A Global Overview of the Intensification of Beef and Dairy Cattle Production Systems

Abstract

The global livestock agriculture, including the beef and dairy cattle production systems, has undergone several transformations from traditionally less productive into more productive intensive systems. This research work reviews the various tools and techniques that have enhanced the development of more intensive beef and dairy cattle production worldwide. There is advancement from the extensive grazing on rangelands, into the more intensive systems of production under confined housing in the semi-intensive and intensive systems. Several investments would be required in the form of housing, feeding, breeding and genetic improvement, health and animal welfare and policy designs by the low-income livestock farmers, commercial livestock farmers and the larger livestock industries and governmental agencies. The increasing global population made it imperative to seek for more intensive and sustainable systems of beef and dairy cattle production in order to meet the human need for the production of cost-effective animal protein sources in the form of beef and bovine milk.

1. Introduction

Beef and dairy cattle play the unique role of providing high quality protein for human consumption from forage and other concentrated feed resources. Globally the cattle sourced protein is the most common, popular, most available, acceptable and affordable by most people in terms of cost per unit weight. The intensive production of beef and milk sourced from cattle through the use of new technologies in livestock agriculture could lead to increased number of animals with greater yield in livestock products such as beef and milk [1]. The enhancing technologies could be in the form of mechanical, biological and chemical tools. The use of larger and faster implements would enable the need for lesser human power to operate and achieve larger land cultivation, leading to higher beef and milk yield. Thereafter, the application of chemical fertilizers and herbicides would increase the rate of forage cultivation and feed production. The authors [1] further outlined that animal drugs and antibiotics use would result to increased animal health, reduction in mortality accompanied by increased beef and milk production under the lower levels of input application. These could thus result into higher profit margin due to lowered cost of production.

The growing human food needs of an expanding human population, the challenges of global climate change have resulted in the need for the development of sustainable ruminant production systems [2]. It has been projected by FAO [3] that the world population would become 9.73 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. Globally, most young people are expected to live in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, and particularly in the rural areas where higher rate of unemployment exist. Thus, there could arise the situation whereby there would be a world population increases, there would be high rate of urbanization by the youth, with the aged people left in the rural agricultural cultivation and production areas. These could make it difficult to meet the requirement for agricultural labour force and socioeconomic structure needed by the rural community to achieve sustainable development goals [3]. A group of researchers [4], reported for beef cattle production while another group [5], reported for dairy cattle production that through the intensification of beef and dairy cattle production systems, genetic selection for either beef or dairy cattle, and the use of modern technologies such as artificial insemination and genomic selection, the beef and dairy cattle industries have more than doubled in their production over past decades. However, there had been the contrasting dramatic reduction in the total number of pure-bred cattle being raised globally either for beef or for milk. There were also observed few unfavourable responses in relation to fertility, health challenges, longevity and environmental sensitivity. Again, as earlier mentioned, large numbers of offsprings from pure-bred dairy cows do enter beef fattening systems as milk-fed veal producing beef cattle [6]. Thus, this article reviews the intensified systems of beef and dairy cattle production worldwide.

2. Beef and dairy cattle production systems

2.1 Beef production systems

It was outlined [7] that the system of commercial beef production may be classified into three general categories namely: (i) A cow-calf division wherein weaned feeder calves were raised for further grazing mainly on pastureland and/or feeding with other concentrate diets. (ii) The back-grounding or stocker phase of production wherein body weight was gained by the recently weaned calves, resulting into feedlot-ready yearlings which also took place mainly on pastureland. (iii) The finishing phase of beef production wherein cattle were fattened for slaughter was carried out mainly intensively under confinement.

The intensive beef production occurs during the finishing stage and also there was the dairy veal production in which beef was produced as a by-product of dairy cows, and these mostly occurred in the developed countries [4]. The researcher [4] reported that in the USA and Europe, there were specialized production, whereby there were mainly beef only, and dairy beef and veal were meant for domestic consumption. In the New Zealand, beef obtained from the dairy industry were produced mainly for export. In the UK, cows raised in the dairying system were increasingly being mated with beef breed sires to upgrade the quantity and quality of beef and veal produced through the use of sexed semen for a particular sex offspring.

