Huge success and great attendance at ANAFIBJ events, planned during the three days of Montichiari. On friday, October 27, works began with three events at the same time: the ANAFIBJ Technical Conference at the Agricultural Services Center of the Fair Center, the Clipping Contest of the 11th Open Junior Show, which saw many young breeders from all over Europe engaged in the stables, and the competition among Agricultural Technical Institutes in the ring, with the stands crowded by students from all over Italy.
This year the Agricultural Services Centre has been chosen again as the venue for the Technical Conference: the new location with a view on the stable has proved to be a winning formula last year and, therefore, for this edition the room adjacent to the "behind the scenes" of the ring has been confirmed again. The 2023 Technical Conference, entitled "Inbreeding and Selection: Common Management Strategies", was dedicated to the current "hot topics" related to inbreeding, genetic variability, its management in the age of genomics and the future of populations subjected to intense selection activity, very interesting and globally felt topics, which have captured the attention of all participants. The opening was managed by Dr. Fortunato Trezzi, ANAFIBJ President, and the General Manager Prof. Martino Cassandro. The first speech was given by Dr. Francesco Bongiovanni (Masaf – Ministry of Agriculture), about the enhancement of animal biodiversity. It was followed by three speeches from the Universities: Prof. Christian Maltecca, from North Carolina State University (USA), made a brief introduction on genomic selection and diversity; then, Dr. Francesco Tiezzi, from the University of Florence, dealt with the management of diversity and inbreeding in the populations of North American dairy cows, addressing the practical aspects, and, finally, Dr. Michela Ablondi, from the University of Parma, discussed the reduction of genetic variability and inbreeding depression in Italian Holstein cows. In closing the intervention of Dr. Jan-Thijs van Kaam (Research and Development Office ANAFIBJ), who presented the ANAFIBJ approach to the management of inbreeding. Subsequently, there have been several interventions from the world of industry and a brief moment of discussion, where the participants spoke with questions and interesting ideas. Finally Prof. Cassandro drew the conclusions and proposed a table among all the actors of the AI chain for Italy, in order to deal together with inbreeding management. The whole conference is currently available on our ANAFIBJ Facebook page.
The 11th edition of the Open Junior Show this year saw 45 young breeders from 13 European countries competing in different contests (Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and, of course, Italy). In the Junior competitions (under 18), Italy is first in the Clipping evaluation, while in the Judging contest wins the Netherlands and the first place in the Showmanship is awarded to Germany. Among the Seniors (18-26 years), instead, the United Kingdom earns the first place both in the Clipping and in the Judging contest, while in the Showmanship excels Sweden.
In the afternoon of Saturday, October 28, begins the parade of heifers of the 71st edition of the National Holstein Show; the next day, after the morning dedicated to the 12th National Jersey, continues the parade of cows. The two shows have highlighted a very high morphological level, testing the judges in the choice of champions, and, above all, bringing out the work and the passion of our breeders. The Grand Champion and best udder adult cows of the National Jersey Show is a cow of 4 calvings of the “Società Agricola Bertoletta di Zilocchi” (Mantova), in co-ownership with Hera Farm; the Grand Champion and best udder adult cows of the National Holstein Show is a cow of 6 years and over with at least 5 calvings of the “Società Agricola Sabbiona di Ciserani Francesco and Lorenzo Ireneo” (Lodi).
We would like to point out that this year, as always, was guaranteed the live streaming of the event, now available in deferred on youtube channel of the Association.
In conclusion, extremely positive results for the three days of Montichiari, which saw great participation in the proposed events and, as always, a very high morphological level of animals.
All the details of this three-day cattle show, full of high-level events, will be published on Bianconero, official magazine of the Association, downloadable free of charge from website https://www.anafibj.it/it/bianconero, as well as on the various social channels of ANAFIBJ.
The speakers table
The conference room
The winners of the Holstein National Show
30 ottobre 2023
