"GenoCells has been fantastic for us!"
Ed Johns is a busy man. Not only does he milk 100 pedigree Holsteins on his farm in South Devon, he also operates a haulage business. So time is of the essence.
He installed two Lely robots in 2010 to reduce the amount of time spent milking and still appreciates the fat and protein information the AMS software provides. However he still wanted to find a simpler way to identify cows with high SCC.
On a chilly Saturday morning in February 2024, Ed was listening to the Kite podcast when he heard Richard Miller, Genomics Business Manager at NMR, explain how GenoCells works. “I thought to myself, that sounds like a great idea; I’ll have to try it...and I couldn’t believe just how easy the whole process is. Just one bulk milk sample, popped into a prepaid envelope and then in the post.”
For GenoCells to work on a dairy herd, all the milking herd must be genotyped to identify cows contributing to the bulk tank. This task is frequently carried out when a farmer is looking to improve their herd’s productivity, target £PLI, efficiency, health etc “We’d done some genomic testing a few years back and then stopped,” said Ed. “I’d been thinking about revisiting genomic testing and I needed to do so to introduce GenoCells.”
It was a perfect storm! All of the Lower Southmoor herd including bought in cows are now genomic tested before joining the milking herd so that their SCC count can be monitored with GenoCells.
“GenoCells allows us to pinpoint our high cell count cows at a very low cost, with the side benefit of improving the genetic value of the herd,” says Ed.
“The first time I received my GenoCells SCC results by text message, I was standing in our local takeaway. Within five minutes I could select the top 10 cows to exclude. GenoCells is brilliant for really accurately identifying cows with a high SCC count.”
GenoCells testing can be done at a frequency which suits your farm’s needs—the more frequently you test, the more precise your mastitis management can be. NMR recommend getting individual cow SCC information at least every four weeks.
Interested? Please contact our dedicated GenoCells team on 03330 043043, visit www.nmr.co.uk or email genocells@nmrp.com