2.1.1 Cow-calf (beef) system

The cows and calves were raised under the grazing and rangeland production with strategic nutritional supplementation with concentrate rations and by-products. Their reproductive efficiency could be defined as the weight of calves weaned per cows mated successfully per year. The reproductive rate was thus measured as the percentage of calves weaned relative to the cows mated successfully. It was explained [4] that the maternal genotype was very important and when combined with nutritional and other environmental factors, these go a long way to enhance good reproductive efficiency in beef cattle. Weaned and growing cattle need adequate feed intake from pasture as well as supplements, to ensure rapid growth and improved productivity.

2.1.2 Back-grounding or stocker system

These involved the practice of grazing and foraging of beef cattle in rangelands over large land areas under harsh environmental conditions of rain and sunshine. The grazing and foraging types included continuous, set-stocked, rotational, strip, strategic, cell or time controlled and planned systems [4]. Genotypes that were reported as used under these beef production systems included the Bos taurus breeds and crosses, and the Wagyu and Wagyu crosses.

2.1.3 Feedlot and other intensive beef production systems

Feedlots were described as the systems of raising cattle to finishing stage, from an initial liveweight of 280 kg until about 400 kg liveweight. Feedlots were used mainly to fatten cattle when the available pasture was inadequate to meet the nutritional requirement of the animals during the period of drought. In two research outcomes [8, 9], it was observed that feedlot diets in the USA and Australia were usually of high protein levels in excess of the requirement for cattle that had reached the fattening or finisher stage. Feedlot diets were used to maximize feed: gain ratio in order to obtain maximum growth rate. In two groups of researches, [10] for Japanese Wagyu and another group [11] for South Korean Hanwoo cattle, it was mentioned that beef under beef production systems were raised to produce beef animals with optimum levels of intramuscular fat development to achieve highly marbled beef. The Wagyu breed cattle kept on feedlots were fed in groups with high energy diets, which were offered twice or thrice daily, from about 11 months of age until 28–30 months at slaughter with water, mineral salt blocks, salt and diuretic provided ad libitum [10].

2.2 Dairy cattle production systems

Dairy cattle could be raised under intensive, semi-intensive or extensive housing systems.

2.2.1 Intensive or confinement system

Most cattle in the USA and Europe were kept in confinement free-stall, tie-stall and dry-lot or bedded pack systems. In these two countries, only few dairy animals were kept on pastureland. Under the intensive system were the tie-stall and the free-stall systems. Various milking parlour types existed, and the free-stall system gave cows more freedom of movement as compared to the tie-stall [12]. In the intensive management, cows that were raised under confinement generally produced more milk than those raised on pasture. These exotic cow breeds produced milk in the range of 7,000–14,000 kg per cow per lactation of around 305 days. They were milked twice or at most thrice daily. Cows were usually fed total mixed ration made up of forages and concentrates separately. The concentrate diets usually consisted of grains, protein sources, minerals and vitamins. All the lactating cows could be grouped and taken orderly into the milking parlour through holding areas and clean cool water was provided ad-libitum. Milking parlour types included the low-cost step-up, herringbone, parallel or rotary [12].

2.2.2 The semi-intensive and extensive systems

In South America, Australia, New Zealand and India, dairy cattle were raised under semi-intensive and extensive systems, which were the pasture-intensive systems. These were more commonly used rather than the intensive system.

2.3 Housing of dairy calves

Calves were usually separated from their dams soon after birth and bottle fed with milk or milk replacer (about 4–5 litres/day) twice or thrice daily. Calves were housed in small groups and should have access to clean water ad-libitum. Culled calves were usually raised for beef.

2.4 Breeding of dairy cows

Dairy cows were usually bred at 12–16 months of age. They could calve at around 24 months old, and could be milked as heifers for an average of 305 days in lactation. They could then be made to have a dry period of 50–60 days whereby they were not milked (during the third trimester pregnancy period) before they calved, and thereafter to start another reproductive cycle for another lactation period.

