Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:08:11.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trends in milk production, calving rate and survival of cows in 14 Irish dairy herds as a result of the introgression of Holstein-Friesian genes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

R. D. Evans ,
P. Dillon ,
F. Buckley ,
D. P. Berry ,
M. Wallace ,
V. Ducrocq  and
D. J. Garrick
R. D. Evans
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland Department of Agribusiness, Extension and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
P. Dillon*
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
F. Buckley
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
D. P. Berry
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
M. Wallace
Affiliation:
Department of Agribusiness, Extension and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
V. Ducrocq
Affiliation:
Station de Génétique Quantitative et Appliquée, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78532 Jouy-en-Josas, France
D. J. Garrick
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1171, USA
*
†Corresponding author: E-mail: pdillon@moorepark.teagasc.ie
Get access

Abstract

Trends in milk production, calving rates, and survival were monitored on a potential 5580 primiparous and multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows across 14 Irish seasonal spring-calving dairy farms between the years 1990 and 2001. Over this period calving rate to first service (CALV1) reduced by 0·96% per year (55 to 44%; P< 0·001), calving rate to first and second service (CALV12) reduced by 0·84% per year ( 77 to 70%; P< 0·001) and herd average parity number reduced by 0·10 lactation per year (4·3 to 3·5; P<0·001). The proportion of North American Holstein Friesian (NAHF) genes in the cows increased by 5·5% per year (8 to 63%; P<0·001), while pedigree index for milk yield (PIMILK) of the cows increased by 25 kg per year ( P<0·001). The predicted difference of the sires of the cows for calving interval and survival increased by 0·5 days (P<0·001) and reduced by 0·12% ( P<0·001) per year, respectively. A negative association was found between increased phenotypic milk yield, NAHF and PIMILK and reduced calving rates as assessed by CALV1 and CALV12. Increased proportion of NAHF genes exhibited a negative effect on survival ( P<0·001) whereas increased levels of heterosis had a positive impact on survival ( P<0·001). The results of the present study indicate that in seasonal calving herds in Ireland a need for direct selection on traits related to fertility and survival is required to arrest and reverse the declining trends in calving rates and survival.

