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* Sustainable Livestock Systems Group, Scottish Agricultural College, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0PH U.K.
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT U.K.
Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9PS U.K.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Corresponding author: E. Wall; e-mail: e.wall{at}ed.sac.ac.uk.
Poor fertility has become a major reason for involuntary culling of dairy cows in the United Kingdom. Calving interval (CI) and body condition score (BCS) are recorded, heritable, genetically correlated with each other, and could be used to extend the scope of dairy indices to include fertility traits. The use of U.K. insemination information for the evaluation of fertility has not been examined previously. Fertility and correlated traits were examined using nationally recorded milk (MILK = daily milk yield at test nearest d 110), BSC, and fertility traits (CI and the insemination traits of nonreturn rate after 56 d, NR56; days to first service, DFS; and number of inseminations per conception, INS). Genetic parameters for the traits were estimated simultaneously with a multitrait sire maternal grandsire (MGS) model and a multitrait BLUP sire MGS model was used to predict sire predicted transmitting abilities for each trait. The relationship between the fertility traits and other predicted transmitting abilities calculated in the United Kingdom was then examined. Heritabilities for the fertility traits were CI = 0.033 ± 0.01, DFS = 0.037 ± 0.01, NR56 = 0.018 ± 0.001, and INS = 0.020 ± 0.001, with a genetic correlation of 0.671 ± 0.063 between CI and DFS and -0.939 ± 0.031 between NR56 and INS. There was an unfavorable genetic correlation between the fertility traits and milk yield and BCS. Predicted transmitting abilities produced are similar in size and range to those produced in other studies and genetic trends are as expected. Results to date are encouraging and suggest that the planned program of work will lead to a fertility index that, when used by breeding companies, will lead to improvements in national dairy cow fertility.
Key Words: calving interval • fertility • insemination information
Abbreviation key: CI = calving interval, NR56 = nonreturn rate after 56 d, DFS = days to first service, INS = number of inseminations per conception, MILK = daily milk yield at d 110, MILK 305 = kilograms of milk over a 305-d lactation, FAT = kilograms of fat over a 305-d lactation, PROT = kilograms of protein over a 305-d lactation, LS = lifespan PTA, £PLI = profitable lifetime index, £PIN = production index
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