Changing Definition of Productive Life in US Holsteins: Effect on Genetic Correlations

Data included 392,800 records for cows born between 1995 and 1997. Traits analyzed were milk, fat, and protein yields, somatic cell score, days open (DO), 18 linear type traits, final score, and several measures of longevity. Productive life (PL) was defined as the total number of days in milk up to 84 mo of age with a restriction of 305, 500, or 999 d per lactation (PL305, PL500, or PL999, respectively). Herd life was defined as the total number of days from the first calving date to the last (culling) date. A multiple-trait sire model including the effects of registration status, herd-year, age group, month of calving and stage of lactation, sire, and residual was used for parameter estimation. The average duration of the first lactation was 365 d for survivors and 386 d for culled cows. Lactation lengths for the survivors in the next 3 parities all exceeded 330 d. Heritability estimates of between 0.08 and 0.10 were obtained for all definitions of longevity. As maximum recordable PL was increased from 305 to 999 d per lactation, the genetic correlations with milk production increased (from −0.11 to +0.14) and with DO decreased (−0.62 to −0.27). Formulas for an indirect prediction of PL from correlated traits were developed. As maximum PL per lactation was increased, little change in the weights used to predict the various measures of PL, with the exception of DO was found. As the currently used value of PL305 does not properly account for the longer lactation lengths that are routinely occurring with today's cows, PL with longer lactations may be preferable in routine evaluation.