Analysis of fertility in Swiss Simmental cattle — Genetic and environmental effects on female fertility

Hodel, Flavia; Moll, J.; Kuenzi, N.

doi:10.1016/0301-6226(94)00051-8

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Genetics, nutrition, husbandry and management influence fertility. Fertility in cows and milk yield have antagonistic genetic correlations, as shown for the Simmental breed in Switzerland (Hodel et al., 1995), and high milk yields have repeatedly been advocated as causes of low fertility in high‐yielding dairy cows (Grunert, 1993; Schopper et al., 1993). However, because reproductive traits have a low heritability, any association between increased milk yield and fertility must be largely phenotypic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Milk Yield and Composition, Nutrition, Body Conformation Traits, Body Condition Scores, Fertility and Diseases in High‐Yielding Dairy Cows – Part 1

Aeberhard

Bruckmaier

Kuepfer

et al. 2001

Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series A

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Twenty-nine pairs of high-yielding dairy cows (HC; > or = 45 kg/day reached at least once during lactation) and corresponding control cows (CC; with milk yields representing the average yield of the herds) were examined on 29 Swiss farms from March 1995 to September 1996. The hypotheses were tested that there are differences in feed intake, body-conformation traits, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), fertility status and disease incidence between HC and CC cows. Cows were studied 2 weeks before and at 5, 9, 13, 17 and 40 weeks post-partum. HC cows produced more energy-corrected milk (ECM) than CC cows (10,670 +/- 321 kg in 293 +/- 5 days and 8385 +/- 283 kg in 294 +/- 4 days, respectively; P < or = 0.001) and yields in the first 100 days of lactation were greater in HC than in CC cows (46.2 +/- 1.1 and 36.2 +/- 1.0 kg ECM/day, respectively; P < or = 0.001). Concentrate intake was greater (P < or = 0.05) in HC than in CC cows (7.6 +/- 0.5 and 5.7 +/- 0.5 kg/day, respectively) and dry matter intakes (measured in week 5 of lactation over 3 days on six farms) were greater in HC than in CC cows (24.0 +/- 1.1 and 20.3 +/- 1.1 kg/day, respectively; P < or = 0.001). HC cows were taller than CC cows (wither heights 143.3 +/- 0.8 and 140.1 +/- 0.8 cm, respectively; P < or = 0.01). Although BW in HC cows was greater than in CC cows throughout the study, differences and decreases of BW during lactation were not significant. BCS at the end of pregnancy and decrements during lactation were similar in HC and CC cows. Fertility parameters were similar in HC and CC cows. Incidences of mastitis, claw and feet problems, hypocalcemia/downer cow syndrome, ovarian cysts and abortions were similar in HC and CC cows, but there were more indigestion problems in HC than in CC cows.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Milk Yield and Composition, Nutrition, Body Conformation Traits, Body Condition Scores, Fertility and Diseases in High‐Yielding Dairy Cows – Part 1

Aeberhard

Bruckmaier

Kuepfer

et al. 2001

Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series A

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“…Heritability of NR56 estimated by Wall et al (2003) in a population of British Holsteins was slightly higher (0.018). Heritability for non-return rate to 90th day estimated by Hodel et al (1995) was lower for heifers (0.011) and higher for cows (0.021). In populations of Israeli Holstein dairy cattle, Weller and Ezra (2003) estimated heritability of the trait defined as the inverse of the number of inseminations to conception for parities from the first through fifth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fertility traits are considered very important because of their impact on the economics of dairy cattle breeding. The following consequences of low fertility were listed by Hodel et al (1995): higher insemination costs, decrease of milk and meat production (fewer progeny born), increase in culling rate, and less intensive selection. About 20-30% of all culling has been due to fertility problems (Boichard and Manfredi, 1992;Hoekstra et al, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fertility measures in Polish Black-and-White cattle. 1. Genetic parameters of heifer fertility traits

Jagusiak¹

2005

J. Anim. Feed Sci.

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Genetic parameters of heifer fertility measures were estimated. Data were records of 42 283 first-parity Black-and-White cows. The percentage of cows that did not repeat heat was 73 at the 56 th day and 69 at the 72 nd day after first insemination. Heritabilities of non-return rates to the 56 th day and 72 nd day were 0.012 and 0.010, respectively. Heritabilities of age at first insemination, age at conception and age at calving were 0.324, 0.312 and 0.296, respectively. Phenotypic correlations ranged from 0.78 between age at first service and age at conception to 0.98 between age at conception and age at calving. The genetic correlations were high (0.96 and higher). Genetic correlations between non-return rates and the remaining traits ranged from -0.11 to 0.10.

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“…For FSC, Abe et al (2009) reported a genetic correlation of 0.74 between heifers and primiparous cows, whereas the value assessed by Tiezzi et al (2012) on BS was lower (0.35). For DFLS, a moderate to high genetic correlation between heifers and primiparous cows was reported in Swiss Simmental (0.40, Hodel et al, 1995), Canadian Holsteins (0.72, Jamrozik et al, 2005), German dairy cattle (0.48, Liu et al, 2008), and Italian BS (0.55, Tiezzi et al, 2012).…”

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confidence: 90%

Short communication: Genetic analysis for fertility traits of heifers and cows from smallholder dairy farms in a tropical environment

Buaban¹,

Duangjinda

Suzuki

et al. 2015

Journal of Dairy Science

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The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for various fertility traits on Holstein upgraded dairy heifers and cows in a smallholder system under tropical conditions using data sets from the Thailand national recording scheme. The investigated traits were age at first service (AFS), age at first calving (AFC), days from calving to first service (DTFS), days between first and last service (DFLS), days open (DO), calving interval (CI), number of services per conception (NSPC), and conception at first service (FSC). The data consisted of 68,555, 34,401, and 54,004 records on heifers, primiparous, and multiparous cows, respectively, calving between 1996 and 2011. Gibbs sampling was employed to obtain (co)variance components using both univariate and bivariate analyses with linear and threshold animal models. Virgin heifers had better fertility performance than primiparous and multiparous cows. The reproductive performance in primiparous cows was inferior compared with multiparous cows. Cows with higher Holstein-Friesian blood showed lower reproductive efficiency. Estimated heritabilities for most of the fertility traits were 0.04 or less except for AFS (0.26) and AFC (0.25). The estimated genetic correlations among fertility traits within parity indicated that selection for cows with high conception rate could lead to shortened DO and CI, as well as DTFS. The FSC and NSPC could be used as the best indicators for heifer and cow fertility and could be complemented by other traits, which were genetically considered as different traits such as DTFS and DFLS in terms of a fertility index. This would enable efficient selection for better fertility. Genetic correlations for fertility traits in primiparous and multiparous cows were very high (>0.90), but those between heifers and cows were lower (0.03 to 0.83). The latter results indicated that fertility traits of heifers and cows should be considered as different traits.

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Analysis of fertility in Swiss Simmental cattle — Genetic and environmental effects on female fertility

Cited by 20 publications

References 24 publications

Milk Yield and Composition, Nutrition, Body Conformation Traits, Body Condition Scores, Fertility and Diseases in High‐Yielding Dairy Cows – Part 1

Milk Yield and Composition, Nutrition, Body Conformation Traits, Body Condition Scores, Fertility and Diseases in High‐Yielding Dairy Cows – Part 1

Fertility measures in Polish Black-and-White cattle. 1. Genetic parameters of heifer fertility traits

Short communication: Genetic analysis for fertility traits of heifers and cows from smallholder dairy farms in a tropical environment

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