The genetic parameters for the survival of Holstein cows, analysed in nine consecutive time periods during the first three calving intervals, were estimated. The earlier the animals are culled, the more they are informationally underestimated. This undervaluing can be remedied by using a weighted analysis that balances the amount of information. If the method of estimating breeding values changes, the genetic parameters will also change. The Holstein cattle dataset from 2005 to 2017 used in this study included 1,813,636 survival records from 298,290 cows. The pedigree with three generations of ancestors included 660,476 individuals. Linear repeatability models estimated genetic parameters for overall and functional survivability. Due to weights, heritability increased from 0.013 to 0.057. Repeatability with weights was 0.505. The standard deviations of breeding values were 1.75 and 2.18 without weights and 6.04 and 6.20 with weights. Including weights in the calculation increased the additive variance proportion and the breeding values' reliabilities. We conclude that the main contribution of the weighted method we have presented is to compensate for the lack of records in culled individuals with a positive impact on the reliability of the breeding value.

Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics Institute of Animal Science 104 00 Prague Czech Republic

Plemdat Genetic Evaluation Department Czech Moravian Breeders' Corporation 252 09 Hradištko Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Punsmann T., Distl O. Length of productive life and longevity in dairy cows: Heritability of traits for longevity and their genetic correlations with milk performance and functional traits. Züchtungskunde. 2017;89:125–139.

Alvåsen K., Dohoo I., Roth A., Emanuelson U. Farm characteristics and management routines related to cow longevity: A survey among Swedish dairy farmers. Acta Vet. Scand. 2018;60:38. doi: 10.1186/s13028-018-0390-8. PubMed DOI PMC

Mirhabibi S., Kashan N., Gharahveysi S. Genetic evaluation of survival traits in the Holstein dairy cows of Iran. Egypt. J. Vet. Sci. 2018;49:71–74. doi: 10.21608/ejvs.2018.3070.1031. DOI

Krupová Z., Wolfová M., Krupa E., Přibyl J., Zavadilová L. Claw health and feed efficiency as new selection criteria in the Czech Holstein cattle. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2018;63:408–418. doi: 10.17221/44/2018-CJAS. DOI

Hu H., Mu T., Ma Y., Wang X., Ma Y. Analysis of Longevity Traits in Holstein Cattle: A Review. Front. Genet. 2021;12:695543. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.695543. PubMed DOI PMC

Bach A. Associations between several aspects of heifer development and dairy cow survivability to second lactation. J. Dairy Sci. 2011;94:1052–1057. doi: 10.3168/jds.2010-3633. PubMed DOI

Schuster J.C., Barkema H.W., De Vries A., Kelton D.F., Orsel K. Invited review: Academic and applied approach to evaluating longevity in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 2021;103:11008–11024. doi: 10.3168/jds.2020-19043. PubMed DOI

Khansefid M., Haile-Mariam M., Pryce J.E. Improving the accuracy of predictions for cow survival by multivariate evaluation model. Anim. Prod. Sci. 2021;61:1828–1836. doi: 10.1071/AN21128. DOI

Beaudeau F., Ducrocq V., Fourichon C., Seegers H. Effect of disease on length of productive life of French Holstein dairy cows assessed by survival analysis. J. Dairy Sci. 1995;78:103–117. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(95)76621-8. PubMed DOI

Berry D.P., Harris B.L., Winkelman A.M., Montgomerie W. Phenotypic associations between traits other than production and longevity in New Zealand dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 2005;88:2962–2974. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(05)72976-3. PubMed DOI

De Vries A., Marcondes M.I. Overview of factors affecting productive lifespan of dairy cows. Animal. 2020;14:155–164. doi: 10.1017/S1751731119003264. PubMed DOI

Van der Heide E.M., Kamphuis C., Veerkamp R.F., Athanasiadis I.N., Azzopardi G., van Pelt M.L., Ducro B.J. Improving predictive performance on survival in dairy cattle using an ensemble learning approach. Comput. Electron. Agric. 2020;177:105675. doi: 10.1016/j.compag.2020.105675. DOI

Van Pelt M.L., Meuwissen T.H.E., De Jong G., Veerkamp R.F. Genetic analysis of longevity in Dutch dairy cattle using random regression. J. Dairy Sci. 2015;98:4117–4130. doi: 10.3168/jds.2014-9090. PubMed DOI

Steri R., Moioli B., Catillo G., Galli A., Buttazzoni L. Genome-wide association study for longevity in the Holstein cattle population. Animal. 2019;13:1350–1357. doi: 10.1017/S1751731118003191. PubMed DOI

Siatka K., Sawa A., Krężel-Czopek S., Bogucki M. Longevity of Holstein-Friesian cows and some factors affecting their productive life-a review. Anim. Sci. Pap. Rep. 2020;38:107–116.

