Genetic Parameters for Days Open and Pregnancy Rates in US Holsteins Using Different Editing Criteria

Abstract

The influence of various editing criteria for days open (DO) records on genetic parameter estimates of DO and pregnancy rates (PR) in US Holsteins was investigated. Data included first parity 305-d milk yield and DO records from 8 states: Georgia (GA), Florida (FL), North Carolina (NC), Texas (TX), Arizona (AZ), California (CA), New York (NY), and Wisconsin (WI). The pregnancy rate was computed as 1/[(DO−VWP)/HI + 1)], where VWP was the approximate voluntary waiting period and HI was the heat interval set as 21 d. The upper limit for PR was set to 1.0. A bivariate animal model for DO (or PR) and 305-d milk yield was fit separately for each state. The model included fixed effects of herd-year, month of calving, and age of cow, as well as random animal and residual effects. In separate analyses, maximum DO records were limited to 150, 200, 250, 300, and 365 d. Analyses for PR used values of 50, 80, and 120 d for the VWP. Genetic and residual variances for DO were strongly dependent on the upper limit; both variances were 8 times larger as the upper bound increased from 150 to 365 d. Estimates of heritability for DO varied between 0.03 and 0.06. There was a 30% increase in the heritability estimate as the upper limit increased from 150 to 250 d for FL and NC, and small or no increases for the other states. The increase of the upper limit from 250 to 365 d resulted in little change. The genetic correlation between milk and DO was the highest for FL (0.6) and the lowest for GA (0.12 to 0.23). For PR with VWP = 50, the heritability was higher than the corresponding estimate for DO in GA, equal to that in AZ, and lower in the remaining states. Heritabilities of PR also varied by the length of VWP; highest heritabilities were obtained at VWP = 50 d for GA and AZ; at VWP = 80 d for NY and WI; at VWP = 120 d for FL, NC, and CA. Increase of genetic variation for records of DO<250 d was small. Days open and PR are strongly influenced by differences in management protocols among states.