Évolution des objectifs et des méthodes de sélection des bovins laitiers

Over the last decades, the dairy stock has undergone major changes, and the selection of dairy cattle has become an internal business.With current prospects of milk quota removal, falling prices, increasing herd sizes, changes in the farmers’ way of working and diversification of demand, the ideal cow of the future will have to demonstrate autonomy, robustness and feed efficiency, and will have to produce a rich milk whose composition meets the requirements of humans. Selection methods will change radically with the ongoing development of genomic selection. Animal identification, pedigree and performance recording will remain, but progeny testing of bulls will diminish. Resources will be pooled between research and supervision organisations, breeding companies and other operators, and there will be an increased need for training.