Journal article
Herd manager attitudes and intentions regarding the selection of high-fertility EBV sires in Australia
E Ooi, MA Stevenson, DS Beggs, PD Mansell, JE Pryce, A Murray, MF Pyman
Journal of Dairy Science | ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC | Published : 2021
Abstract
Reproductive performance in dairy cattle has declined over the last 50 years as an unintended consequence of selection for high milk yield. Since the early 2000s, dairy geneticists have released successive versions of fertility estimated breeding values (EBV) to assist in reversing this trend. At the herd level, fertility EBV can help managers accelerate improvements in reproductive performance by acting as a second selection criteria when used in tandem with a breeding index. However, use of the fertility EBV in sire selection currently varies between herd managers. The aim of this study was to better understand the reasons why herd managers choose or do not choose to select high-fertility ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Dairy Australia (Southbank, Australia). The authors thank the herd managers who consented to this study, as well as the clinicians at Rochester Veterinary Practice (Rochester, Australia) who provided their time and support. We also recognize our reviewers, as their comments made an important contribution to this paper. This project was supported through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (Canberra, Australia). No conflicts of interest are reported.