Download Dairy Farming in Thailand

Dairy Genetic Improvement
in Thailand
By
K. Borisutsawat
Bureau of Animal Husbandry and Genetic
Improvement
DLD, Thailand
History of Dairy cattle in Thailand
 The dairy and milk production in Thailand began
in 1926 by Indian immigrants.
 After World War II (1945), consumption of milk
and other dairy products began to be promoted
by the Thai government.

 In
1950s, Thai and European governments
began to cooperate on commercial dairy
production in Thailand. AI service centers and
Dairy cattle farming project were established by
government organization.
History of Dairy cattle in Thailand
 In 1961, The Danish
government
offered
the
dairy
farming
promotion project as a
gift to His and Her
Majesty to conduct in
Thailand.
King Bhumibol and
Queen Sirikit visited
Denmark in 1960
History of Dairy cattle in Thailand
 In 1962, Thai government had established a Thai-
Danish Dairy Farming Training Center in Muak Lek
district, Saraburi province for promote and
support Thai dairy business.
History of Dairy cattle in Thailand
King Bhumibol
vitsited his dairy
farm at the
“Chang Hua Man
Royal Project”
Number of dairy cattle in Thailand
(1989-2015)
Dairy Population in Thailand
 In 2015: 509,524 animals, of which 235,829
were milking cows

 Most of them (>95%) are crossbred with
Holstein Friesian
Dairy Population in Thailand
(2015)
3,691
73,330
128,030
304,473
North
Norteast
Cental
South
Dairy Farming in Thailand
 In 2015,There were 16,248 dairy farms across the
country. Most farmers (55%) were small holders
(<10 milking cows per day)
 The vast majority of farmers
had primary school or no
school education (65%)
 Employed family members
for dairy work (85%)
 The average farm size was
4 acres
Dairy Farming in Thailand
 The average number of dairy cattle per farm was
29 for all type, and 11 for milking cows

 In 2015, dairy farmers throughout the country
produced 1,082,379 tons of raw milk
(approximately 4,590 kg/cow or 15 kg/cow/day)
Dairy Farming in Thailand
 There are 98 milk processing plants. Most of
them(76% ) are small plants.

 Ninety six percent of this total was used to
produce ready-to-drink milk (34% for SMP, and
66% for commercial markets)

 Thailand also exports dairy products such as
sweetened condensed milk, sterilized fresh milk
and evaporated milk to several neighboring
countries
 Feeding
and nutrition varies among seasons and
locations. Grasses most commonly available in Thailand
are Pennisetum purpureum (napier grass), Panicum
maximum (guinea grass), Brachiaria mutica (para grass),
and Brachiaria ruziziensis (ruzi grass).

 Most farmers (57%) cut-and-carry grass to feed their
cattle and also have pastures for grazing, whereas
others either only cut-and-carry grass (39%), or keep
their cattle on pastures (4%).
Dairy Breed in Thailand
 Dairy cattle in Thailand are largely multibreed.
 Holstein, Brahman, Brown Swiss, Jersey, Red Dane,
Red Sindhi, Sahiwal and Thai Native.
 91% of cows are crossbred, the majority are
composed of a large Holstein fraction and a small of
Bos indicus or other Bos taurus breeds.
Breeding Strategy to Enhance
Milk Production
 Increasing milk production in Thailand was initially
done through crossbreeding and upgrading.

 Crossbreeding
was used to combine the
advantages of Holstein for milk yield and of local
cattle or crossbreds for tropical adaptability and
fertility.

 This system helped increase milk production in
subsequent generations. However, when Holstein
fraction is higher than 90%, cows require more
intensive management and health care.
Breeding Strategy to Enhance
Milk Production
 Strategy for genetic improvement changed from
selection of breed groups to selection of individual
animals
 Large-scale dairy genetic evaluation programs in
Thailand have been conducted by the DLD and DPO.
 Annual Sire summary have been published.
Breeding Strategy to Enhance
Milk Production
 Even EBV for milk yield and other economically
important traits for sires and dams used in Thailand
are published every year, many Thai farmers still do
not know how to utilize EBV to select animal.

 Thai dairy farmers and inseminators have been
trained on how to select individual animals based on
their phenotype performance and estimated breeding
value (EBV) to genetically improve dairy herds.

 DLD created a system to measure dairy type traits in
Thai dairy cattle.
Dairy Genetic Improvement
Objective of dairy genetic improvement
 To improve genetics of animals
 To improve characteristics of animals
 To increase milk production
On-farm Dairy Genetic Improvement
 The genetic predictions are useful for sire and dam
selection under Thai environmental conditions.

 The low genetic trends observed in Thailand for milk
yield and fat yield were likely not related to
availability of genetic prediction information for sires,
but to inadvisable choice of sires based on semen
availability or suggestions by artificial inseminators.

 Increasing the level of training of artificial
inseminators and dairy farmers on the use of EBV for
sire selection would greatly help increase the
utilization of superior sires for milk production.
On-farm Dairy Genetic Improvement
 Sire selection in Thailand
- based on semen availability
- due to their genetic ability for economically important traits.
 Farmers tried upgrading their cow herd to fractions close
to HF. However, because of health and reproductive
problems, farmers keep their own cattle at approximately
90% HF or lower
On-farm Dairy Genetic Improvement
 Most Thai dairy farmers (59%) lacked sufficient knowledge
and understanding of genetic selection and mating
strategies.

 When the farmers selected sires, most of them (96%)
sought the advice of - artificial inseminators
- semen sellers
- consultants or other people
 Unfortunately, most farmer (90%) did not know how to
used EBV. Among farmers who knew the benefit of EBV for
selection, less than 5% of them frequently used it.
Molecular Biotechnology
 Molecular genetic techniques have been used to
develop selection tools for genomic improvement
of dairy cattle under Thai tropical environment
conditions.

 Using molecular genetics to identify genes that
influence milk production traits.

 If applied with use of molecular information in
selection programs has the potential to increase
productivity, enhance environmental adaptation.
Molecular Biotechnology
To find out some point mutation on genomic DNA that is
associated with economic traits such as Milk yield, fat
content, SCC…….
List of the most promising candidate genes
of milk production traits
Production traits
Milk production and
composition
Genetic markers
Beta-casein
Kappa-casein
Beta-lactoglobulin
Leptin
Fertility
FSHR
LHR
Mastitis resistance
BoLA-DRB3
The use of genetic markers to enhance the efficiency
of breeding improvement
Challenges and Opportunities for
Improvement
 Increasing the efficiency of milk production of
individual animals to increase profitability

 To fairly compare dairy cows of different ages
and lactation stages within and among small
size farms

 The prevalent small-farm size that limits herd
size and the high cost of land to increase farm
size prevents most dairy farmers from
expanding their dairy operations.
Acknowledgement
Koonawootrittriron, 2016.
Thailand conference report,
“Dairy Asia Launch Meeting”
January 27-30, 2016