3. Genetic improvement programs

In the dairy cattle industry, particularly with the raising of exotic breeds, there had been doubled amounts in milk production globally over the past 50 years (5 decades), while there were declining rates in the dairy cows’ population [5]. These were achieved through the intensification of the milk production systems and direct genetic selection for milk yield and other related traits. There were developed the application of modern technologies such as artificial insemination and genomic selection [5]. There had been intensified inbreeding among few well known breeds for high milk production. The positive results of the intensive selection for milk yield however also brought about unfavourable genetic responses such as fertility reduction, adverse effect on the health, longevity and environmental responses sensitivity in the dairy cows. Despite these drawbacks, breeding goals needed to be continued with the focus towards animal welfare, health and longevity, without sacrificing the need to maintain the traits for high milk yield. Achievements were also directed towards breeding for traits that were heritable in terms of their phenotypic expressions. There were also the attainment of long term sustainability goals geared towards organic farming cultures, and pasture-based and mountain-grazing farming systems.

3.1 Breeding for high milk production

3.1.1 Some unfavourable outcomes of breeding for high milk production

Intense selection for high milk production was observed to result in unfavourably correlated responses on other important traits [13] such as conception rate, health (SCC), less control over environmental temperatures, relative humidity and wind speed. There were also more dependence on human feed inputs such as cereals, protein sources and high quality forages. Thus, the observation pointed to the fact that genetic improvement might require more sophisticated approaches.

Some of the developed solutions to these included the incorporation of female fertility traits into breeding programs, improvement in nutrition, health and cows’ comfort. Also, dairy farmers on becoming aware of the negative results and the consequences of continuous practice of inbreeding were still seeking mitigation alternatives such as the use of mating software and assistance from extension specialists [13].

3.1.2 Cost effective ways to genetically improve milk production in local dairy cattle breeds

In the developing countries where there were mainly low milk producing local dairy cattle breeds, the cows could continually be upgraded through the application of controlled cross-breeding programs. Local dairy cattle breeds could be crossbred with exotic breeds with the aim of developing new composite breeds. Different selection indices would need to be developed to select animals with higher milk production and that could perform well in terms of animal welfare or fitness, health and longevity under an economically sustainable production system. The cross-breeding of local dairy cattle breeds with exotic dairy cattle breeds such as the Holstein Friesian and Jersey could be improved upon to lead to high milk production, while at the same time there could result improved adaptation to the environment, and the animals also retaining their fitness [5].

In all these research efforts much care need be taken to avoid losses in the achieved genetic diversity traits among the dairy cattle populations [5]. Some other group of researchers [14] pointed out that the refinement of breeding programs to incorporate novel breeding objectives required the development of high-throughput phenotyping technologies such as structural and continuous data recording streams and the investigation of the genetic relationship between novel traits and those that were commonly observed. There could be large scale genome studies, especially genomic predictions and genome-wide association studies, refinement of selection indices to reflect improved knowledge of Biology, new resources of data and changing conditions in the environment. Some of the novel traits in dairy production included health (udder health, hoof health and metabolic disorders), fertility, feed efficiency, methane emissions efficiency, longevity and overall resilience [14].

3.1.3 Innovations and technological breakthroughs in the development of intensive dairy cattle production selection systems

These could be outlined as follows:

1. Conventional genetic selection [15]

   The conventional selection was primarily geared towards genetic selection for high-producing dairy cows where milk yield was seen as the main objective towards dairy farming intensification and its sustainability from a single perspective of genetics. Thus milk yield and composition were the main focus for selection in dairy cattle breeding programs and these were achieved in all the leading milk producing dairy cows globally, which included the Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey and Milking Shorthorn [4].

   Therefore, high milk yield was often seen as the major solution to address the global challenges of ensuring food security, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reduced cost of milk production, and all these could result into better feed efficiency [16].

2. Use of conceptual framework with application of standardized environments which employ the equation: P = G + E, where P = phenotype/performance, G = additive genetic merit and E = environmental effect.

3. Use of advances in nutritional practices and precision management.

4. Adoption of reproductive techniques such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer and sexed semen.

5. Use of precision health and care management.

6. The focus on animal health and welfare, and environmental efficiency for management of large waste produced by the cows.

In a practical application in the use of selection indices, some researchers [5] reported that in the USA for example, their selection indices in the dairy cattle industries included such traits as health, SCC (somatic cell counts), live-ability, productive life, feet and legs traits, calving ability and lower usage of antibiotics.

3.2 The intensification of global beef production

Beef provides the largest proportion of ruminant protein meat source world-wide in both the developed and developing countries.

3.2.1 In the USA

Beef production in the USA [17], was reported to be majorly pastoral based particularly under the national cow-calf herd system of production. There were also the use of eighty different beef cattle breeds with the British breeds and their crosses most prevalent. A high income was obtained through beef sales in the U.S.A. These same authors [17] stated that in 2015, about 29 million head of beef were slaughtered in the production of 10.7 million tonnes of beef and the total farm cash receipts total about US$ 88 billion.

The various factors considered during the quality grading of beef by consumers in the USA included the following: colour, marbling level, subcutaneous fat trim and cut thickness. Beef palatability grading by consumers was usually carried out based on the criteria of tenderness, juiciness and flavour [17].

Technological improvements made in the beef industry in the USA included roles in reproduction, feeding and feed processing, animal health, animal productivity including the use of acceptable growth promotants and genomically-enhanced genetic selection and food safety.

The sustainable intensification of beef production in the USA was considered of great importance in order to help meet the rising global demand for lower cost beef protein resource, needed to meet the increasing yearly world-wide population growth rate [17].

3.2.2 Australia beef production

In Australia there were reported to be about 47,000 cattle ranch owners who contributed about 20% of the total value of farm production ($A 12.7billion Gross Value of Production) [17]. The country was one of the world’s most efficient producers of cattle, and ranked as the third largest exporter of beef. In 2016–2017 the Australian beef industry had about 25 million heads of cattle. They were identified to produce high quality beef under environmentally sustainable systems of disease-free cattle that followed strict livestock and meat quality regulations and quality assurance systems. Australia was reported to operate under the national beef genetic improvement program called BREEDPLAN which consisted of many temperate and tropically adapted breeds of cattle [17]. These beef cattle breeds were found suitable for different types of agro-climate conditions and were genetically selected based on productivity and market related traits [17]. Australia was known to export beef to various Asian countries including Japan, Korea, China and Indonesia in 1987 to 2009.

4. Sustainable development

4.1 Manure handling and management

Some researchers [1] reported that industrialized beef and dairy cattle production concentrated manure on limited land areas. A small proportion of the cost of production (about 3 %) was usually spent as cost of manure removal in large farms. Manure was usually applied as fertilizer on crop land and most of the manure needed to be well managed so as not to pollute the land surface water and the atmosphere through the volatilization of gases (GHG) and odours.

4.2 Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

It was mentioned in a previous study [18] that livestock production such as the production of beef and bovine milk contributed 14.5 % of global GHG emissions. However, since the human population is expected to be increased from 7.2 to 9.6 billion by 2050, there could be increased demand for livestock products. Therefore, the raising of beef and dairy cattle could be found to contribute less in the mitigation (making less severe) of GHG emissions. Another researcher [19] stated that the raising of fewer numbers of more genetically productive breeds of cattle under an intensive system could have positive impact on the mitigation of GHG emissions. Other previous researchers [20] also predicted that methane emissions from domesticated ruminants such as beef and dairy cattle in sub-Saharan Africa could have increased by 40% between 2008 and 2030 due to an increased livestock population. It was however explained [21] that probably the only effective way of methane mitigation in pastoral systems could be through reducing livestock numbers by promoting the intensive livestock production systems.

