Analysis of culling records and estimation of genetic parameters for longevity and some production traits in Holstein dairy cattle
TL;DR: The results suggest that some opportunity may exist for genetic improvements in fat and milk yield in Iranian Holstein cattle and the relationship between longevity and production traits.
Abstract: We used data collected on 48,739 cows from 1982 to 2013 from Foka farm in the Isfahan province of Iran to assess the reasons for culling in Iranian Holstein dairy cattle in the context of breeding values of economic traits, and also to study the relationship between longevity and production traits. Estimation of (co)variance components and genetic parameters for studied traits including MY, FY, herd life (HL) and length of production life (LPL) was by AI-REML algorithm in WOMBAT software. The results showed that 27.11% of cows were culled voluntarily under the farmers’ command. The number and reasons for culling animals varied considerably over the years. Also, the results showed that involuntarily culled animals were valuable with significantly higher breeding values for MY and FY (P < .0001) than those of voluntarily culled individuals. The estimates of heritability for longevity traits (HL and LPL) were low (0.11 and 0.09), but their genetic correlation with production traits were high and posi...
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: Estimation of genetic parameters for longevity and survival traits from birth to yearling in Moghani breed of sheep suggest that lamb survival could be improved through direct selection within the flock.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for longevity and survival traits from birth to yearling in Moghani breed of sheep. The data set comprised of 4580 lamb survival recor...
7 citations
TL;DR: The small number of significantly associated SNP in genome-wide associations and the minor effect of specific SNP on LPL in survival analyses underline the polygenetic nature of longevity.
7 citations
27 May 2021
TL;DR: The influence of genotypic factors (breed, Holstein share heredity, line or related group, sire) on the longevity and lifetime production of dairy cows has been investigated in a retrospective statistical experiment on the commercial dairy farm “Terezyne”.
Abstract: The influence of genotypic factors (breed, Holstein share heredity, line or related group, sire) on the longevity and lifetime production of dairy cows has been investigated. The study was carried out in a retrospective statistical experiment on the commercial dairy farm “Terezyne”, which located in Kyiv region. The formed matrix of observations in the sta format generally contained information about 5703 cows for 458 variables.
Holstein cows were characterized by higher longevity (1489 ± 27.8 days) and higher lifetime milk production (21940 ± 500.9 kg), the lowest longevity and lifetime milk production had cows of Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy breed. Holstein cows compared to animals of Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy breed had in average more lactations (+0.57 ± 0.187) and higher number of total calves (+0.59 ± 0.244). They had an advantage in lifespan by 218 ± 80.1 days, productive lifespan – by 326 ± 82.0 days, total lactation length – by 282 ± 62.2 days. During the lifetime, they produced 4119 ± 1398.4 kg more milk and 549.3 ± 99.62 kg more milk fat and milk protein. Lifetime daily milk yield of Holstein cows was on average 2.6 ± 0.37 kg higher, lifetime daily milk fat and milk protein – 208 ± 26.7 g more compared to animals of the Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy breed. Cows of Ukrainian Black-and-White dairy breed in most traits were intermediate between Holstein and Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy breed.
While increasing Holstein share heredity the longevity and lifetime production of cows tended for curvilinear growing. Lifetime of Holstein cows (100%) in the herd was 0.16 ± 0.405 lactations and 325 ± 170.7 days (P < 0.1) longer compared to animals with Holstein share heredity less than 75%. Their lifetime milk production was 8969 ± 2351.6 kg (P < 0.001) higher, lifetime milk fat and milk protein production by 709.9 ± 164.73 kg (P < 0.001) higher, lifetime daily yield by 3.0 ± 0.62 kg (P < 0.001) and 250 ± 43.5 g (P < 0.001), respectively, higher.
The cows of Starbuck 352790, Valiant 1650414 and Elevation 1491007 lines and daughter of V. Astronomer 2160438 and H. R. Artist 6284191 sires showed the best longevity and lifetime production. The advantage of cows of the related group of Starbuck 352790 in comparison to animals of other lines in total number of lactations was 0.28–1.29, number of total calves – 0.16–1.20, lifespan – 90–508 days, productive lifespan – 116–603 days, total lactation length – 98–500 days, lifetime milk production – 1402–12161 kg, lifetime milk fat and milk protein production – 115–892 kg. Daughters of bull V. Astronomer 2160438 characterized by 0.96–2.72 more total number of lactations than daughters of other bulls; they had 0.80–2.33 higher average number of total calves. In terms of lifespan, productive lifespan and total lactation length, daughters of this bull were predominated the daughters of other bulls by 392–1037, 297–1143 and 278–971 days, respectively.
