The Guernsey Global Breeding Programme (GGBP) was conceived at the 8th. World Guernsey Conference held in Guernsey in 1992 when Dr. Ted Burnside advised that Guernsey breeders across the world should unite to ensure a secure future for the breed.

Since then there has been a huge increase in discussion and co operation between the member organisations of the World Guernsey Cattle Federation. A very important outcome of this has been the involvement of some of the world's leading cattle breeding institutions in the development of a global programme to establish the Guernsey as a modern dairy breed of true economic relevance.

The Guernsey has benefited through WGCF's association with the International Committee for Animal Recording and its sub-committee INTERBULL, the International Bull Evaluation Laboratory based at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala Sweden. Dr. Jan Philipsson, Dr. Freddy Fikse, and Dr. Ulf Emanuelson, with the approval of the Interbull Steering Committee, have been instrumental in improving and expanding the availability of international evaluation data to all Guernsey breeders.

We have been extremely fortunate in our association and friendship with Dr. Maurice Bichard who, as chairman of its Management Committee, has given many hours of his busy life to provide both theoretical and practical help and advice on the development of GGBP.

Prof. John Woolliams of the Roslin Institute is acknowledged as a world authority on the genetic management of small population breeds. He has become very interested in WGCF and the GGBP and as a result developed the Guernsey Merit Index (GMI), a scientifically weighted index, designed to help us achieve our breeding goals for the Guernsey. Dr. Woolliams has also advised us on the design of the GGBP and is now helping in the monitoring and improvement of the programme.

WGCF has helped to fund recent research at INTERBULL to improve the accuracy of proofs by ironing out within country variations. WGCF has also become a member of Genesis Faraday and has benefitted from the following research grants:

To confirm that the DGAT 1 gene (the high fat marker) is segregating in the Guernsey
To develop a fertility index for UK Guernseys

WGCF in conjunction with Roslin Institute, Sygen International and The Guernsey Foundation has also funded participation of the Guernsey breed in the Bovine HapMap Project. This is the first step to genomic evaluations for Guernseys and could eventually lead to selection for disease resistance.

None of the of the research and development mentioned above would have been possible without three very important elements. Firstly, the very small cadre of top international cattle geneticists does not involve itself in projects that lack credibility. WGCF, through its global membership approach to the problems that are threatening our breed, has built a strong and reliable relationship with many organisations that are willing to help. Secondly, those organisations have been and are the key to helping WGCF to access the very significant funding that is needed to accomplish the projects to which it has an ongoing commitment. Thirdly, the support of the States of Guernsey is seen by the international community as the authoritative base upon which WGCF and GGBP is founded. This has brought praise for our local government through its continuing commitment to what is seen as Guernsey's farsighted contribution to the maintenance of farm animal genetic diversity, a matter that is very high on the list of priorities of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

In his address at the 10th World Conference, Dr Ted Burnside said 'The focus of an all young sire A.I. programme is on the "Team of Young Bulls", and on steady improvement and slower rates of inbreeding. All of the expertise we have gained in pedigree selection over the past three decades can apply to an All Young Bull Scheme successfully.'

At the same conference, the Scientific Panel (Dr. E. B. Burnside, Dr. J. Philipsson, Freddy Fikse MSc, Dr. J. Woolliams) was unanimous in its view that the Guernsey Breed had a severe risk of losing its commercial relevance but also that it had opportunities provided that the following were addressed as matters of the very highest priority and urgency:

An increasing number of young bulls used for breeding to a MINIMUM OF 75% of females in all countries.

Increasing the number of recorded cows in all countries.

A particularly important and desired outcome of these two actions will be to have MORE COWS SIRED BY YOUNG BULLS included in genetic evaluations.

All the scientists agreed that conventional breeding programmes using proven bulls were no longer appropriate to the Guernsey breed.

GGBP was launched in September 2001 and despite problems created by the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in UK is progressed well with 85% of Mainland Guernsey herds and all Island herds using allocations of GGBP semen.

Over 40 bulls have entered the programme including both UK, Island, US and Canadian young sires. A further 8 young bulls/calves are under consideration. Some 80 cows have been identified as possible bull mothers and will be contract or plan mated. Young sires are released in groups of 2 or 3 bulls as soon as semen is available.

