Lameness evaluations for the UK dairy industry
Keywords:
Lameness, dairy, genetic evaluationsAbstract
Lameness has been recorded by Milk Recording Organisations (MRO) in the UK for a number of years, either as a feet problem event or lameness event. A pilot study based on data from one UK MRO was carried out to estimate genetic parameters. The data set consisted of 425 000 records from 46 000 Holstein cows, of which 21 000 records were flagged as having a lameness event. From this data a heritability of 0.04 for lameness was estimated using an animal repeatability model, treating lameness as a binary trait. Using the genetic parameters estimated from this restricted data set, preliminary Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for 55 000 bulls were produced ranging from -0.64 to 0.55 from a data set consisting of 946 000 animals contributing 8 700 000 records, of which 322 000 records recorded a lameness event.
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