Genetic Value of Herd Life Adjusted for Milk Production

Cow herd life adjusted for lactational milk production was investigated as a genetic trait in the breeding objective. Under a simple model, the relative economic weight of milk to adjusted herd life on a per genetic standard deviation basis was equal to CVY/dCVL where CVY and CVL are the genetic coe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of dairy science 1992-05, Vol.75 (5), p.1349-1356
Main Authors: Allaire, F. R, Gibson, J. P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Breeding
Cattle - genetics
Cattle - physiology
Dairying - economics
Female
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Lactation - genetics
Male
Milk - secretion
Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cow herd life adjusted for lactational milk production was investigated as a genetic trait in the breeding objective. Under a simple model, the relative economic weight of milk to adjusted herd life on a per genetic standard deviation basis was equal to CVY/dCVL where CVY and CVL are the genetic coefficients of variation of milk production and adjusted herd life, respectively, and d is the depreciation per year per cow divided by the total fixed costs per year per cow. The relative economic value of milk to adjusted herd life at the prices and parameters for North America was about 3.2. An increase of 100-kg milk was equivalent to 2.2 mo of adjusted herd life. Three to 7% lower economic gain is expected when only improved milk production is sought compared with a breeding objective that included both production and adjusted herd life for relative value changed +/- 20%. A favorable economic gain to cost ratio probably exists for herd life used as a genetic trait to supplement milk in the breeding objective. Cow survival records are inexpensive, and herd life evaluations from such records may not extend the generation interval when such an evaluation is used in bull sire selection.
ISSN:0022-0302
1525-3198
DOI:10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(92)77886-2