No, we don’t want to draw the devil on the wall and we do not want to give inbreeding, which was helped the breed with its impressive development over the last decades, a bad image. Nonetheless, the actual numbers, particularly the ones reaching us from North America, are a cause for concern. Or better said: worthy of discussion. After-all, the average inbreeding degree for all female US Holsteins is currently over 8.5%. So, on average, all female Holsteins are more closely related to one another than cousins. On the male side it is even more dramatic. The situation is not much different in Canada. Is it a problem or not? We think so, but opinions vary.