Genetic relationship of functional longevity with female fertility and milk production traits in Czech Holsteins

Zavadilová, Ludmila; Zink, V.

doi:10.17221/7090-cjas

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This is echoed in a recent study, where heifers with an AFC of 23 to 25 months of age outperform later calving compatriots in terms of fertility, milk production and survival for first 5 years of life (Cooke et al, 2013). The main reason discussed for removal of first lactation heifers from a herd is due to poor fertility performance (Evans et al, 2006;Brickell and Wathes, 2011), with a high AFC being connected with worse fertility performance in the first lactation (Zavadilová and Zink, 2013). The present study indicates that AFC does have an impact on the odds of being culled during the first lactation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The association between age at first calving and survival of first lactation heifers within dairy herds

Sherwin

Hudson

Henderson

et al. 2016

Animal

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The objective of this research was to evaluate the survival rate of primiparous heifers within a large sample of herds across the United Kingdom and specifically to assess the association between age at first calving (AFC) on their survival. Data from 437 herds were re-structured for analysis. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and a multilevel logistic regression model was used to explore factors associated with the risk of first lactation culling. Potential explanatory variables included AFC, herd size, culling rate within the whole herd, calving season, herd mean 305-day yield and herd mean calving interval. The mean within-herd culling rate for the primiparous heifers was 15.9%. The mean within-herd AFC was 29.6 months, with 35.9% of heifers having an AFC >30 months of age. Multivariable analysis revealed a negative association between survival rate of primiparous heifers and increasing AFC, and also associations with herd culling rate in older cows and calving season. This study highlights the importance of AFC for survival of primiparous heifers, as well as the need to address heifer wastage in herds with high culling rates.Keywords: age at first calving, heifers, longevity, culling ImplicationsThis study has identified that culling rate of primiparous heifers during first lactation varies greatly between farms and that the age at first calving (AFC) has a significant association with this. This study highlights the importance of maintaining an AFC of 23 to 24 months of age because prolonged AFC leads to a greater wastage of primiparous heifers with associated financial losses. IntroductionHeifer rearing is a key financial component of most dairy farms, with the rearing of replacements accounting for 15% to 20% of total dairy production costs (Heinrichs, 1993). The importance of replacement rate and the target number of replacements for each individual farm is dependent upon the culling rate of that particular farm. The annual culling rate within UK dairy herds has previously been reported to be between 22% and 25% (Esslemont and Kossaibati, 1997;Whitaker et al., 2000;Bell et al., 2010). Culls have traditionally been classified as voluntary or involuntary; however, another classification is 'forced culls' and 'economic culls'. Forced culls are those cows for which no possible productive future exists and economic culls are those cows for which a decision has been made that replacing them with another cow is a sensible economic option (Fetrow et al., 2006). As the majority of the culls on farm are economic (Orpin and Esslemont, 2010), this indicates that the incoming replacement animal needs to be a better financial option for the farm. Previous research highlights that the costs of rearing a replacement are not recovered until the second lactation (Archer et al., 2013), therefore it is imperative that replacement heifers survive to their second lactation.A variety of studies have recently investigated the survival rates of primiparous heifers. A study in Spain reported that 8.4% of 7768 Holstein heife...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The association between age at first calving and survival of first lactation heifers within dairy herds

Sherwin

Hudson

Henderson

et al. 2016

Animal

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“…Then, the genomic approach (Schopen et al 2009;Pribyl et al 2010Pribyl et al , 2012Pribyl et al , 2013Matejickova et al 2013;Szyda et al 2013) could be completed by the known major genes concerning milk performance and by the biometric approach (Sigl et al 2012;Meszaros et al 2013;Zavadilova and Stipkova 2013;Zavadilova and Zink 2013). When different effects depending on the breed are found, e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of DGAT1 polymorphisms on the estimated breeding values of Czech Simmental sires

