A total of 1,367 first lactation records of daughters of 81 sires, having 5 or more progeny were used to evaluate sires by 3 different methods viz., least squares (LS), best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) and derivative free restricted maximum likelihood (DFREML) method. The highest and lowest overall average breeding value of sires for first lactation 305 days or less milk yield was obtaine...

First lactation production records of 7,825 Mehsana buffaloes, sired by 200 sires maintained at DudhsagarResearch and Development Association, Dudhsagar Dairy, over a period 25 years (1989-2013), wereutilised for estimation breeding value the first milk yield using BLUP - Univariate sire model andanimal WOMBAT software. The study aimed to find out optimum number daughters that maybe sufficient ...

Performance records from 1982 to 1992 on 1365 calves for birth weight (BW) and 1492 calves for weaning weight (WW) were analyzed to estimate relationships of purebred sire expected progeny difference (EPD) values for BW and W W to actual crossbred progeny performance. Sires of the calves were Polled Hereford, Simmental, Angus, Salers, Tarentaise, or Charolais. The pooled-across-breed regression...

Th e aim of study was to investigate diff erent models for the evaluation of dairy bulls for male fertility. A dataset containing single insemination records performed on Brown Swiss cows and heifers reared in Eastern Italian Alps was used. Th e outcome variable (successful/ unsuccessful) was analyzed as binary trait. In the fi rst step raw conception rate was computed for each service sire, as...

Weaning weight records of 44,357 Australian Angus calves produced by 1,020 sires in 90 herds were used to evaluate the importance of sire x herd interactions. Models fitted fixed effects of contemporary group (herd-year-date of weighing subclass), sex, calf age, and dam age and random effects of sire or of sire and sire x herd interaction using REML. Effects of standardizing the data, including...

Deoxyribonucleic acid-based tests were used to assign paternity to 625 calves from a multiple-sire breeding pasture. There was a large variability in calf output and a large proportion of young bulls that did not sire any offspring. Five of 27 herd sires produced over 50% of the calves, whereas 10 sires produced no progeny and 9 of these were yearling bulls. A comparison was made between the pa...

The genetic model for fetal effect on production of the dam is described, and studies on genetic and economic implications are reviewed. The effect on production from the sire of the cowhas 1.58 to 3.02 times as much economic value as the effect from the sire of the fetus. The use of mate records in evaluating a sire in addit ion to daughter records could increase economic gain from selection b...

The objective of this study was to characterize breeds representing diverse biological types for birth and weaning traits in crossbred cattle. Gestation length, calving difficulty, percentage of unassisted calving, percentage of perinatal survival, percentage of survival from birth to weaning, birth weight, BW at 200 d, and ADG were measured in 2,500 calves born and 2,395 calves weaned. Calves ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of adjusting for heterogeneous variances across breed groups on prediction of breeding values (PBV) of selected sires and on breed of sire effects. Data on weights at birth (BWT), 200 d (WW), and 365 d (YW) of purebred and crossbred calves from matings of Angus (A), Hereford (H), Polled Hereford, Charolais, Shorthorn, Simmental, Limousin, Mai...

Heat stress has negative effects on pregnancy rates of lactating dairy cattle. There are genetic differences in tolerance to heat stress; Bos taurus indicus (B. t. indicus) cattle and embryos are more thermotolerant than Bos taurus taurus (B. t. taurus). In the present study, the effects of sire and sire breed on conception and embryonic/fetal loss rates of lactating Holstein cows during the Br...