> In the comparison of dairy and honeybees not keeping up on production stats. How much of the production increase in milk volumes is due to management rather than genetics? I could be wrong but isn't one of the reasons dairy's don't allow the cow to forage on pasture is because of greater milk production. If we want honey from real nectar there appears to be a barrier that limits honey production due to seasonal nectar availability. I know very little about genetics but it does seem that  there is more to higher production then just that. Maybe one of the reasons milk production is out pacing honey. That and a higher precentage of beekeepers doing pollination rather then working for honey.

Obviously, if the price of pollination is high beekeepers may opt out of honey production. And management of colonies for honey production can greatly increase yields, just as management of cows can. For example, by moving colonies, one can obtain multiple crops. So, why is average honey yield in this country so low? With little effort, and without moving the colonies, my hives averaged over 200 pounds this year, and it was not that good of a year. 

My contention is that almost no progress has been made in the breeding of bees, neither for honey production nor hygienic behavior. I am not suggesting the dairy model as a good one for beekeeping, but merely pointing out that bees may not be particularly amenable to improvements via breeding, as compared to other truly domesticated animals. Probably this is one of the things I like about beekeeping: they are essentially still wild animals. 

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> The success of selection for increased milk production in dairy cows is apparent. Certainly, many herds now have average production levels that would have only been associated with the best producers in the herd 30 yr ago. There are, of course, many reasons for this success. Among these are improvements in genetic selection methods and associated use of artificial insemination, better fulfillment of nutritional needs and diet formulation, and careful attention to mastitis control and milking management. Development of new management tools (i.e., bovine somatotropin, improved crops, estrus detection devices, estrus synchronization, monitoring of individual animal performance, and disease prevention) should not be forgotten. -- Journal of Dairy Science.  Volume 83, Issue 5, May 2000, Pages 1151-1158

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