Economic weights of production and functional traits for Holstein‐Friesian cattle in Hungary

Abstract

A bio-economic model was used to estimate economic values of 15 milk production, functional, growth and carcass traits for Hungarian Holstein-Friesian cattle. The calculations were carried out for the situation in Hungary from 2000 to 2007, assuming no production quotas. The marginal economic values were defined as partial derivatives of the profit function with respect to each trait in a production system with dairy cow herds and with sales of surplus male calves. The economic weights for maternal and direct components of traits were calculated multiplying the marginal economic values by the number of discounted expression summed over a 25-year investment period for 2-year-old bulls (candidates for selection). The standardized economic weight (economic weight x genetic standard deviation) of the trait or trait component expressed as percentage of the sum of the standardized economic weights for all traits and trait components represented the relative economic importance of this trait or trait component. The highest relative economic importance was obtained for milk yield (25%), followed by productive lifetime of cows (23%), protein yield and the direct component of a cow's total conception rate (9% each), the maternal effect of the total conception rate of cows and the somatic cell score (approximately 7% each), fat yield (5%) and mature weight of cows and daily gain in rearing of calves (approximately 4% each). Other functional traits (clinical mastitis incidence, calving difficulty score, total conception rate of heifers and calf mortality) reached a relative economic importance between 0.5% and 2%. Birth weight and dressing percentage were least important (<0.5%). Based on these results, the inclusion of productive lifetime and cow fertility in the breeding programme for Holstein-Friesian cattle in Hungary is advisable.

Valores econômicos para as características de produção, funcionais e de fertilidade em sistemas de produção de leite no Sul do Brasil

“…The economic values for milk production were positive, indicating that selection for this trait would imply in economic gain for the producer. These values are consistent with those reported in other studies (Komlósi et al, 2010;Prata et al, 2015), even though, at the time when these studies were developed, the economic scenarios were different. As in the literature, the results of this study were expected, since there is still greater emphasis on payment by volume of milk produced and not quality.…”

Estimation of the economic value of herd‐life length based on simulated changes in survival rate

“…They also indicated that the a M σ GM /a L σ GL values of milk yield, fat yield, and protein yield were –0.74, 1.14, and 3.37, respectively. Given that the a M σ GM /a L σ GL values of the milk yield and milk carrier have been reported to range from 1.09 to 3.2 (Alleire & Gibson, ; Fuerst‐Waltl, Fuerst, Obritzhauser, & Egger‐Dannet, ; Komlόsi et al., ), it is assumed that these values are affected by several factors. In this regard, it has been found that the a M σ GM /a L σ GL value is small if milk yield and cow depreciation costs are high, and large if herd‐life length is long (Alleire & Gibson, ; Matsuoka & Terawaki, ).…”

“…They also indicated that the a M σ GM /a L σ GL values of milk yield, fat yield, and protein yield were -0.74, 1.14, and 3.37, respectively. Given that the a M σ GM /a L σ GL values of the milk yield and milk carrier have been reported to range from 1.09 to 3.2 (Alleire & Gibson, 1992;Fuerst-Waltl, Fuerst, Obritzhauser, & Egger-Dannet, 2016;Komlόsi et al, 2010), it is assumed that these values are affected by several factors.…”

Estimation of economic values for milk coagulation properties in Italian Holstein-Friesian cattle

“…However, it is worth noting that both studies attributed more emphasis to protein than fat, as suggested by the ratio of the marginal EV for fat and protein yields obtained in our study (1:4.1) and for fat and protein percentages calculated in Krupová et al (2016;1:3.1). Some other recent European research on different cattle populations reported ratios of the marginal EV for fat and protein contents that ranged from 1:2.2 to 1:3.7 (Wolfová et al, 2007;Komlósi et al, 2010;Hietala et al, 2014). The greater emphasis on protein content was also reported in dairy sheep breeds (Krupová et al, 2009).…”

“…In addition, the relative contribution of trait i to the breeding objective was calculated as the relative standardized economic weight (rEW) according to Komlósi et al (2010):…”