ESTIMATION OF GENETIC

PARAMETERS FOR
LONGEVITY AND
SOME PRODUCTION
TRAITS IN HOLSTEIN
DAIRY CATTLE
LEMUEL D. ANTIPORDA
Annually a number of female cows in dairy cattle
farms are culled and replaced by heifers. In
constant conditions of herd size, replacement rates
are reduced and higher profitability of heifers is
obtained by increasing longevity of female cows
which would lead to profitability of the dairy cattle
enterprise (Berry et al. 2005). On the other hand,
since milk production is higher in older animals,
So, longevity, or lifespan of dairy cattle, is an
economically important trait for dairy farmers
According to Ducrocq (1992) two types of
longevity: real and functional longevity.
The real longevity is strongly dependent on the milk
yield.
functional longevity is the ability of the cow to avoid
culling for other reasons than low performance.
Culling can be voluntary or involuntary. In the voluntary
culling scenario of dairy cows, the farmer has complete
freedom to choose or cull the cows that would lead to
growth of farmer profit (Mohammadi & Sedighi, 2009).
There is a very narrow freedom in the involuntary
culling scenario for breeders; however, most of the
time, it is necessary to cull animals from the herd
(e.g. due to infectious diseases) which could
almost wipe off a breeder’s freedom of choice.
Some studies have shown that the revenue of dairy
farms may be increased by reducing involuntary
culling (
About 90% of lifetime variation of cows is due to
management, environmental factors and diseases.
Thus, changes in the environment, housing and
management facilities could cause most of the
involuntary culling (Shahmoradi et al. 2008).

Statisticsof culling in many dairy herds show that after

low milk production, the main reasons for culling dairy
cows are due to infertility and mastitis problems (
through evaluation of the dairy cow culling rates and
their causes in a number of dairy farms in several
provinces in Iran came up with three main reasons of
culling dairy cows in Iran:
reproductive disorders,
nutritional-metabolic abnormalities
infectious diseases
Objective
investigate the reasons of culling, compare the
genetic capacity of cattle payoff (based on their
genetic value) in Iranian Holstein dairy cattle in
Isfahan province and for the first time estimate
mean of breeding values of economic traits
within culling groups in Iranian Holstein dairy
cattle.
Materials and methods
1982 to 2013 from Foka farm, one of the largest dairy farms
in the Middle East, located in the Isfahan province of Iran.
Pedigree(available for 67,210 cows.) The structure of
pedigree used is presented in table 1
Due to its excellent management system,
different types of records are measured monthly.
For example,
Grouping causes of culling of cows in different
biologically classified categories is a routine Foka
farm practice. To the best of our knowledge, these
types of data are rarely collected in other dairy
farms nationally or internationally. Storing,
revising and editing the data were done with the
use of the SQL database.
The database
included
information of
pedigree,
insemination
records, production
records,
reproduction
records, culling
records and
veterinary, and
management.
9 cat-ident
DATA GATHERED
Data editing was done to
milk yield (MY) and fat
include
yield (FY). age of the first calving (20–36
 standard )305-d and twice
months),
daily milking basis
open days (20–200 days),
(Low observation (6 only
Milk production (1000–16,000
5) (93.55% of record used
in the analysis kg) and
calving interval (300–600 days)
1 & 2 parity
st nd
in the analysis
(Farhangfar & Younesi 2007;
 Longevity traits were herd life (HL) and length of productive life (LPL).
Herd life was defined as the difference in days between the culling date and
the date at birth. Length of productive life was considered as total number of
days from first calving to culling date. Descriptive statistics of all traits are
summarized in Table 3.
Statistical analysis
Firstly,environmental effects were examined using
generalized
linear model (GLM) procedure in SAS (version 8)
software.
effect of year-season of calving was considered as fixed
effect
age at first calving as covariate
Results and discussion
 The results showed that 27.11% of cows were under farmers’ control and
culled voluntarily.
 reason for
 Reason of voluntary culling =(low milk production). And the risk of culling
of the cows with milk production less than 1.5 standard deviations from the
mean was about 4 times greater than the class of high-producing cows.
 72.89% of cows were culled involuntarily; this has positive effects on the
profitability; its increase will directly have a negative effect on net farm
revenue.
 Among the involuntary groups, the most frequent culling percent is related
to infectious diseases (23.46%) and reproductive problems (21.27%) groups.
the culled proportion of animals due to mastitis (udder) system
problems (9.05%), metabolic and digestive problems (7.82%) as well
as feet and leg problems (6.36%) was considerable. Among the culling
groups, the minimum percent (0.68%) is due to congenital defects.
it is expected that the Holstein breed will be sensitive to some native
pathogens of Iran.
reported that infertility and reproductive problems are major factors in
culling Holstein cattle in other regions of Iran. Mastitis and problems
with the udder are the greatest reasons for culling and this study
confirms that fact as well. Some researchers have reported that udder
health problems such as mastitis are strongly associated with longevity
and are the main reason for culling dairy cattle
It is considered as one of the driest and hottest
areas of Pakistan with an extensively length
summer season extending from May till October.
The early part (hot dry summer) extends from
May to July with maximum temperature
exceeding 45°C.
In the later part (hot humid summer) which
extends from August to October, (32°C tem,
30% or more rh).
the area is least influenced by rains and remains water
scarce and drought stricken. November, December and
January are the coldest months with the temperature
ranging between 17°C and 20°C (Farooq et al. 2013c).
The study was conducted over a year spanning from
November 2012 to October 2013
For defining the seasons of the present study in the
study area, climatic data were collected on a daily
basis from the Meteorological Observatory located in
Bahawalpur at latitude 29°20′ and longitude 71°47′
which comes under the administrative control of the
Regional Meteorological Centre, Lahore, Pakistan.
(ambient temperature, relative humidity
and rainfall)
four seasons of three months’ duration each were defined as:
cool dry winter (November, December, January)
temperate spring (February, March, April)
hot dry summer (May, June, July) and
hot humid summer (August, September,
October)
according to the average monthly climatic data.
Experimental bulls and sample collection

