LONG-term Steve Snowdon says he expects more of the emphasis for Australian genetics will come from Europe because of the greater reliability of their progeny testing programs.
"That comes from their having government subsidies which require farmers to comply in the collection of industry-wide data," Mr Snowdon said.
"They have 80-90 per cent participation in herd testing and that makes their information a lot more reliable."
The tragedy in Australia, he said, was that too few farmers saw herd testing as essential to their operations, with less than 50pc participation which left huge gaps in the data that could lead to distorted proofs.
Some factories had taken a positive approach in encouraging their supplier to herd record and that had to be commended.
"The cell count information alone would pay for the cost of herd testing on most farms," he said.
"It costs about $3500 a year for a 400 cow farm but costs $100 for a box of antibiotics to treat a cow with mastitis and that makes the economics a no-brainer."
* See this week's Stock & Land print edition for a special six-page feature on the dairy industry's peak performers.
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