Keywords

calvingfertilitygenetic changeHolstein-Friesiansurvival
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 82 , Issue 4 , August 2006 , pp. 423 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berry, D. P., Harris, B. L., Winkelman, A. M. and Montgomerie, W. (2005a) Phenotypic associations between traits other than production and longevity in New Zealand dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 88: 2962–2974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berry, D.P., Shalloo, L., Cromie, A.R., Olori, V. E. and Amer, P. 2005b. Economic breeding index for dairy cattle in Ireland. Technical report to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation.Google Scholar
Berry, D.P., Shalloo, L., Olori, V. E. and Dillon, P. 2004. Revision of economic values for traits within the economic breeding index. Technical bulletin no. 8. Irish Cattle Breeding Federation.Google Scholar
Buckley, F., Dillon, P., Rath, M. and Veerkamp, R. F. (2000) The relationship between genetic merit for yield and liveweight, condition score, and energy balance of spring calving Holstein-Friesian dairy cows on grass based systems of milk production. Journal of Dairy Science 83: 1878–1886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, W. R. (1998) Review: effect of protein nutrition on ovarian and uterine physiology in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 81: 2533–2539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, Y. and Yang, S. (2003) Estimating disaggregate model using aggregate data via augmentation of individual choice. Stern School of Business, New York.Google Scholar
Cox, D. R. (1972) Regression models and life-tables. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series B) 34: 187.Google Scholar
Crosse, S. (1991) Development and implementation of a computerised management information system (DairyMIS II) for Irish dairy farmers. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 6: 157–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, J. P., Harrington, D. and Lacey, M. (1967) A survey of reproductive efficiency in cattle. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 6: 237–246.Google Scholar
Cunningham, E. P., O'Byrne, T. M. and Murphy, N. (1978) Survey on A.I: results 1978: final report. Dublin Trinity College, Applied Research and Consultancy Group, Dublin.Google Scholar
Darwash, A. O., Lamming, G. E. and Woolliams, J. A. (1997) Estimation of genetic variation in the interval from calving to postpartum ovulation of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 80: 1227–1234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dillon, P., Crosse, S., Stakelum, G. and Flynn, F. (1995) The effect of calving date and stocking rate on the performance of spring-calving dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 50: 286–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ducrocq, V. and Solkner, J. (1998a) Implementation of a routine breeding value evaluation for longevity of dairy cows using survival analysis techniques. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock Production, Armidale pp. 359–362.Google Scholar
Ducrocq, V. and Solkner, J. (1998b) The Survival Kit - V3.0, a package for large analyses of survival data. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock Production, Armidale vol. 27, pp. 447–448.Google Scholar
Emanuelson, U., Danell, B. and Philipsson, J. (1988) Genetic parameters for clinical mastitis, somatic cell counts, and milk production estimated by multiple-trait restricted maximum likelihood. Journal of Dairy Science 71: 467–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, R. D., Buckley, F., Dillon, P. and Veerkamp, R. F. (2002) Genetic parameters for production and reproduction of spring-calving upgraded Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in Ireland. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research 41: 43–54.Google Scholar
Fatehi, J. and Schaeffer, L. R. 2003. Data management for the fertility project . Report to the Technical Committee of the Canadian Genetic Evaluation Board.Google Scholar
Goddard, M. E. (1992) Optimal effective population size for the global population of black and white dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 75: 2902–2911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosshans, T., Xu, Z. Z., Burton, L. J., Johnson, D. L. and Macmillan, K. L. (1997) Performance and genetic parameters for fertility of seasonal dairy cows in New Zealand. Livestock Production Science 51: 41–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutierrez, C.G., Gong, J.G., Bramley, T. A. and Webb, R. 2006. Selection on predicted breeding value for milk production delays ovulation independently of changes in follicular development, milk production and body weight. Animal Reproduction Science In press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, B.L. and Kolver, E. S. (2001) Review of Holsteinization on intensive pastoral dairy farming in New Zealand. Journal of Dairy Science 84: E56–E61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, B.L., Winkelman, A. W. and Burton, L. J. (2000) Comparisons of fertility measures in strains of Holstein-Friesian cows, Jersey cows and their crosses. Proceedings of the Massey Dairy Farmer's Conference. pp. 71–78.Google Scholar
Hoekstra, J., Van der Lugt, A. W., Van der Werf, J. H. J. and Ouweltjes, W. (1994) Genetic and phenotypic parameters for milk production and fertility traits in upgraded dairy cattle. Livestock Production Science 40: 225–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horan, B., Mee, J. F., Rath, M.O', Connor, P. and Dillon, P. (2004) The effect of Holstein-Friesian cow and feed system on reproductive performance in seasonal-calving milk production systems. Animal Science 79: 453–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (1999) Irish cattle breeding statistics (Cromie, A.), ICBF Society, Ltd, Co. Cork.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J., Dillon, P., Faverdin, P., Delaby, L., Buckley, F. and Rath, M. (2002) The effect of cow genetic merit for milk production on response to level of concentrate supplementation in a grass based system. Animal Science 75: 433–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J., Dillon, P., O'Sullivan, K., Buckley, F. and Rath, M. (2003) The effect of genetic merit and concentrate feeding level on reproductive performance of Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in a grass based milk production system. Animal Science 76: 297–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennickell, A.B. 1991. Imputation of the 1989 survey of consumer finances. Annual meetings of the American Satistical Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 18–21August.Google Scholar