Another research finding [22], outlined that substantial amounts of carbon could be sequestrated through improvement in the management of grasslands. This would involve the conversion of low degraded cropland or woodland into grasslands. These processes of grazing lands transformation into grasslands could also be enhanced by ensuring reduction in grazing intensities, reduced biomass burning, improvement in the degraded lands, thereby bringing about reduced land erosion. Thus, there could be improved growth in the grass species mixture and these could contribute to GHG mitigation [22].

4.3 The use of decision support tools in beef and dairy cattle management

The measurement of various variables needed in taking decision on cattle performance, health and welfare parameters were carried out by making use of automated devices as outlined by Gonzalez et al. and Greenwood et al. [23, 24]. Parameters such as cattle liveweight, muscling or body composition could be measured. On-animal sensor devices were also developed to estimate behavioural variables in cattle such as time spent grazing or feeding, ruminating, walking, lying, drinking water and other cattle performance related to health and general animal welfare. Greenwood et al. [25] also reported that there were decision support tools for measuring traits in grazing cattle which could be used in genomic and quantitative genetic selection in cattle.

This information could be made available to consumers and policy makers who have influenced in the way that beef and dairy cattle production industries globally were operated for profitable management and to improve productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

4.4 Antibiotic use and health related impacts

The use of antibiotics in the beef and dairy cattle industry as growth promoters needs to be carried out with caution due to anxiety globally over microbial antibiotic resistance [26]. Tona [26] mentioned that the use of antibiotics such as bacitracin, spiramycin and tylosin phosphate as animal feed additives was banned in the European Union (EU) in 1998 and in 2006.

Gott [27] explained that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurred when microorganisms, like bacteria were no longer affected by antimicrobial substances (antibiotics) that had previously worked to inhibit their growth or killed them completely.

However, since different organizations world-wide had established rules and regulations to control the use, or to totally ban the application of antimicrobial treatment in livestock in order to reduce the risk of AMR, there were other alternatives suggested as hereby outlined. Cattle should be fed adequate amounts and well balanced feed to support production and to promote good health. The feeding of mycotoxin contaminated feed or feed ingredient, that could hamper the immune function and impair health of the animal should be avoided. It was also suggested that education could be given to livestock farmers or animal health extension agents on the need to practice improved hygiene and good sanitation. The provision of clean water and the observation of farm bio-security practices might also minimize the need for antimicrobial use in livestock. There should also be improved infectious disease control through preventive vaccination. Other researchers [28] stated that in dairy cows, a four layered strategy to reduce antimicrobial use included the following: (i) Appropriate management of animals, farm and soils. (ii) The strategic use of local breeds for cross-breeding with the appropriate exotic breeds. (iii) The conduct of research on the use of herbal and other natural products for the treatment of infected cows. (iv) The feed quality improvement and control.

Beef and dairy cattle health could also be influenced by climatic condition such as temperature related illnesses and deaths [29]. Das et al. [30] explained that such temperature related effects could be caused by changes in the immune and endocrine systems. Testa et al. [31] also mentioned that seasonal influence on milk somatic cell counts (SCC) could occur in milking cows with increasing SCC values during the summer months. There could also be indirect climatic effects on health due to changes in the intake of concentrate feeds and a decreased forage intake in cattle. These could enhance the development of acidosis which could lead to the development of lameness in cattle. Additionally, the reduction in feed intake in high milk producing cows could increase the risk of experiencing sub clinical ketosis during the summer months [32]. These could be attributed to the fact that high milk yielding cows have high energy requirements for body maintenance and performance that could be frequently mobilized from body nutrients and thus these could lead to lowered level of glucose in the blood and general body weakness in the lactating cows.

4.5 Production cost and returns

McDonald and McBride [1] reported the observation that most of the large dairy enterprises had gross returns that exceeded total cost as compared to mid-sized and small sized farms. These authors [1] further outlined that there were strong incentives for existing large dairies to expand and for producers entering the dairy business to enter in at a large size level. Therefore, it could be deduced that larger farms had substantial cost advantages on the average over smaller operations.

