Breeding program - bull mother test

In close cooperation with NOG the CAU Kiel does the data recording as well as the evaluation of the data in their own breeding evaluation. This breeding evaluation system is very close to the VIT breeding evaluation and is the base for the calculation of the performance index of each heifer. NOG bull mother test with a new stud index After five years of bull mother tests and numerous performance surveys the selection of bull mothers was improved in cooperation with the Kiel university, Prof. Thaller and staff and the University Halle, Prof. Swalve. On recommendation of science the selection of bull mothers in Karkendamm was converted.

With more than 700 tested cows it is now possible to evaluate good breeding values for performance and cell count. Also good values for udder health and hoof and limb health can be

What is recorded?

As before the milk performance is an essential factor and base for the breeding evaluation in Karkendamm. With daily milk amount reading and weekly ingredient definition a highest degree of exact data is achieved.

Important features for functionality were collected during the last 5 years and used for the bull mothers:

• Udder disease
• Hoof and limb disease
• Metabolism
• Fertility
• Milking day losses

Since the start of the test cows are not only characterized by dairy type, body, fundament and udder but also get a linear description. Today each cow gets its own breeding value including all linear features. The breeding values of the bull mother test are generated on the basis of all tested cows according to latest breeding evaluations. This also includes pedigree information but only of animals that were tested in Karkendamm.

What is new?

In the future only the features protein amount and protein substance are used for the breeding evaluation milk performance because protein will have the biggest economic importance. Completely new is the feature functionality. Features here are udder health and hoof and limb health. It is very easy to evaluate breeding values for these characters. Next to features such as disease rates in udder and fundament features with a high relation are taken into the evaluation. It is known that single exterior features are in high correlation to udder health and hoof and limb health. Prof. Swalve and Prof. Thaller found out that also features of the linear description give information about the vulnerability of cows for diseases.

Information features with good relation to goal features
Goal = udder health
Mastitis
Cell count
Ligament
Udder depth
Goal = hoof and limb health
Hoof and limb diseases
Ankle
Rear leg placement

Mastitis is as before one of the main reasons for cow losses. Mastitis has a good correlation to cell count. But also the features ligament and udder depth offer important information. Hoof diseases are often seen in cows that have problems with their ankles and leg placement. That is why these features were also included. All these features show a good heredity, which makes the selection long lastingly successful, and good breeding progresses are awaited.

Breeding values for the exterior
In both functionality-breeding values (udder health, hoof and limb health) the exterior plays an important role. An important task was to get not only exact breeding values on tested bull mothers for the dairy complex (dairy type, body, fundament, udder) but also good breeding values for the linear features. Especially for features with a high relation to functionality. According to the evaluation of Prof. Swalve and Prof. Thaller especially the features ligament and udder depth are highly correlating with udder health. The same is valid for the features ankle and rear leg placement that have a high correlation to hoof and limb health. The composition of the total index exterior follows the breeding evaluation of VIT. A glance to the distribution of exterior breeding values of all tested NOG cows shows a wide variety. Also pedigree information is added but only for cows that finished the bull mother test in Karkendamm.

The new stud index

The new stud is a combination of the above mentioned breeding values and has the following emphasis:Stud index = 0.40 TLE (performance) + 0,25 TEU (udder) + 0.25 TFU (fundament) + 0,10 TEX (exterior)Performance: protein amount, protein substance (1:9)Udder: mastitis, cell count, ligament, udder depthFundament: hoof and limb diseasesExterior: ankle, rear leg placement Linear description: 17 features

Further more the minimum conditions for the phenotype performance feature as well as for the exterior have to be used. This means that only bull mother qualify that reach at least 84 scores in total. A comparison of the old and the new stud index shows that the right cows have already been selected for functionality features and exterior. We await a bigger breeding progress for selected cows especially in udder health and hoof and limb health.

The new stud index lets await a higher superiority of the selected cows in both functional features and next to the milk performance also in exterior. Because functional features play a larger role in the future and genetic is highly influenced not only on the sire but also on the dam side the new stud index is an important step into the right direction. The potential bull mothers of the NOG have appropriate breeding values for those features.

Special thanks to Prof. Thaller with his employees of the CAU Kiel that developed breeding values into a practical stud index on the basis of a very good data evaluation in Karkendamm.