Interpretive Summaries, January 2025

Invited review: Phenotyping strategies and genetic background of dairy cattle behavior in intensive production systems—From trait definition to genomic selection. By Pacheco et al., page 6. Understanding and assessing dairy cattle behavior is crucial for sustainable breeding and management practices. Genetic evaluations of animal behavior traits can optimize breeding and management strategies and improve animal health, welfare, and productive efficiency. However, the challenge is to define behavior-indicator traits and collect longitudinal data across farms in different countries.