Sire and Cow Evaluation Brown Swiss, Canadienne, and Milking Shorthorn

Abstract

Best linear unbiased prediction procedures were applied to evaluate sires and cows of 3 breeds for 305 day milk and fat yields with a model that included age and season of calving, time periods, herds, and genetic sire groups as fixed effects and sire, cow and error as random effects. Due to small numbers of herds and small herd size in each breed, the computational strategy was to absorb sires and cows into all fixed effects rather than to absorb herds. Transmitting abilities of sires and breeding values of cows were calculated from solutions to the mixed model equations. Annual changes in breeding values for 1st lactations for milk were 17, 21 and 51 kg/yr for Brown Swiss, Canadienne and Milking Shorthorn. Annual changes in breeding values of all cows for milk were 10, 21 and 43 kg/yr.