Estimation of genetic parameters using health, fertility and production data from a management recording system for dairy cattle

The Dairy Information System (DAISY) was developed to record fertility and health information for use in research and to help farmers manage their farms. Data from 33 herds recording health and fertility over a 6-year period were used to study genetic relationships of several health, fertility and production traits. There were 10 569 records from 4642 cows of all parities. These were used to estimate genetic parameters for health: mastitis, lameness and somatic cell score (SCS), for fertility: calving interval, days to first service, conception to first service and for production: 305-day milk, butterfat and protein yields. Heritabilities for these traits were also estimated for the first three lactations. (Co)variances were estimated using linear, multitrait restricted maximum likelihood (REML) with an animal model. Mastitis and lameness were treated as all-or-none traits. The incidence of these diseases increased with lactation number, which may lead to variance component estimation problems, as the mean is linked to the variance in binomial distributions. Therefore, a method was used to fix the within-lactation variance to one in all lactations while maintaining the same mean. The heritability for SCS across lactations was 0·15. Heritabilities for other health and fertility traits were low and ranged between 0·013 and 0·047. All genetic correlations with the production traits were antagonistic implying that selection for yield may have led to a deterioration in health and fertility. The genetic correlation between SCS and mastitis was 0·65 indicating that indirect selection for improvements in mastitis may be achieved using somatic cell counts as a selection criterion. The potential use of linear type scores as predictors of the health traits was investigated by regressing health traits on sire predicted transmitting abilities for type. The results indicate that some type traits may be useful as future selection criteria

Contagem de células somáticas e produção de leite em vacas holandesas confinadas Somatic cells count and milk yield in confined holstein cows

A relação entre contagem de células somáticas do leite (CCS) e produção de leite é objeto de estudo de inúmeras pesquisas em diversos países, porém, no Brasil a literatura a esse respeito é escassa. Desse modo, o objetivo do presente trabalho é verificar se as perdas na produção de leite devidas ao aumento da CCS são proporcionais à produção, ou absolutas, independendo desta, e a partir de que valor de CCS elas começam a ser evidentes. Para o estudo foram utilizadas 13.725 observações, colhidas mensalmente de seis rebanhos, no período de janeiro de 2001 a junho de 2002. O modelo de análise, para curva de lactação, foi baseado na função gama incompleta, considerando os efeitos de ordem de lactação, rebanho e época do parto. A CCS foi incluída nesse modelo de duas formas: como fator multiplicativo (representando perdas relativas) e como fator aditivo (representando perdas absolutas). A escolha do melhor modelo foi baseada no critério de informação de Schwarz (BIC). Concluiu-se que as perdas são absolutas, evidentes a partir de 17.000 células/mL e, para cada aumento de uma unidade na escala do logaritmo natural a partir desse valor, estimam-se perdas de 238 e 868 mL/dia para primíparas e multíparas, respectivamente.<br>The relationship between milk somatic cells count (SCC) and milk yield has been the aim of countless researches in several countries; however, in Brazil, the literature related to this subject is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study is to verify if the losses in milk yield due to SCC increase are proportional to the yield, or absolute (independent of it) and starting from which SCC, the losses become evident. For this study, 13.725 observations were used, collected monthly from 6 different herds, from January/2001 up to June/2002. The analysis model, for lactation curve, was based upon the incomplete gama function, considering the effects of lactation order, herd and calving season. The SCC entered in that model in two ways: as multiplicative factor (representing relative losses) and as addictive factor (representing absolute losses). The best model was chosen based on the information criteria of Schwarz (BIC). It is concluded that the losses are absolute, becoming evident from 17.000 cells/mL, and they are 238 and 868 mL/day for each increase of one unit in the natural logarithm scale, starting from that SCC, respectively, for primiparous and multiparous