Adamczyk K., Jagusiak W., Węglarz A. Associations between the breeding values of Holstein Friesian bulls and longevity and culling reasons of their daughters. Animal. 2021;15:5. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2021.100204. PubMed DOI

Van Eetvelde M., Verdru K., de Jong G., van Pelt M.L., Meesters M., Opsomer G. Researching 100 t cows: An innovative approach to identify intrinsic cows factors associated with a high lifetime milk production. Prev. Vet. Med. 2021;193:105392. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105392. PubMed DOI

Dallago G.M., Wade K.M., Cue R.I., McClure J.T., Lacroix R., Pellerin D., Vasseur E. Keeping dairy cows for longer: A critical literature review on dairy cow longevity in high milk-producing countries. Animals. 2021;11:808. doi: 10.3390/ani11030808. PubMed DOI PMC

Afiani F.A., Joezy-Shekalgorabi S., Amin-Afshar M., Sadeghi A.A., Jensen J. Additive genetic and permanent environmental correlation between different parts of lactation in moderate and cold regions. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2021;66:112–121. doi: 10.17221/254/2020-CJAS. DOI

Krejčová H., Přibyl J., Přibylová J., Štípková M., Mielenz N. Genetic evaluation of daily gains of dual-purpose bulls using a random regression model. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2008;53:227–237. doi: 10.17221/360-CJAS. DOI

Pritchard T., Coffey M., Mrode R., Wall E. Understanding the genetics of survival in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 2013;96:3296–3309. doi: 10.3168/jds.2012-6219. PubMed DOI

Samoré A.B., Rizzi R., Rossoni A., Bagnato A. Genetic parameters for functional longevity, type traits, somatic cell scores, milk flow and production in the Italian Brown Swiss. Ital. J. Anim. Sci. 2010;9:e28. doi: 10.4081/ijas.2010.e28. DOI

Páchová E., Zavadilová L., Sölkner J. Genetic evaluation of the length of productive life in Holstein cattle in the Czech Republic. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2005;50:493–498. doi: 10.17221/4253-CJAS. DOI

Zavadilová L., Štípková M. Genetic correlations between longevity and conformation traits in the Czech Holstein population. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2012;57:125–136. doi: 10.17221/5566-CJAS. DOI

Clasen J.B., Norberg E., Madsen P., Pedersen J., Kargo M. Estimation of genetic parameters and heterosis for longevity in crossbred Danish dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 2017;100:6337–6342. doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-12627. PubMed DOI

Ducrocq V., Solkner J. The survival kit (v. 3.0): A Fortran package for the analysis of survival data; Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production; Armidale, Australia. 11–16 January 1998; Armidale, Australia: University of New England; 1998.

Holtsmark M., Heringstad B., Ødegård J. Predictive abilities of different statistical models for analysis of survival data in dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 2009;92:5730–5738. doi: 10.3168/jds.2009-2132. PubMed DOI

Jamrozik J., Fatehi J., Schaeffer L.R. Comparison of models for genetic evaluation of survival traits in dairy cattle: A simulation study. J. Anim. Breed. Genet. 2008;125:75–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0388.2007.00712.x. PubMed DOI

Kern E.L., Cobuci J.A., Costa C.N., McManus C.M., Campos G.S., Almeida T.P., Campos R.V. Genetic association between herd survival and linear type traits in Holstein cows under tropical conditions. Ital. J. Anim. Sci. 2014;13:665–672. doi: 10.4081/ijas.2014.3419. DOI

Heise J., Liu Z., Stock K.F., Rensing S., Reinhardt F., Simianer H. The genetic structure of longevity in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 2016;99:1253–1265. doi: 10.3168/jds.2015-10163. PubMed DOI

Zavadilová L., Němcová E., Štípková M. Effect of type traits on functional longevity of Czech Holstein cows estimated from a Cox proportional hazards model. J. Dairy Sci. 2011;94:4090–4099. doi: 10.3168/jds.2010-3684. PubMed DOI

Kyselová J., Tichý L., Jochová K. The role of molecular genetics in animal breeding: A minireview. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2021;66:107–111. doi: 10.17221/251/2020-CJAS. DOI

Török E., Komlósi I., Béri B., Füller I., Vágó B., Posta J. Principal component analysis of conformation traits in Hungarian Simmental cows. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2021;66:39–45. doi: 10.17221/155/2020-CJAS. DOI

Plemdat Odhady Plemenné Hodnoty Pro Dlouhověkost. (in Czech) 2020. [(accessed on 29 September 2022)]. Available online: https://www.cmsch.cz/plemdat/dokumentace/

Misztal I., Tsuruta S., Lourenco D., Masuda Y., Aguilar I., Legarra A., Vitezica Z. Manual for BLUPF90 Family Programs. University of Georgia. 2018. [(accessed on 8 December 2022)]. Available online: http://nce.ads.uga.edu/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation.

Sewalem A., Kistemaker G.J., Ducrocq V., Van Doormaal B.J. Genetic analysis of herd life in Canadian dairy cattle on a lactation basis using a Weibull proportional hazards model. J. Dairy Sci. 2005;88:368–375. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(05)72696-5. PubMed DOI

Sasaki O., Aihara M., Nishiura A., Takeda H., Satoh M. Genetic Analysis of the Cumulative Pseudo-Survival Rate During Lactation of Holstein Cattle in Japan by Using Random Regression Models. J. Dairy Sci. 2015;98:5781–5795. doi: 10.3168/jds.2014-9152. PubMed DOI