Novel breeding goals and optimized breeding schemes for beef cattle breeds to be used on dairy cows

Reducing CO2 emissions is crucial for ensuring the sustainability of future beef production, as the beef industry has a significant environmental impact. To address this, a CO2 reduction tax initiative for farmers will be implemented in 2030, making it increasingly important to minimize the environmental footprint through breeding. Additionally, the current breeding program lacks structure and sophistication; it is too simplistic and not tailored to produce young bulls suitable for mating with dairy females. A more organized and strategic approach to breeding is needed to improve efficiency and align with sustainability goals. This Ph.D. project will contribute to the definition of cutting-edge breeding goals for beef breeds used in Beef x Dairy production systems and to the optimization of breeding schemes to maximize selection response for the different traits in focus. This project will be carried out in close collaboration with other departments at Aarhus University (AniVet, AGRO) and with industrial partners.

The project is split into three work packages:
1. Development of a bio-economic model to estimate economic values for relevant traits for the Beef x Dairy production systems. Including traits such as methane production and feed efficiency for decrease in environmental impact of the beef industry.
2. Applying the economic values to define breeding goals for beef bulls selected for mating to dairy females for production of crossbred calves.
3. Model breeding schemes to find optimal structures that maximizes response by combining genomic selection and reproductive biotechnologies for Beef x Dairy production.