Organization and evolution of the breeding
sector
Because of the low reproductive rate, the long
generation interval and the large amount of space
required to house each animal, cattle breeding has
a more complex and more open organizational
structure than poultry or pig breeding. Gene
flow can occur both from the breeder to the
producer and vice versa. Information resources
are shared between players at different levels.
In a typical dairy cattle breeding programme,
pedigree information is often recorded, owned
and managed by breed societies, while milk
production records are owned by farmers,
but collected and managed by milk recording
organizations. Information on fertility and
reproductive performance are kept by companies
that provide AI services, while health information
generally resides with veterinarians. Often, these
organizations are in decentralized locations and
may store information in different systems.
Because cattle production is a major traditional
agricultural enterprise and because breeding has
a major impact on this enterprise, cattle breeding
programmes have more input from government
agencies than do poultry or pig breeding, and
therefore have a country-specific outlook. Most
programmes were either initiated or sustained
with support or grants from national government
agencies (Wickham, 2005). Organizations such as
the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory
(AIPL) of the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), Canadian Dairy Network
(CDN), Cr-Delta in the Netherlands, and l’Institut
de l’Elevage (IE) in France, play major roles in
cattle breeding programmes in their respective
countries, especially in data management and
genetic evaluation. This is also the case for breed
societies, which have played a major role in
maintaining and enhancing the integrity of their
respective breeds. The success of the Holstein-
Friesian, which is by far the dominant sire breed
in most dairy herds in the Western world, is
testimony to the activities of the World Holstein-
Friesian Federation (WHFF). The formation of