Felipe Lembeye Illanes

Citation

Thesis Title
Developing Selection Indexes & Estimation of Genetic Parameters for Traits of Economic Importance in Dairy Cattle under Once-a-Day Milking

Read article at Massey Research Online:

In New Zealand, the standard milking frequency is twice-a-day. However, about 5% of dairy herds are milked once-a-day. For this small population, a selection scheme has not been implemented. Therefore, cows are inseminated using sires evaluated with progeny under the twice-a-day system. Evaluating the effect of milking frequency environments on the genetic evaluation of dairy sires would reveal if developing a specific selection scheme for the once-a-day population is justified. Mr. Lembeye investigated sire-by-milking frequency interaction for traits of economic importance. He conducted the genetic evaluation in two equivalent populations under once- and twice-a-day milking, and found that there is no enough evidence of sire re-ranking for milk production traits. The results of Mr Lembeye indicate that there is little advantage in the implementation of a separate selection scheme. The results of this thesis also suggested similar genetic gain using sires selected with their progeny in twice-a-day systems and dedicated to cows milked once-a-day. 

Supervisors
Professor Nicolas Lopez-Villalobos
Dr Sr Davis
Dr Jennifer Burke