One-way analysis of variance showed that the greatest influence on longevity and lifetime production of dairy cows had a paternal inheritance, the lowest – breed, it means there is a tendency of increasing the influence of genotypic factors on the researched traits while reducing the level of selection group in the system hierarchy. The strength of breed influence (higher level of intraspecific selection system hierarchy) on the traits of longevity and lifetime production of cows ranged from 1.1 to 12.5%, Holstein share heredity – 3.9 to 19.5%, line or related group – 4.0–19.8% and paternal inheritance – 25.0–47.6%. Greater degree of influence of paternal inheritance is explained both by the lowest (basic) level of intrabreed system hierarchy (the closest level of intragroup kinship) and (partially) by a much higher number of gradations of the organized factor.
6 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: Findings from this study confirm that the AfiFarm herd management software permit extraction and analyses of multiple variables imperative to dairy management at the herd and cow level.
Abstract: Globally, dairy producers are employing precision farming practices and incorporating computer software that enables producers to manage large herds at an individual animal level. South African dairy producers have been adopting similar strategies with a trend towards larger production units and the incorporation of automatic milking systems. The software employed in automatic systems record production, reproduction and health parameters on a daily basis. These systems record all variables and movements of individual animals, from the day of birth to the day the cow exits the herd. The majority of producers using automatic milking systems do not participate in national recording. The aim of this study was to perform a production analysis with the primary objective of constructing a template for extracting and analysing herd performance data from producers employing automatic management software in South Africa. Two large dairy herds, representing a TMR system, and a pasture-based production system participated in the study. Producers installed the AfiFarm herd management software from S.A.E Afikim, Kibbutz, Israel. By extracting animal records from multiple years, comprehensive data tables were constructed for different production analyses. Analyses included time-trend evaluation of herd numbers, mean production and reproduction performance at the heifer and cow level, distribution of exit reasons and assessing the relationship between the genetic merit of sires and the mean performance of their progeny. Findings from this study confirm that the AfiFarm herd management software permit extraction and analyses of multiple variables imperative to dairy management at the herd and cow level. The software has the potential to serve as a platform to add a vast number of dairy cow performance records for future analyses.
4 citations
Cites background or result from "Analysis of culling records and est..."
...Heifers, with a confirmed cull reason were predominantly infertile or suffered from infectious diseases (mostly Pneumonia), which agrees with literature (Ettema & Santos, 2004; Wathes et al., 2008; Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al., 2017)....
[...]
...%) primarily due to poor production (Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al., 2017)....
[...]
...udder conformation, poor locomotion and accidents (Olechnowicz et al., 2011; Chiumia et al., 2013; Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al., 2017; Denis-Robichaud et al., 2018)....
[...]
...It was however clear that cows were culled for impaired fertility, mastitis, metabolic disorders, digestive problems, numerous infections, udder conformation, poor locomotion and accidents (Olechnowicz et al., 2011; Chiumia et al., 2013; Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al., 2017; Denis-Robichaud et al., 2018)....
[...]
...Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al. (2017) observed 6.36% of culls due to feet and legs, 7.82% for metabolic and digestive problems and 23.46% for infectious diseases in Iranian Holstein cattle....
[...]
TL;DR: The experiment demonstrated a highly significant impact of heterosis on performance parameters and technological quality of milk in F1 generation obtained as a result of crossbreeding between PHF cows and SRB bulls.
