14. Multiple Trait Selection

Improvement in the efficiency and quality of animal production can be achieved by improving several characteristics simultaneously. For example, we may want to breed the ideal dairy cow that produces not only a lot of milk, but also with a high percentage of components like fat and especially protein. In addition, such high producing animals should preferably have no fertility problems, not suffer from diseases, and have a high roughage intake capacity. We would like pigs that grow fast but do not become too fat, with no leg problems and producing many piglets per litter. In beef cattle we want fast growing animals, but we don’t want too large a mature size. We would like merino sheep with very fine wool, yet yielding a lot of it.