4.6 Governmental policy issues

Some earlier researchers [33] had explained that genomics alone might not bring solutions to genetic improvement needs on the short-term to the developing sectors. However, national strategies such as putting in place adequate livestock extension support services could first of all be required to address the socio-economic issues existing in the various countries.

5. The application of genomics in the practice of beef and dairy cattle production

5.1 Current status of the application of genomics in the practice of dairy cattle production in Ethiopia

Ethiopia was reported to have the largest population (59.5 million heads) of cattle in Africa [34]. This researcher [34] also mentioned in his review article that in Ethiopia, the livestock sector was mainly of smallholder farming system which contributed about 15% of export earnings, 16.5% of the national GDP, 30% of agricultural employment and 35.6% of the agricultural GDP. According to the report of the Central Statistic Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia [35], most of the cattle that were reared by the agrarian community were mostly native breeds which formed about 98.2%; 1.62% of the cattle were crossbreed while the rest 0.18% were of exotic breeds. This author [34] stated that cattle in the country were kept mainly for milk production, draught power, breeding and beef purposes. Most of the milking cows were indigenous animals with low milk yield, 1.37 litres/day, and with an average of 6 months lactation length. Also, the lactating cows had average of age of about 4 ½ years at first calving and about 25 months calving interval. The cattle were mainly grazed on native pasture and given crop residue supplemental feeding. The dairy cattle production systems in Ethiopia included the rural small holder (crop-livestock) dairy production system, the agro pastoral and pastoral dairy cattle production system, the urban and peri-urban smallholder dairy production system and the commercial dairy cattle production system. The commercial dairy farms mostly kept exotic dairy stock. Though Ethiopia was reported [34] to possess the largest livestock (cattle in particular) population in Africa, the animals had low productivity. There had been lack of improvement in the breeding program, uncontrolled mating/breeding practice, feed shortages, prevalence of diseases, and there was generally poor reproductive performance.

There was thus the need to upgrade the reproductive and productive traits in the dairy cattle. Therefore there had been no report of the application of genomics except for the practice of artificial insemination which however, was also faced with the inefficiency of AI technicians and an ineffective animal breeding practice [34].

5.2 Current status of the application of genomics in the practices of beef cattle production in Indonesia

The human population in Indonesia was about 250 million in 2018 while the cattle population was about 16.6m [36]. The country had smallholder cattle production system which formed about 90% of the cattle population and the remaining 10% of cattle were raised by commercial farmers and large beef cattle companies which were usually importing beef from Australia. The large beef cattle companies target market was situated in the Java Island.

Since Indonesia consists of Islands, there was a limited available land space for livestock production and thus there existed a higher demand for cattle meat than the level of production [36]. Agus and Widi [36] pointed out that the government of Indonesia made efforts since the 1980’s for the intensive beef cattle production in the country. There had been the promotion of cross-breeding of the local Ongole cattle in Java with high producing Bos taurus (Simmental and Limousine) and other European breeds through the use of artificial insemination (AI). However the efforts made through the process of cross-breeding were not successful. In Addition, there had been the issue of unstable government policies on livestock production practices as were also very commonly found to exist in many other developing countries world-wide [36].

Thus there had not been the application of genomics in the breeding practices of beef cattle production in Indonesia. The increasing demand for meat did not match the domestic beef production and the country had no self-sufficiency in meat production [36].

5.3 The application of genomics in South African beef and dairy cattle production sectors to narrow the gap between the developed and developing sectors

In South Africa, the beef and dairy cattle industry had been developed based on the well-developed sector versus the developing sector. The developed sector was made up of the commercial cattle farmers and feedlot companies while the developing sector consisted of the smallholder farmers [33].

Van Marle-Koster and Visser [33] reported that the South African government funded genomic programs were established in the beef and dairy cattle industries in 2015 and 2016. The aim was to set up technological advancement towards moving forward into the application of genomic selection (GS) and a technology driven commercial livestock sector. Blasco and Toro [37] outlined that the phenotyping of some important reproductive and productive traits such as fertility in dairy cows and carcass quality traits in beef cattle for use in genomic selection applications could be of great benefit since these had posed major challenges in the past. The aim of the previous researchers [33] was to bridge the gap in disseminating genetic materials and information to both the farmers in the developed sector and the smallholder farmers in the developing sector in the beef and dairy cattle industry. These could have gone a long way to help lead to an advancement in the application of genomics for sustainable long-term genetic advancement and progress.

South Africa had more than 30 registered beef breeds such as the locally developed Bonsmara composite breed, Nguni, Tuli, Brangus and Simbra breeds [38]. These researchers [38] mentioned that it was only from the locally developed SA Bonsmara breed that the recording of a number of traits such as fertility, growth rate and feed efficiency measuring traits were made. Van Marle-Koster et al. [38] stated that for most commonly-measured traits of economic importance, there had been the application of modern selection tools such as the use of estimated breeding value (EBV) by livestock producers. Also under beef production, intensive feedlot testing program results were made available for use in some beef breeds, with data generated for growth rate, feed efficiency and carcass quality measurement traits [38]. In South Africa, the most common exotic dairy cattle breeds were the Holstein and Jersey cattle breeds with average herd sizes of about 400 cow herds and automatic milking system and recording were most commonly used especially in the large dairy herds. Van Marle-Koster and Visser [33] explained that for the emerging and smallholder sectors, genetic tools such as EBVs could not be provided due to small number of animals, incomplete recordings for small number of traits, low percentage recordings and insufficient contemporary groups of animals of similar age groups.

5.4 The application of genomics in beef and dairy cattle breeding in South Africa

Several applications of genomics had become available for beef and dairy cattle farmers [33] in South Africa. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) arrays of genomics of cattle were widely used in routine genotyping for genomic selection in beef and dairy cattle. These provided added advantage information for using these genotypes for the detection and prediction of carriers of genetic defects [39]. Also the provision of beef and dairy cattle genotypic information could provide the potential for the identification of beneficial genes such as the celtic variant of the polled gene for homozygous polled animals [40].

Some research workers [33] reported that a number of test facilities were available in South Africa for carrying out diagnostic test in ruminants in South African laboratory as shown in Table 1. This information however could be useful for the developed commercial industry farmers in particular.

Diagnostic test	Species	South African laboratory
DNA profile	Cattle	Unistel
DNA percentage	Cattle	Unistel
Cytogenetics:1/29 translocation	Cattle	Unistel
Curly calf syndrome	Cattle	Unistel
Polled, horned	Cattle	Unistel
Free-martin	Cattle	Unistel

Table 1.

Diagnostic tests available for ruminants in South African laboratory.

Unistel, www.unistelmedical.co.za ; source: [33].

The application of DNA technology could thus serve as a tool for livestock breeders for detecting and removing or culling defective animals from their herds. These could also be used for solving some basic problems while carrying out genetic improvement in the breeding herds [33].

The DNA-based percentage verification was however costly and was mainly employed or used in the developed livestock sector. The genomic technology application programs were started in 2015 for beef genomic program (BGP) and in 2016 for the dairy genomic program (DGP) (http://www.livestockgenomics.co.za). These were designed to be funded through the commercial livestock farm industries. Also in the South African livestock sector, DNA marker technology was employed for use under the indigenous farm animal resources conservation [33]. The DNA marker technology was found useful during livestock genetic diversity selection which involved crossbreeding, inbreeding and population structure ecotypes [33].

5.5 Novel traits phenotypes that were used in beef and dairy cattle selection strategies in the smaller developing sectors in South Africa

Genomic selection (GS) was stated to have started in the dairy cattle industry world-wide as phenotypic data and DNA information were made available alongside the use of artificial insemination [41]. The recognition of important or the novel traits associated with sustainability in the dairy industry led to novel traits identification such as feed efficiency (FE), methane emission percentage (%) reduction, heat stress tolerance, claw health, disease resistance and udder health heritability evaluations as shown in the Table 2 [33].

