This Fits in the Big Picture

Lactanet isn’t stopping with just releasing this index. They plan to incorporate it into the Health & Welfare subindex of the Lifetime Performance Index (LPI) by April 2026. This is part of the industry’s more significant shift toward breeding for health and sustainability, not just milk production.

I’ve been in this business for years, and I’ve seen many new indexes come and go. But this one? It’s going to stick. It addresses a real pain point for producers while also helping us show consumers that we’re serious about animal welfare. Win-win!

Learn More

• Improving Heifer Survival Rates Through Genetic Selection
• Understanding Dairy Genetic Indexes: A Farmer’s Guide
• Lactanet’s 2025 Genetic Evaluation Changes Explained

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