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A Comparison of Scores and Measurements of the Udder Proportions

Department of Dairy Science, University of Illinois, Urbana

ABSTRACT

Actual measurements of the udder proportions, based on the amount of milk produced by the individual quarters, have been compared to the scores for symmetry assigned by an experienced judge of dairy cattle. Each of 56 cows was tested and scored at two evening milkings with about 5 wk. interval. The repeatability of the scores was only half, or less, of that of the corresponding indices based on the yield of the quarters. The correlation between the index IFT, stating the amount of milk from the two front quarters in per cent of the total yield, and the corresponding score was only 0.32. Earlier investigations show that the heritability of the index IFT is rather high (about 0.75). Selection for better balance between front and rear halves of the udder would, therefore, be expected to give good results when based on actual measurements of the milk yield, but would probably be ineffective when based on scores obtained by palpation and visual estimates.

¹ Present address: Institute for Animal Genetics, Royal Agricultural College, Uppsala, Sweden.