Multitrait Restricted Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Genetic and Phenotypic Parameters of Lifetime Performance Traits for Canadian Holsteins

Abstract

Data on 82,835 Holstein cows, daughters of 703 sires and with first calving from September 1979 to December 1984 from 2384 herds enrolled in the Quebec Dairy Herd Analysis Service, were used to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters of partial and total lifetime performance traits with REML. The model included herd-year-season of first calving, age at first calving, and proven sires as fixed effects and young sires and residuals as random effects. Individual lactation records were precorrected for year-month of calving before lifetime totals were calculated. Only cows with at least 5 yr of opportunity for production were analyzed. The ranges of heritability estimates were .11 to .13 for lifetime production and profit, .07 to .09 for measures of longevity, and .28 to .32 for yield per day of productive life. Correlations among total lifetime yield and profit traits and among measures of longevity were > or = .93. Genetic and phenotypic correlations, respectively, of early partial (two parities total) with total life-time yield and profit and longevity traits ranged from .81 to .94 and .66 to .78. Selection on early performance seems to be desirable and, given the high positive genetic correlations, should increase both lifetime yield and longevity.

Evaluation of the heritability coefficients of longevity in the population of Black and White cows in Serbia

“…Lower values of heritability for the observed trait were determined by L urdes Kern et al (2014) in the population of Holstein-Friesian cows in Brazil. Established value of heritability for the number of lactations was higher than the value found in the study by Vollema and Groen (1996), while Jairath et al (1994) established a close heritability value of the observed trait.…”

“…A certain number of cows was culled immediately upon calving and a start of lactation and in all the animals culled in the first 30 days of lactation the date of the last drying off was taken as a date of culling. Survival rate for subsequent lactations was calculated as a relation of the number of animals which realised given lactation and the number of animals which realised the first lactation (16,572). A total number of realised lactations was 50,382, where each cow included in the analysis realised between 1 and 8 lactations.…”

Lifetime yield and herd life for crosses of Friesian strains in Poland

“…'interval from first calving to disposal Nieuwhof et al (1989) reported that the mean productive herd life was 3.4 calvings for US Holsteins as well as for registered Holsteins. For Canadian Holsteins, means of 28 (Jairath et al, 1994) and 43 mo (Hoque and Hodges, 1980) have been reported for productive life and 2.6 (Jairath et al, 1994) and 3.3 calvings. The large differences among means from previous studies and those for Fj cows from the Polish trial clearly demonstrate that these measures of herd life are greatly influenced by feeding and management systems as well as by culling practices.…”

“…Heritability estimates for longevity traits (number of calvings, ages at last calving and disposal, DPL, and lifetime DIM) were low, ranging from 0.03 to 0.05 (Table 5). Several researchers (Hoque and Hodges, 1980;Jairath et al, 1994) have reported low to moderate heritabilities for longevity.…”

“…For lifetime milk and fat yields, heritability estimates ranged from 0.10 to 0.28 (Hoque and Hodges, 1980;Jairath et al, 1994). Heritability estimates for longevity traits were usually lower and ranged from 0.05 to 0.20 (Hoque and Hodges, 1980).…”