Genetic associations between behavior traits recorded by automatic milking systems and temperament of Swedish Holsteins

Abstract Text: An increasing number of farms with automatic milking systems (AMS) has resulted in large amounts of data available and new requirements of cows in these systems. Possibilities of creating new traits, based on AMS data, need examination. Records from 1674 first-lactation Swedish Holstein cows from 17 AMS herds were used to estimate heritabilities for 2 different teat cup attachment failure (AtF) traits and milking interval (MI), and their genetic correlations with temperament scores. Heritability estimates were 0.06 for number of AtF per milking, 0.31 for proportion AtF, 0.17 for MI, and 0.14 for temperament. Genetic correlations with temperament were moderate for the two AtF traits, -0.38 and -0.50, indicating that cows deemed “calm” have fewer AtF. The genetic correlation between MI and temperament was not significant. Results suggest that data from AMS could provide an objective method to measure temperament or behavior traits.

Keywords:

Temperament

Heritability

Automatic milking systems