Advertisement
Research-Article| Volume 72, ISSUE 10, P2633-2643, October 1989

Models for Genetic Analysis of Dystocia and Calf Mortality

  • Author Footnotes
    1 Current address: Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel 50250.
    J.I. Weller
    Footnotes
    1 Current address: Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel 50250.
    Affiliations
    Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801
    Search for articles by this author
  • D. Gianola
    Affiliations
    Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801
    Search for articles by this author
  • Author Footnotes
    1 Current address: Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel 50250.
Open ArchiveDOI:https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(89)79404-2
Models for Genetic Analysis of Dystocia and Calf Mortality
Previous ArticleGenetic and Phenotypic Parameters of Longevity in Australian Dairy Cattle
Next ArticleGenetic Analysis of Fertility Traits in Israeli Dairy Cattle
      This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.

      Abstract

      Calvings of 106,750 Israeli Holstein heifers were analyzed for dystocia and calf mortality, which were scored dichotomously. Models fitted included herd-year-season, sex of calf, calving age, calving month, sire of cow, sire of calf, and groups of sire of cow and calf. Herd-year-season, sire of cow and of calf, and residuals were random with diagonal variance-covariance matrices. Traits were analyzed with and without a herd-year-season effect, and dystocia was analyzed separately for male and female calvings and with both sexes combined. Variance components were estimated by REML for linear models and by the counterpart of REML for threshold models. Heritability estimates were two to four times larger in threshold than in linear models, but correlations between corresponding sire evaluations were all greater than .9. Correlations between evaluations computed with and without herd-year-season effects were .9 for sire of calf evaluations for dystocia and greater than .97 for all other evaluations. Correlations between sire evaluations computed separately for male and female calvings were between .3 and .7. Thus, calving difficulty is expressed differently in male and female calvings. Genetic trends were unfavorable for dystocia but favorable for calf mortality. Phenotypic trends were curvilinear with maxima in 1982 and 1983 for calf mortality and dystocia.

      References

        • Bar-Anan R.
        • Soller M.
        • Bowman J.C.
        Genetic and environmental factors affecting the incidence of difficult calving and perinatal calf mortality in Israeli Friesian dairy herds.
        Anim. Prod. 1976; 22: 299
        • Berger P.J.
        • Freeman A.E.
        Prediction of sire merit for calving difficulty.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1978; 61: 1146
        • Dempster E.R.
        • Lemer I.M.
        Herhability of threshold characters (with Appendix by A. Robertson).
        Genetics. 1950; 35: 212
        • Djemali M.
        • Berger P.J.
        • Freeman A.E.
        Ordered categorical sire evaluations for dystocia in Holsteins.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1987; 70: 2374
        • Foulley J.L.
        • Im S.
        • Gianola D.
        • Hoschele I.
        Empirical Bayes estimation of parameters for n polygenic binary traits.
        Genet. Sel. Evol. 1987; 19: 197
        • Gianola D.
        A method of sire evaluation for dichotomies.
        J. Anim. Sci. 1980; 51: 1266
        • Gianola D.
        Theory and analysis of threshold characters.
        J. Anim. Sci. 1982; 54: 1079
        • Gianola D.
        • Foulley J.L.
        Sire evaluation for ordered categorical data with a threshold model.
        Genet. Sel. Evol. 1983; 15: 201
        • Gilmour A.R.
        • Anderson R.D.
        • Rae A.L.
        Variance components on an underlying scale for ordered multiple threshold categorical data using a generalized linear mixed model.
        Z. Tierzuchtg. Zuchtungsbiol. 1987; 104: 149
        • Harville D.A.
        • Mee R.W.
        A mixed-model procedure for analyzing ordered categorical data.
        Biometrics. 1984; 40: 393

      11. Hoschele, I. 1986. Estimation of breeding values and variance components with quasi-continuous data. Ph.D. Diss., Univ. Hohenheim.

        • Martinez M.L.
        • Freeman A.E.
        • Berger P.J.
        Genetic relationship between calf livability and calving difficulty of Holsteins.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1983; 66: 1494
        • Mcijcring A.
        Dystocia and stillbirth in cattle – a review of causes, relations and implications.
        Livest. Prod. Sci. 1984; 11: 143
        • Meijering A.
        Sire evaluation for calving traits by best linear unbiased prediction and nonlinear methodology.
        Z. Tierz. Zuchtungsbiol. 1985; 102: 95
        • Meijering A.
        • Gianola D.
        Linear vs. nonlinear methods of sire evaluation for categorical traits: a simulation study.
        Genet. Sel. Evol. 1985; 17: 115
        • Misztal I.
        • Gianola D.
        • Foulley I.L.
        Computing aspects of a nonlinear method of sire evaluation for categorical data.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1989; 72: 1557
        • Ron M.
        • Bar-Anan R.
        • Weller J.I.
        Sire and maternal grandsire effects on calving difficulty and calf mortality in Israeli Holsteins.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1986; 69: 243
        • Thompson J.R.
        • Freeman A.E.
        • Berger P.J.
        Age of dam and maternal effects for dystocia in Holsteins.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1981; 64: 1603
        • Thompson J.R.
        • Rege J.E.O.
        Influences of dam on calving difficulty and early mortality.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1984; 67: 847
        • Van Vleck L.D.
        • Edlin K.M.
        Multiple trait evaluation of bulls for calving ease.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1984; 67: 3025
        • Weller J.I.
        • Ezra E.
        • Bar-Anan R.
        Studies on the model of choice for genetic analysis of calving traits.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1986; 69 (Abstr.): 124
        • Weller J.I.
        • Misztal I.
        • Gianola D.
        Genetic analysis of dystocia and calf mortality in Israeli-Holsteins by threshold and linear models.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1988; 71: 2491
        • Weller J.I.
        • Norman H.D.
        • Wiggans G.R.
        Sire evaluation with parities as correlated traits and comparison with single-trait evaluations.
        J. Dairy Sci. 1984; 67: 2010

      Article info

      Publication history

      Accepted: April 6, 1989
      Received: June 22, 1988

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(89)79404-2

      Copyright

      © 1989 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc.

      User license

      Elsevier user license |
      How you can reuse Information Icon
      Elsevier user license

      Permitted

      For non-commercial purposes:

      • Read, print & download
      • Text & data mine
      • Translate the article

      Not Permitted

      • Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works
      • Redistribute or republish the final article
      • Sell or re-use for commercial purposes

      Elsevier's open access license policy

      ScienceDirect

      Access this article on ScienceDirect

      The content on this site is intended for healthcare professionals.


      We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. To update your cookie settings, please visit the Cookie Preference Center for this site.
      Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. except certain content provided by third parties.


      RELX