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Genetic Parameters for Fertility of Dairy Bulls

Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1

ABSTRACT

Genetic parameters for male fertility and fertility ratings of AI bulls were obtained by analyzing 298,013 service records of cows with successive calving records. Cows were mated to 746 service bulls, which were progeny of 126 sires. The model for variance component estimation accounted for fixed effects of herd-year-seasons, sire of the service bull, age of mates, and random effects of service bull and residual error. Estimates of variances of service bulls and residual error components for bull fertility indicated almost 10% of the phenotypic variation for fertility is among AI bulls. Best linear unbiased prediction of fertility ratings of individual bulls with inclusion of sire and maternal grandsire relationships on these data permitted the evaluation of 886 AI bulls for bull fertility. Heritability for bull fertility computed as twice the regression of son on sire was .158. Differences in fertility ratings of AI bulls ranged from –.29 to .19. Prediction of fertility of young AI bulls and more accurate rating of proven bulls might be useful to the industry.

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