Lindhe, B. and Philipsson, J. (1998) Genetic correlations between production with disease resistance and fertility in dairy cattle and consequences for total merit selection. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica, Section A 48: 216–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, R.C., Milliken, G. A., Stroup, W.W. and Wolfinger, R.D. (1996) SAS system for mixed models. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Lucy, M. C. (2001) Reproductive loss in high-producing dairy cattle: where will it end? Journal of Dairy Science 84: 1277–1293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mark, T., Fikse, W. F., Jorjani, H. and Philippson, J. (2002) Monitoring changes in the structure of global dairy cattle populations. In Proceedings of the seventh world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Montpellier, 19–23 August, vol. 33, pp. 505–508.Google Scholar
Miglior, F., Muir, B. L. and Van Doormaal, B. J. (2005) Selection indices in Holstein cattle of various countries. Journal of Dairy Science 88: 1255–1263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Farrell, K.J. 1994. Measurement of fertility in seasonally-calving dairy herds . R and H Hall technical bulletin issue no. 2. R. and H. Hall, Dublin.Google Scholar
O'Farrell, K. J. and Crilly, J. (1996) First service calving rates in Irish dairy herds: trends from 1991–1996. In Fertility in the high producing dairy cow (ed. Diskin, M.G.), vol.2, pp.353–358. British Society of Animal Science occasional publication no. 26.Google Scholar
Olori, V.E.Meuwissen, T.H. E. and Veerkamp, R. F. (2002) Calving interval and survival breeding values as measure of cow fertility in a pasture-based production system with seasonal calving. Journal of Dairy Science 85: 689–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philipsson, J. and Lindhe, B. (2003) Experiences of including reproduction and health traits in Scandinavian dairy cattle breeding programmes. Livestock Production Science 83: 99–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pryce, J.E., Coffey, M. P. and Simm, G. (2001) The relationship between body condition score and reproductive performance. Journal of Dairy Science 84: 1508–1515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pryce, J. E., Esselmont, R.J., Thompson, R., Veerkamp, R.F., Kossaibati, M. A. and Simm, G. (1998) Estimation of genetic parameters using health, fertility and production data from a management recording system for dairy cattle. Animal Science 3: 577–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pryce, J. E., Royal, M. D., Garnsworthy, P. C. and Mao, I. L. (2004) Fertility in the high-producing dairy cow. Livestock Production Science 86: 125–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pryce, J. E. and Veerkamp, R. F. (2001) The incorporation of fertility indices in genetic improvement programmes. In Fertility in the high producing dairy cow(ed.Diskin, M.G.) British Society of Animal Science occasional publication no. 26 , vol. 1, pp. 237–249.Google Scholar
Roche, J. F., Sherington, J., Mitchell, J. P. and Cunningham, E. P. (1978) Factors affecting calving rate to AI in cows. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 17: 149– 157.Google Scholar
Royal Dutch Cattle Syndicate. 2000. NRS jaarstatistieken , 2000. http://www.nrs.nl.Google Scholar
Royal, M.D., Darwash, A.O., Flint, A.P.F., Webb, R., Woolliams, J.A. and Lamming, G. E. (2000) Declining fertility in dairy cattle: changes in traditional and endocrine parameters of fertility. Animal Science 70: 487–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Royal, M.D., Flint, A.P.F.Woolliams, J. A. (2002) Genetic and phenotypic relationships among endocrine and traditional fertility traits and production traits in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 85: 958–967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shane, T., Jensen, X., Shirley, C., Zhan, Q. and Liu, J. (2004) Computational discovery of gene regulatory binding motifs: a Bayesian perspective. Statistical Science 199: 188–204.Google Scholar
Simm, G. (1998) Genetic improvement of cattle and sheep. Farming Press Ipswich.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute (2004) User's guide: statistics. SAS Institute, Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Tanner, M.A. and Wong, W.H. (1987) The calculation of posterior distributions by data augmentation. Journal of the American Statistical Association 82: 528–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veerkamp, R.F., Dillon, P., Kelly, E., Cromie, A. R. and Groen, A. F. (2002) Dairy cattle breeding objectives combining yield, survival and calving interval for pasture-based systems in Ireland under different milk quota scenarios. Livestock Production Science 76: 137–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall, E., Brotherstone, S., Kearney, J. F., Wooliams, J. A. and Coffey, M. P. (2005) Impact of nonadditive genetic effects in the estimation of breeding values for fertility and correlated traits. Journal of Dairy Science 88: 376–385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolfinger, R. and O'Connell, M. (1993) Generalized linear mixed models: a pseudo likelihood approach. Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation 48: 233–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar