Authors: Isaac Haagen, Lydia Hardie, Bradley Heins, and Chad Dechow
Motivation
- Calf health is important for farm profitability and animal well-being.
- There are few measures of calf health available for producers to use when making selection decisions. Serum total protein as a trait that may meet this need.
Objectives
- Estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations for serum total protein.
- Establish genetic relationships between serum total protein in organic Holstein calves and nationally available traits provided in bull proofs.
Conclusions
- Serum total protein in organic Holstein calves is heritable at 8%.
- Serum total protein is genetically correlated with improved cow longevity and reduced calving difficulty. See table below for approximate genetic correlations between serum total protein and other traits.