The study included 16 clinically healthy adult

Cholistani service bulls ranging between 6 and 10
years of age and having a mean body weight of
527.55 ± 4.5 kg
They were housed individually in 10 × 12 m
separate pens with a 4 × 4 m shelter at the centre.
These bulls had clinically normal reproductive
tract and were donating semen of acceptable
quality for artificial insemination.
Their feeding regimen included good-quality
seasonal fodder at the rate of 10% of their body
weight, with 3 kg of concentrate (Anmol wanda®)

Livestock &
Dairy
Development
Department,
Water was provided ad libitum. Vaccination against
Haemorrhagic Septicaemia and Foot and Mouth Disease
was carried out as per schedule. Preventive measures
against worm infestation were undertaken twice in a
year or whenever felt necessary (Farooq et al. 2013).

For the purpose of sampling, animals were

restrained in the cattle crush by trained
personnel and fortnightly blood collection was
carried out aseptically from the coccygeal
vein, a day before weekly semen collection
A total of 384 blood samples, with 24 samples per animal
were collected (6 samples/animal. season). The same
technique, timing and personnel for blood collection
(04:00 pm) were implemented in order to minimize the
stress to the animal.
Blood was stored in two aliquots:
clotted for harvesting of serum and
un-clotted for haematological analysis.
Serum samples were stored at −24°C unti
analyzed.
Haematological studies

An automated Hematology Analyser (Sysmex K21,

Kobe, Japan) was used for determination of
various haematological indices such as:
haemoglobin concentration,
PCV,
Total Erythrocyte
Count (TEC) and
Total Leukocyte Count (TLC).
Blood smears stained with Wright’s stain were
simultaneously prepared for Differential
Leukocytic Count (DLC).
The Mean Corpuscular
Volume (MCV)
Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) and
Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin
Concentration (MCHC)
were calculated using the formula of Jain (1998).
The hematology analyzer was originally meant for human
application. Hence, before analysis of study samples, it
was validated against blood samples from 100 dogs and
100 cows which were analyzed through the analyzer as
well as with manual reference methods
(cynmethemoglobin photometry, haematocrit analysis
and haemocytometry) (Wassmuth et al. 2011).

To determine analytical accuracy, agreement was

determined by comparing results of the evaluated
instrument with those of manual methods and reference
intervals.
Serum biochemical analysis
Regarding the biochemical analysis of serum, sodium
(Na+), potassium (K+), glucose and cholesterol were
determined through Metrolab 1600 DR Clinical
Analyzer using commercial kits as given below:
Na+: Greiner Diagnostic Kits (GA 200; CAT 171141),
Greiner Diagnostic Group, Germany
K+: Greiner Diagnostic Kits (GA 200; CAT 161141),
Greiner Diagnostic Group, Germany
Glucose: Glucose (CAT CS605), Crescent Diagnostics,
Saudi Arabia
Cholesterol: Cholesterol liquicolor
Statistical analysis

Statistical analysis was conducted through Statistical

Package for Social Science (SPSS for Windows version 12,
SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Mean values (±SEM) were
calculated for haematochemical attributes. Influence of
season on various attributes was deducted through one-
way ANOVA and the difference between mean values was
compared through Duncan’s multiple range test.
Results and discussion

The data regarding climatic conditions of

Cholistan desert, Pakistan, during the study
period. The variations are typical of dry arid,
tropic desert with the highest (42.8°C) and
lowest mean temperatures (13.2°C) recorded
for hot dry summer and cool dry winter,
respectively.
Results and discussion

Highest mean humidity (63%) was recorded

for hot humid summer being lowest in hot
dry summer (37%).
Results and discussion

Highest
mean rainfall (72 mm) was recorded for hot humid
summer whereas no rain was noticed in temperate spring.