Are farmer assessed temperament, milking speed, and leakage genetically the same traits in automatic milking systems and traditional milking systems?
Open Access
- 1 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Dairy Science Association in Journal of Dairy Science
- Vol. 103 (4), 3325-3333
- https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2019-17503
Abstract
The aim was to investigate whether subjectively scored milking speed, temperament, and leakage are genetically the same trait when measured in different milking systems. Data were provided by the Norwegian Dairy Herd Recording System and included a total of 260,731 first-parity Norwegian Red cows calving between January 2009 and February 2019 and milked either in a traditional milking system (milking parlor or pipeline) or by an automatic milking system (AMS). Genetic parameters were estimated and lower heritabilities and less genetic variation were found for the 3 traits when measured in AMS herds. The heritability of temperament, leakage, and milking speed were 0.05, 0.04, and 0.22, respectively, with data from AMS herds; and 0.09, 0.14, and 0.27, respectively, with data front cows milked in traditional milking systems. The genetic correlations between temperament and leakage (-0.19), between milking speed and leakage (-0.88), and between milking speed and temperament (0.30) in AMS were slightly stronger than between the corresponding traits assessed in other milking systems (-0.15, -0.82, and 0.16, respectively). The genetic correlations between traits across milking systems were strong: 0.98, 0.96, and 0.86 for milking speed, leakage, and temperament, respectively. Strong correlations indicate that the traits were almost genetically similar despite being scored in different milking systems. The rank correlations among estimated sire breeding values were strong: 0.98 and 0.99 for milking speed and leakage, with little or no reranking of bull performance across milking systems. Temperament had the lowest genetic correlation (0.86) and rank correlation (0.91) across milking systems. These data suggest that AMS farmers evaluate temperament slightly differently from farmers using other milking systems or that different aspects of temperament are important for farmers with AMS.Keywords
Funding Information
- Agricultural Marketing Service (4206000072)
- Norges Miljø- og Biovitenskapelige Universitet
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Genetic associations of teat cup attachment failures, incomplete milkings, and handling time in automatic milking systems with milkability, temperament, and udder conformationActa Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A — Animal Science, 2016
- Genetic evaluation of in-line recorded milkability from milking parlors and automatic milking systemsJournal of Dairy Science, 2014
- Feasibility of using automatic milking system data from commercial herds for genetic analysis of milkabilityJournal of Dairy Science, 2013
- Short communication: Genetic parameters of milking temperament and milking speed in Canadian HolsteinsJournal of Dairy Science, 2011
- Short Communication: Genotype by Housing Interaction for Conformation and Workability Traits in Danish HolsteinsJournal of Dairy Science, 2008
- Short Communication: Genetic Evaluation of Milking Speed for Brown Swiss Dairy Cattle in the United StatesJournal of Dairy Science, 2007
- Genotype × Environment Interaction for Yield and Somatic Cell Score with Automatic and Conventional Milking SystemsJournal of Dairy Science, 2004
- Milk Leakage—An Increased Risk in Automatic Milking SystemsJournal of Dairy Science, 2003
- Genetic parameters for traits other than production in purebred and crossbred New Zealand dairy cattleLivestock Production Science, 1996
- Genetic Parameters for Milk Yield, Survival, Workability, and Type Traits for Australian Dairy CattleJournal of Dairy Science, 1995