Genetic Evaluations of Milkability in Norwegian Red Based on Data from Automatic Milking Systems

Abstract Text: Automatic milking systems (AMS) provides objective, frequent and accurate measures of many traits. The aim of this first genetic analysis of Norwegian AMS data was to estimate heritability and predict breeding values for milkability in Norwegian Red. The data came from 46 herds with DeLaval milking robots and included 4835 cows, and 1.5 million daily records. Milkability was defined as average milk yield per total time spent in the milking robot (kg milk per minute box time). Estimated heritability was 0.11 for daily milkability, 0.30 for mean of day 30-60, and 0.29 for lactation mean milkability. The genetic difference between the cow with the highest and lowest EBV for milkability, was equivalent to 0.87 kg more milk per minute box time. Data routinely recorded in AMS provide information on new traits that can supplement or replace current traits in genetic evaluation.

Keywords: Automatic milking systems

Milkability

Dairy cow