First US Bull Specifically Contracted for GGBP

Flambeau Manor Tiller Loren
Sire: Trotacre Loral Tiller ET
Dam: Flambeau Manor G Lauren
Parent Average PTA: 384M 19F 12.3P F&L 0.85 Mam 1.83 GMI 317

His Dam:

Flambeau Manor G Lauren
Sire:Rozelyn Patmar P Goliath

Young sires and their dams are selected using the Guernsey Merit Index that was developed from a breeding goals questionnaire circulated to all Guernsey breed societies. The emphasis that breeders in the pilot GGBP placed on various traits was reported to Dr. Woolliams who calculated the index weightings that would produce the desired results.

GMI=SUM((PTA Milk x -0.4) + (PTA Fat x 9) + (PTA Prot x 20) + (PTA Legs & Feet x 10.9) +(PTA Mammary x 24.3)+ (PTA SCC x -0.65))

The use of GMI as a selection tool is expected to:

Increase fat and protein yield while maintaining or improving component percentages.
Maintain Locomotion (Holstein Classifiers report that the Guernsey has the best locomotion of all the British dairy breeds)
Improve udders considerably
Improve SCC (Somatic Cell Score)

The aim is to breed healthy cows that will milk well produce high components and live a long life with a minimum of involuntary veterinary intervention.

The GGBP Management Committee consists of the members of the RGA&HS Herd Book Council and the EGCS Future of the Breed Committee who meet together with technical advisors Dr. Woolliams and Dr. Bichard, GGBP Field Officer Digby Gribble, Dr. Andrew Casebow and WGCF Secretary Bill Luff. Two meetings are held annually, one in Guernsey and the other in UK. The Management Committee has the full support of the States ACB and the Breed Development Panel.

The technical advisors meet twice annually. They are concerned with research and development programmes and finding the necessary funding to continue, expand and improve the programme with the ultimate aim that the GGBP Pilot Programme will eventually become a truly global scheme. One of the greatest barriers to this at the moment is the veterinary restrictions imposed by various countries that prevent international exchange of genetic material (semen and embryos).

In Guernsey the ACB Breed Development Panel is responsible for the supply and distribution of semen and management of the Guernsey A.I. Service.

Possible bull dams are selected using the GMI and visual inspection. Mating sires are selected according to guidelines laid down by Dr. Woolliams who has indicated that not more than 5 young sires by the same bull may be used in any one year. The aim of the programme is to use at least 14 young sires across the joint UK/Island populations each year.

In the start-up period selectors were faced with finding the best bulls available on the ground in advance of young sires born to plan and contract mated cows being reared and entering stud. It was always obvious to all involved that there would be insufficient young bulls to meet our needs at the given target standard of GMI 300+. Similarly, there has always been a stated aim to find the best bulls available in the world to form the GGBP teams. Work carried out by WGCF officers has persuaded other countries, and in particular USA, to revisit their breeding goals and is resulting in many more bulls with high component PTAs becoming available. Thus we are again able to offer a group of US and Canadian bulls that meet GGBP criteria. These bulls will plug the gap until late 2005 when the first plan mate bulls will come online.

In Guernsey, bull calves born to contract mated cows are raised at the new calf unit at Home Farm. Their genetic merit is reviewed as new evaluations become available from MDC Evaluations. Final decisions on all bulls that will enter the programme are made by the GGBP Management Committee after the closest evaluation to their planned stud entry dates. All Island bulls also have to meet the standards laid down and agreed by RGA&HS members in the Herd Book rules.

On average, the first GGBP sires to obtain a publishable proof improved on their Parent Average GMIs (See GGBP UPDATE MAY 2006 in the left hand bar of this page). It must however be remembered that it is only with reliabilities of 90% and over that figures remain fairly stable. GGBP is not a proven bull programme. Instead of using the sire pathway, GGBP relies upon spreading the genetics of cows through their sons. What the programme lacks in reliability it gains in rate of turnover and reduction of inbreeding. The measure of its success will be a steady advance in the overall GMI of the Island cattle population.

BILL LUFF
August 2006

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