Selection Practiced Among Dairy Cows. III. Type Appraisal and Lactation Traits

Abstract

Phenotypic selection among Holstein cows on the deviation of milk yield from the herdmate average and type appraisal traits was investigated. The largest selection differentials in standard deviation units for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, or later lactations were breeding trouble, incidence of mastitis depth of body and udder attachments, respectively. An average index was constructed such that the efficiency of selection practiced was maximized for the type appraisal traits and yield deviations, simultaneously. The yield deviations had the largeardized selection differentials for the 1st lactation among 12 traits. Efficiencies of selection described by the index were larger than the efficiency of milk yield alone by .08, .22, .48, .28 and .39 for the 1st through the 5th or later lactations, respectively. The relative weights, independent of the variation of the traits, ranked the milk yield deviations 1st, 2nd, 9th, and 6th, for the same series of lactation groups, respectively. The intralactation index indicated that milk yield had a weighting coefficient about twice as large as the 2nd and 3rd ranked traits, depth of body and dairy character.