Abstract: The intensive breeding work of Holstein-Friesian cattle has led to the decrease in the diversity within the population and to inbreeding depression, which may impair its functional traits. In addition, as shown by the research, production traits are negatively correlated with functional traits such as reproduction, health, and longevity, which have a very strong impact on the profit of dairy farms. The aim of this study was to compare milk yield traits of hybrids obtained by crossbreeding of Polish Holstein Friesian (PHF) cows and Swedish Red (SRB) bulls with values obtained for pure PHF cows. For the study, 100 primiparous cows were selected and divided into two groups. The experimental group consisted of 50 crossbreds (PHF×SRB), while the control group consisted of 50 purebred PHF cows. The study showed a higher content of milk components (fat by 11.78 %, protein by 9.06 %, dry matter by 5.75 %) in PHF×SRB, as compared to PHF. A lower level of SCC (by 38.94 %) has also been shown in hybrids, which indicates their higher resistance to udder diseases. The experiment demonstrated a highly significant impact of heterosis on performance parameters and technological quality of milk in F1 generation obtained as a result of crossbreeding between PHF cows and SRB bulls.
3 citations
Additional excerpts
...According to Adamczyk et al., (2017), they are the direct cause of about 8 % of deficiencies in the PHF breed, which was also observed by Ghaderi-Zefrehei et al. (2017)....
[...]
References
More filters
TL;DR: WOMBAT is a software package for quantitative genetic analyses of continuous traits, fitting a linear, mixed model; estimates of covariance components and the resulting genetic parameters are obtained by restricted maximum likelihood.
Abstract: WOMBAT is a software package for quantitative genetic analyses of continuous traits, fitting a linear, mixed model; estimates of covariance components and the resulting genetic parameters are obtained by restricted maximum likelihood. A wide range of models, comprising numerous traits, multiple fixed and random effects, selected genetic covariance structures, random regression models and reduced rank estimation are accommodated. WOMBAT employs up-to-date numerical and computational methods. Together with the use of efficient compilers, this generates fast executable programs, suitable for large scale analyses. Use of WOMBAT is illustrated for a bivariate analysis. The package consists of the executable program, available for LINUX and WINDOWS environments, manual and a set of worked example, and can be downloaded free of charge from (http://agbu. une.edu.au/~kmeyer/wombat.html).
721 citations
"Analysis of culling records and est..." refers methods in this paper
...The WOMBAT software (Meyer 2007) was used Table 2....
[...]
01 Jan 2007
333 citations
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: In this paper, genetic parameters were estimated simultaneously for five herd-life traits, 15 conformation (type) traits, and milk yield measured in first lactation for 128,601 Holstein cows.
Abstract: Genetic parameters were estimated simultaneously for 5 herd-life traits, 15 conformation (type) traits, and milk yield measured in first lactation for 128,601 Holstein cows. Heritabilities of all traits were higher in registered than in grade cows. Genetic correlations of linear type traits with first lactation yield ranged from -.48 for udder depth to .54 for dairy form. Genetic correlations among milk yield and herd-life traits were all positive except for milk-corrected herd life in grade cows. Udder traits had largest absolute genetic correlations with herd-life traits, followed by body traits and feet and leg traits. Some traits associated with body size and foot angle differed between registered and grade cows. Estimates of genetic trends from obtained parameters revealed greatest progress for milk yield from single-trait selection but also the largest changes for some type traits and milk-corrected herd life in an undesirable direction. Relative milk to type ratios of between 2:1 and 3:1 yielded 90% of the gain in milk yield with no change or slight improvement in type traits and functional herd life. Selection for type traits associated with herd life appears to be warranted to improve days of functional herd life or to decrease involuntary culling of dairy cows.
211 citations
TL;DR: Estimates of genetic trends from obtained parameters revealed greatest progress for milk yield from single-trait selection but also the largest changes for some type traits and milk-corrected herd life in an undesirable direction.
206 citations
"Analysis of culling records and est..." refers background in this paper
...Some studies have shown that the revenue of dairy farms may be increased by reducing involuntary culling (Rogers et al. 1988; Short & Lawlor 1992; Bonneville-Hébert et al. 2011; Chiumia et al. 2013; Sanjabi & Javanmardi 2014)....
[...]
TL;DR: A system that allows the documentation of multiple reasons for culling and the computation of a composite score appears to be reasonable for the assessment of culling management.
164 citations
"Analysis of culling records and est..." refers result in this paper
...Similar findings were reported by some other authors (Allaire et al. 1977; Bascom & Young 1998; Ruegg et al. 1998)....
[...]