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An Investigation of the Inheritance of Female Reproductive Performance and Longevity, and their Interrelationships within a Holstein-Friesian Herd^{1, 2,}

New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Sussex

ABSTRACT

Efficient reproductive performance and long life are essential qualities in the dairy cow and contribute to the sound economics of dairying. The object of this investigation has been to determine within a single herd heritability estimates of breeding efficiency, in terms of calving interval, and longevity, in terms of number of parturitions, and to measure any existing interrelationships of these characteristics.

A number of heritability estimates have been made from diverse dairy-cow populations on various phases of reproductive performance. Among intra-herd half-sibs in New York artificially bred herds, Dunbar and Henderson (2) estimated heritability of nonreturns to first service to be 0.004; of calving interval to be 0.0. In a study of the Beltsville herd, Pou et al. (7) obtained heritability estimates of 0.05 when based on regularity of estrus, of 0.07 when based on number of services per conception, and of 0.07 when based on interval from first service to conception.

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, Department of Dairy Industry, New Brunswick.

² This investigation was supported in part by funds provided through collaboration with the Northeastern Cooperative Research Project NE-1.