Holstein Plaza

As of February 1, 2011, a change has been made to the way Stature is evaluated in Holstein Association USA's Classification program. A recommendation was made by the Type Advisory Committee (TAC) and approved by the board of directors in November 2010, that any cow falling outside of what is considered to be within the breed standard height of between 56 and 62 inches tall (as measured at the spine, between the hips) will be deducted two points from the Front End/Capacity category. This equates to a deduction of 0.4 points from a cow's final score. As is standard policy, cows that are evaluated at less than two years of age will have their stature score age-adjusted.

As an example, a cow scoring 87 for Front/End Capacity would only receive a score of 85 for that breakdown if she was shorter than 56 inches or taller than 62 inches, as measured at the spine, between her hips.

"Statistics show that the Holstein breed is getting taller, and we're seeing where it's causing dairymen to have to remodel the stalls in their tiestall and freestall barns to accommodate larger cows," states John Connor, Holstein Association USA Director of Type Evaluation. "Very few cows will lose points as a result of them being too tall or small, but the TAC felt it was their duty, as an Association representing Holstein breeders across the country, to put this new policy into place."

Stature is the most heritable type trait measured by Holstein Association USA, at 0.42. Continual selection for stature in the population will bring about a phenotypic response that can easily be measured. For example, the average STA for Stature of the Available Bull Population in February 2006 was 0.74 (Tall); in December 2010, the average STA Stature of the Available Bull Population was 1.33 (Tall). When the January 2010 base change is added to that (+0.70), the real change in STA Stature is +1.29. On a linear scale, this equates to a significant change of +2.33 linear points (or about half an inch in stature) in less than five years.

"The message that this change sends is that we do not want the Holstein breed to continually progress in a direction that will result in extremely tall cows that must be housed and managed specially and differently from the majority of the herd, just to be able to keep them in the herd," added Connor.

As an Association, it is important to consider the future of the Holstein breed, the direction that the U.S. Holstein population is headed, and how that relates to the U.S. Registered Holstein being the breed of choice for dairy producers worldwide, now and into the future. Classifiers are asked to communicate this new policy at all herds they evaluate cattle for, even in cases where cows are unaffected. With questions, contact the Classification department at 800.952.5200, ext. 4263.