From 30 May to 4 June 2022, the international ICAR/Interbull conference took place in Canada with around 400 participants. An Austrian team of experts was on site.

After 3 years, the ICAR/Interbull Congress from 30 May to 4 June 2022 was again organised as a physical meeting. About 280 of the nearly 400 participants were present. The participants came from 42 different countries. The conference took place in Montreal (Canada), the home of the current president of ICAR Daniel Lefebvre, from 30 May to 4 June 2022 and was well organised by Lactanet. The joy of seeing each other again, the opportunity to meet colleagues in person and the interesting technical programme were very important.

Topics at the Interbull meeting:

• New traits in genetic and genomic breeding value estimation
• Experiences with Single-Step breeding value estimation
• National and international breeding value estimation for meat
• Crossbreeding
• New methods, validation and harmonisation

The presentations are available online under the following link. Programme & Presentations Montreal 2022 - Interbull Centre

Topics at the ICAR meeting:

• Collection and selection tools for feed efficiency and environmental impact
• Advanced evaluation analytics for added value from animal data
• Sustainability in the context of dairy performance testing
• DNA webinar on ICAR parentage determination certification
• New developments in sheep, goats and camelids within ICAR
• Animal identification - new developments and future possibilities
• Modern approaches and experiences for milk performance testing
• New developments in the use of MIR spectra
• Use of sensor technologies for health and animal welfare monitoring and improvements in herd management
• Workshop on animal data exchange - current implementation examples and Q/A with experts
• BCS Workshop - Collection and Evaluation of BCS and the Relationship to Health and Animal Welfare

The BCS workshop was organised by the ICAR Functional Traits Working Group, chaired by Dr Christa Egger-Danner, together with the IDF Standing Committee of Animal Health and Welfare. The proceedings are available at » Webinar on “Recording and evaluation of BCS and its relationship with health and welfare”. 31 May 2022 | ICAR.

Representatives from Austria presented 3 papers from the D4Dairy project at the ICAR meeting:

• Disease risk prediction based on an integrative data-methodological approach
• New traits predicted from milk mid-infrared spectra to reduce incidence of subclinical ketosis
• Challenges of integration and validation of farm and sensor data for dairy herd management