HERITABILITY ESTIMATES OF UDDER DISEASE AS 5IEASURED BY VARIOUS TESTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER AND TO MILK YIELD, AGE, AND MILKING TISIES

Authors

G. H. Schmidt, Cornell University
L. Dale Van Vleck, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

January 1965

Comments

Published in Journal of Dairy Science. Copyright © 1965 American Dairy Science Association. Used by permission.

Abstract

Paternal half-sib heritability estimates oi' milk yield, number of quarters infected with mastitis organisms, and number <>f quarters showing abnormal mill; were obtained from an analysis of milking and mastitis data of 2,865 Holstein cows. The within-herd heritability estimate for daily milk yield was 0.353 and that for the number of quarters infected with Streptococcus agalactiae 0.196. The heritability estimates for the number of quarters infected with organisms other than Streptococcus agalactiae, number of quarters infected, and number of quarters showing abnormal milk were all below 0.1.

Within-herd correlation coefficients were calculated among daily milk yield, milking data, age, and mastitis indicators. Age, stripping' time, and machine-on time were positively correlated with daily milk yield. Older cows had longer machine-stripping times and machine-on times than younger cows. Older cows also showed higher values fro' all indicators of' mastitis.