@article {3672,
	title = {BRIEF COMMUNICATION: Approaches to breeding heat tolerant dairy cattle },
	journal = {New Zealand Journal of Animal Science and Production},
	volume = {83},
	year = {2023},
	month = {01/2023},
	pages = {8-10},
	address = {Rotorua},
	abstract = {Climate change will become increasingly problematic for grazing cattle, with heat stress impacting both animal welfare
and productivity. Genetic strategies are available to mitigate heat stress, some of which such as crossbreeding, have
already been tested in tropical climates. Heat tolerance is a heritable trait in dairy cattle and genetic progress can be
achieved using genomic selection, an approach adopted in Australia. Another strategy is to introgress the SLICK
genetic variant from Senepol beef cattle into dairy cattle. This enables a 0.5 to 1.0 {\textdegree}C advantage in rectal and ruminal
temperature, relative to control cows, when under a mild heat load. This variant has already been introduced into breeds
of beef cattle by gene editing, an approach which promises to greatly accelerate gene introgression for single gene
traits and lessen the potential impact of introgression on inbreeding in a population.

Keywords: heat tolerance, dairy cattle, SLICK, breeding},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {EG Donkersloot and GM Worth and LR McNaughton and A Yeates and SR Davis and RJ Spelman}
}
@article {3672,
	title = {BRIEF COMMUNICATION: Effects of the SLICK gene on heat tolerance in grazing dairy cattle},
	journal = {New Zealand Journal of Animal Science and Production},
	volume = {83},
	year = {2023},
	month = {01/2023},
	pages = {5-7},
	address = {Rotorua},
	abstract = {<p>The heat tolerance of Senepol beef cattle (Bos taurus) has been causally linked to a mutation in the prolactin receptor (PRLR) on BTA20. This variant of PRLR has become known as the SLICK gene because it is also associated with a short-hair coat. We have investigated the heat tolerance of New Zealand dairy cattle bred to carry the SLICK gene, using measurement of vaginal temperature. Hair length differed (P\&lt;0.001) between SLICKs and controls at the neck (4.3 {\textpm} 0.5 mm vs 13.8 {\textpm} 1.2 mm, respectively), shoulder (6.5 {\textpm} 0.7 mm vs 14.9 {\textpm} 1.5 mm, respectively) and pin bone (6.9 {\textpm} 0.6 mm vs 15,2 {\textpm}1.4 mm, respectively). Vaginal temperatures of SLICK animals were 0.5 - 1{\textdegree}C lower than controls at peak ambient temperature (28.4{\textdegree}C; 16.00h). SLICK dairy cattle show a markedly improved ability for temperature homeostasis under mild heat load, relative to control cattle. Keywords: heat tolerance; dairy cattle; SLICK; genetics</p>
},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {GM Worth and EG Donkersloot and RJ Spelman and SR Davis}
}