Hanusová¹,

Mikova²,

Večerek³

et al. 2014

CZECH J ANIM SCI

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ABSTRACT:The aim was to evaluate the effect of polymorphisms in the promoter and in the coding region of the DGAT1 gene on the estimated breeding values (EBV) of Czech Simmental sires. The K232A polymorphism (n = 191) in the coding region was genotyped by PCR/RFLP, and the KU and SA polymorphisms in the promoter (n = 203) were identified in an automatic sequencer. In the K232A polymorphism, the frequency of the genotype AA (Alanine) was greater than that of the genotype KA, the homozygous genotype KK (Lysine) was not found. Similarly, the allele A predominated over the K allele (0.945 and 0.055). The EBV for milk performance have been assigned to the genotypes, and the associations quantified. For the AA genotype and A allele, positive association with EBV of milk yield and protein yield was found, and negative association with the breeding values of fat percentage and yield, and protein percentage, but only the value of fat content was found to be significant. The positive non-significant association of the A variant with the protein yield was caused by the high milk yield. In the KU polymorphism, the CC genotype was associated significantly with lower EBV for the fat percentage, both the C allele and the CC genotype were associated with higher EBV for milk yield, so both the fat and the protein yield were non-significantly increased. For the diplotypes K232A/KU, there was a significant association with the fat percentage. The AACC combination seemed to have some breeding potential. The K232A polymorphism explained maximum of 6.2% of EBV variability, the KU polymorphism of 4.4%, and the SA polymorphism of 4.2%. The diplotypes K232A/KU explained maximum of 7.4% of variability. The highest proportion of variability was explained for fat percentage. The results confirmed the important role of the BTA14 region in controlling milk performance.

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“…since 2014, the weight of these traits in the Polish selection IndexProduction and Functionality, is 60%) and the latter in improving the environmental conditions for dairy cattle (Oltenacu and Broom, 2010;Zavadilová and Zink, 2013;Polish Federation of Cattle Breeders and Dairy Farmers in Warsaw (PFCBDF), 2015). The increasingly common selection for the so-called functional longevity, understood as the true longevity corrected for milk yield, should result in more robust cows well adapted to diverse living conditions (Pritchard et al, 2013;Zavadilová and Zink, 2013). However, a direct way to extend the lifetime of high-yielding cows is to ensure them proper welfare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between strain, herd size, age at first calving, culling reason and lifetime performance characteristics in Holstein-Friesian cows

Adamczyk

Makulska

Jagusiak

et al. 2017

Animal

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Cow longevity and lifetime performance traits are good indicators of breeding effectiveness and animal welfare. They are also interrelated with the economics of dairy herd. Unfortunately, a high milk yield is often associated with deteriorated cow health and fertility and, consequently, with an increased culling rate. This situation, observed also in the Polish population of Holstein-Friesian cattle, inspired us to undertake a study on the associations between some factors and lifetime performance characteristics. The data set consisted of the records on 135 496 cows, including 131 526 of the Black and White strain (BW), and 3970 of the Red and White strain (RW) covered by performance recording and culled in 2012. It was found that cows of the BW strain and those from the largest herds (>100 cows) reached higher lifetime and mean daily energy-corrected milk (ECM) yields than cows of the RW strain and those from smaller herds culled at a similar age. Cows youngest at first calving (<2.0 years) were characterised by the highest lifetime ECM yield. It indicates that heifers can be bred even when they are younger than 15 to 16 months with no significant negative effect on their later performance. Infertility and reproduction problems (39.6%) and udder diseases (15.5%) constituted the most frequent reasons for cow culling. Cow longevity and lifetime productivity were considerably affected by the interactions between the studied factors.

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Genetic relationship of functional longevity with female fertility and milk production traits in Czech Holsteins

Cited by 21 publications

References 27 publications

The association between age at first calving and survival of first lactation heifers within dairy herds

The association between age at first calving and survival of first lactation heifers within dairy herds

Effect of DGAT1 polymorphisms on the estimated breeding values of Czech Simmental sires

Associations between strain, herd size, age at first calving, culling reason and lifetime performance characteristics in Holstein-Friesian cows

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