"This publication focuses on the various aspects of domestic animal recording, aimed at improving the management of herds and increasing their productivity. New strategies for recording are illustrated and the most updated technologies are presented, on the basis of national experiences where such technologies are already adopted. Although cattle is the prominent species, two parts are dedicated to small ruminants recording and to buffalo recording. Future challenges and opportunities for further development of ICAR and the definition of the future scenarios in the animal recording sector are also described. A special section is dedicated to 'Improving the health traits by recording and evaluation', where the past and future of animal recording and the use of animal recording data for genetic evaluation and breeding are defined. Another section deals with the 'ICAR Reference Laboratory Network', where the reference systems, the principles and the practices for calibration system for routine milk testing are presented. The publication ends with the national statistics on the 'Yearly enquiry on the situation of milk recording in member countries' for the years 2003 and 2004. A total of 45 pages describes the methodologies used at national level for milk recording, the national data for milk production, the costs of recording and the productivity and numbers of recorded cattle at national level (divided by species and by herdbook)."

The past decade has revealed unfavourable trends in e.g. fertility, udder health and locomotion in some major dairy cattle breeds due to a large increase in production and insufficient consideration of functional traits in the breeding goals. Such unfavourable trends in some functional traits increase costs. Additionally, the enlargement of herds leads to less available labour time per individual cow. This asks for cows that are easy to handle. At the same time, society is demanding a higher welfare standard of animals. These contradicting developments have increased the desire for so called more robust animals. Robustness can be defined as 'the ability to maintain homeostasis in commonly accepted and sustainable herds of the near future'; or 'the ability of the cow to function well in the environment she lives in as well as in a wide range of climates and production systems'. This book contains a series of articles (26) dealing with the concept of robustness, including aspects like evolution, genetics, environment, animal health and welfare, and integrity. Besides the major functional traits also the links to energy balance, hot climatic conditions, and the attitude and input of stakeholders towards robustness as part of the breeding program are discussed. This book is the first attempt to summarise the available knowledge concerning this topic in cattle, making this book unique. The contributions are from authors of 16 countries from all over the world. However, the focus is presently on farm animal level, while in future robustness of the whole production system may also require additional attention.

WAFL is an international scientific conference on the assessment of animal welfare at farm or group level. Issues addressed during a WAFL conference can be: welfare criteria; welfare indicators and methods to analyse them; automation of measures; ways to deal with a large amount of data from various welfare measures in order to assess the overall welfare of animals; rationales underlying epidemiological studies and risk models; consultation processes; implementation in practice; communication of animal welfare assessment results; and other topics related to animal welfare assessment in practice.

Low-and-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) are home to diverse populations of livestock species adapted to various agro-ecological zones, production systems, and harsh environmental conditions. However, the livestock in LMICs have not been systematically improved and current low levels of productivity do not meet the demand for livestock products by a growing population. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing and genotyping technologies have enabled the application of genomic selection in various livestock species in some western countries with great success. Despite the low adoption of genomic breeding in LMICs livestock industry, various studies and programs were initiated and some are still ongoing. Furthermore, community-based breeding programs (CBBP) have been initiated in many LMICs with great benefits for smallholder livestock farmers. CBBPs are based on the active participation of farmers from inception through to implementation and consider their needs, views, decisions, breeding objectives, and available infrastructure. In Africa for instance, small ruminants CBBPs have generated substantial genetic gains and socioeconomic benefits for rural poor farmers. However, the current challenges affecting the data recording and genetic evaluation of the CBBPs in LMICS are yet to be fully reported. Furthermore, the CBBPs are yet to integrate genomic selection in their breeding strategies. For sustainable livestock breeding in LMICs, there is a need to assess the current status of livestock genomics and community-based breeding strategies to identify the challenges and suggest mitigating strategies and future improvement strategy plans. In this Research Topic, we aim to collect findings from past and current livestock genomics and community-based breeding programs, the challenges, the lessons learned, the opportunities, and future perspectives.

This publication collects the Proceedings of the 33rd Biennial Session of the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) held in Interlaken, Switzerland on 26-31 May 2002. Around 400 participants from 60 countries took part in the ICAR Session or attended the Interbull Meeting. The activities were divided into five parallel technical sessions. Overall, about 40 technical papers and reports were presented during the sessions. A technical session was especially reserved for the presentation of the activities of the Task-Forces, Sub-Committees and Working Groups in which a total of 19 reports were presented. The issues that were discussed covered the use of new technologies for animal performance recording, the application of national animal tracing databases, the use of data from permanent milk recording for official performance recording, the performance recording of beef traits and possible alternative systems of recording of functional traits. Particularly relevant was also the involvement of representatives of non-member organizations, especially from Central and Eastern Europe and developing countries, whose needs demonstrate the possibilities that are offered to ICAR to help the (re)organization of the animal sector. This supporting activity with those finalized to reach a better comparison of the production systems among the member organization demonstrate the potentialities of the association. The Sessions allowed an active exchange of ideas and experiences among the participants who recognized that the dialogue is the engine for improvement. Considering that the resources of most member organizations have been reduced, the need of working together was strongly underlined, today more than in the past, in order to achieve shared objectives.

The project aim was to sustainably improve the livelihoods and food security of communities and the poor and vulnerable in six townships in the Central Dry Zone (CDZ) of Myanmar through improving livestock health, productivity, and marketing. The project is highly relevant as livestock are critical to people’s livelihoods in the area. It was evaluated as being efficiently delivered with very significant benefits being provided in developing livestock policies with good sustainability and identifying effective new technologies to promote livestock production in the CDZ. Of note, project efficiency was evaluated as being high with an adaptive approach taken as priorities changed and opportunities developed, and with strong government support providing considerable staff and other resources. At the time of the evaluation, the impact of the project remains limited as little extension work has been undertaken to improve livestock production practices and many of the policies being developed are yet to be finalized. However, the project has laid down a strong basis for the improvement in livestock policies and improved production practices and Government has taken strong ownership of these. The impact of the project will be enhanced over time as policies are consolidated and further extension of the new technologies undertaken.