Innovation Visit- Genotyping breeding technology in sustainable milk production- Netherlands Aug/Sept 2026

Overview

CAFRE is inviting applications from farmers interested in attending an Innovation Visit (IV) as part of the new Farming for Sustainability – Innovation Scheme.  This visit will be to the Netherlands who are world leaders in innovations relating to genotyping, breeding evaluations and breeding technologies in dairy cows.

The IV will run across three days from Mon 31 Aug to Wed 2 Sep 2026.  This is a unique opportunity to learn how genotyping technology is being used to determine with much greater accuracy the genetic potential of Dutch dairy cows, with breeding values being produced for over 50 traits related to milk production, health feed efficiency and dairy type, and being adopted on farm.

The trip will begin with a visit to CRV headquarters who conduct the national evaluations and use the DNA profile produced from genotyping to produce a genetic proof.  Besides the breeding values, the genomic test also gives details on the level of inbreeding and an insight into the presence or absence of specific genetic traits such as red factor, polled, A2-milk and kappa casein, and various lethal genes such as the fertility haplotypes.  Genotyping provides a reliable basis to determine which calves to rear as replacements and is ultimately be used in Dutch mating programs to determine the most appropriate mating for particular animals.

One of the visits will be to a commercial farm where as well as production and fertility information, as part of the reference population, phenotypic data on the liveweight and feed intake of individual cows together with 3d camera technology and methane production is combined with genetic information to produce proofs around feed efficiency and a reduction in methane production.

The visit will also comprise a visit to the 500-cow Dairy Campus of Wageningen University who are a world leading facility in dairy research. The focus here will be on sustainable and profitable breeding practices including the breeding of cows with a lower genetic predisposition to emit methane and the integration of breeding with nutrition that include production on low protein diets.

The final visit will be at CRVs elite breeding centre where as well as seeing the bull stud, farmers will have the opportunity to see reproductive technologies such as ovum pickup being conducted on some of the country’s highest genetic merit cows to continue genetic improvement into the next generation.

Over the three days farmers will get to see at first-hand how genotyping, the use of phenotypic data and reproductive technologies are being used to drive genetic progress in the Dutch dairy herd, keeping them at the forefront of dairy breeding worldwide, especially when breeding for environmental sustainability. 

Applications are invited from one member or employee of a farm business, who is 18 years old or over on the application closing date.  Eighteen places are available on this visit; these will be allocated with preference given to those who meet the selection criteria.  Applicants must commit to attending pre and post trip training with dates to be arranged.  Preference will be given to applicants who have not been on a previous Innovation Visit.