Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2017
In the UK feed accounts for 0.80 to 0.90 of the variable costs of dairy production. In recent years the imposition of milk quotas has served to emphasise the importance of efficient milk and milk solids production. In field progeny testing schemes, sires’ transmitting ability or breeding value can be predicted for milk production traits, but not for feed Intake or for efficiency of milk production. As breeders continue to select on production traits, using sires of high genetic merit for production, the important question then is, ‘what correlated response occurs in gross efficiency and in feed consumption?’.