Results from the USDA:APHIS:VS National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Dairy 2002 survey reported that approximately 5% of dairy cows die, onfarm, across the country each year. This is a very high death rate compared with that of beef cows or feedlot animals, where annual death rates were estimated at 1 to1.5%. In the NAHMS survey unknown reasons accounted for the largest percentage (2...

Trait-by-trait and multiple trait bioeconomic modeling were used to derive farm-specific economic weights (EW) for a wide range of traits under different production and economic circumstances to define breeding objectives for Holstein dairy cattle in Iran. Production parameters and economic data were gathered on 10 dairy farms from March 2008 to February 2010. The EW (economic values multiplied...

The main objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for multi-trait evaluation of birth weight (BW), gestation length (GL) and calving difficulty (CD) in first-parity Iranian Holstein dairy cattle. The data included 29,950 calving records collected during 1995 to 2014 by the Animal Breeding and Improvement Center of Iran. A threshold-linear sire-maternal grandsire model was ...

Data from a two-breed group diallel experiment involving double-muscled (DM) and normal (N) cattle were analyzed to evaluate the importance of heterosis, maternal and direct effects for reproduction and growth traits. The DM cattle were from a composite of primarily Angus, Charolais, Galloway and Hereford breeds, and N cattle were crossbred cattle with at least 50% Hereford breeding. The data c...

A study was conducted over 3 yr to evaluate effects of sire birth weight EPD, calf birth weight and shape, and heifer pelvic area and weight, individually and in combination, on dystocia and subsequent rebreeding of 2-yr-old heifers. Heifers (n = 550), MARC II yearlings, were assigned for breeding to one of four Angus sires with birth weight EPD of -.95, -82, +2.9, and +2.7 kg. At calving, heif...