Trait	Heritability	Source/References
Feed efficiency
Residual feed intake (RFI)	0.00–0.40	Egger-Danner et al. [42]
	0.01–0.40	Miglor et al. [15]
Methane (CH4) emission reduction	0.09–0.35	Egger-Danner et al. [42]
	0.21–0.35	Miglor et al. [15]
Claw health
Hoof lesions	0.02–0.12	Heringstad et al. [43]
	0.01–0.13	Miglor et al. [15]
Lameness	0.02–0.04	Egger-Danner et al. [42]
	0.07–0.15	Heringstad et al. [43]
Laminitis	0.06–0.20	Heringstad et al. [43]
Disease resistance
Tick counts	0.03–0.17	Miglor et al. [15]
Tick resistance	0.15–0.44	Miglor et al. [15]
Heat stress tolerance	0.17–0.33	Miglor et al. [15]
Udder health
Clinical mastitis	0.02–0.09	Egger-Danner et al. [42]
Improved somatic cells counts (SCC)	0.01–0.17	Egger-Danner et al. [42]

Table 2.

Proposed novel traits for inclusion in selection strategies; source: [33].

Novel traits to be used in selection strategies need to be heritable, be of economic importance and should be practically measurable at a cost-efficient level [33].

5.6 Suitable genetic improvement strategies that could be adopted in the developing sector

1. Good quality male and female genetic stock which must be supplied by the seed stock breeders are required. The suitable animals should already be found to contribute to genetic progress [33].

2. Use of reproductive technology such as AI.

3. The application of proper recording of individual breeding animal performance.

4. The formation of farmer co-operative societies where sires such as bulls are shared and AI technicians are employed could be used and disease transmission should be put in check.

5. Care should be taken against indiscriminate crossbreeding between the local and exotic cattle breeds.

6. Genetic improvement in beef and dairy cattle production in the developing countries need to be backed up by governmental policy strategies which address socio-economic issues such as national livestock extension services support.

7. In order to reap the benefits of genomics, commercial breeders would need to invest in recording of novel phenotypes and engage in routine genotyping.

6. Future prospects

There is need for effort to be geared globally at bridging the gap between food and nutrition security in the developed and developing beef and dairy cattle production sectors. At the same time, effort could continue to be made towards achieving sustainability goals such as the maintenance of climate change mitigation issues such as GHG emission from the beef and dairy cattle production sectors.

7. Conclusion and recommendations

This review has discussed the semi-intensive and intensive systems of beef and dairy cattle production practiced in the developed countries such as USA, Australia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and South Korea. In the developing countries of Africa and some parts of Asia, however, beef and dairy cattle production was mostly carried out by smallholder farmers under the extensive system.

The low beef and bovine milk production in the developing sectors could be up-graded through controlled crossbreeding of local cattle breeds with the exotic cattle breeds. There should be the use of exotic cattle breeds which have been known to already contribute to genetic progress. These would involve the use of reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination (AI), through farmer co-operatives and where bulls are shared and AI technicians employed.

The application of routine genotyping involving genetic evaluations for most traits of economic importance that could be adopted by breeders in developing countries could be carried out in the breeding laboratory such as found in South Africa. The use of available genetic tools such as estimated breeding values (EBVs), diagnostic tests and DNA percentage testing in selection programs for genetic improvement could be set up in national breeding program laboratories in the developing countries.

More governmental funded programs for genetic development and up-grading of local beef and dairy cattle breeds into more productive animals could be carried out through government extension service support programs. Thus, the continued pursuit of these developmental programs could go a long way in helping to narrow the gap in the developed and undeveloped sectors of the beef and dairy cattle production sectors. Thereby these could lead to the attainment of more intensive, cost effective and sustainable farming systems.

Global agricultural organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) could continue to make suggestions to the International Livestock Research Institutes world-wide; to keep encouraging research grants to be sought for and monitored to be used for the conduct of local beef and dairy cattle up-grading, through crossbreeding programs in the national agricultural institutions in the developing countries world-wide.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to all who helped in one way or another to make this write-up successful.