Select Sires

Herdlife Builder™: A Practical Approach to Breeding for Longevity

In a perfect world cows produce at high levels, produce valuable calves regularly and live long, productive lives. In the "real" world, we know that often cows don’t stay in the herd as long as people would like. And that can affect a herd’s profitability significantly.

So, what is it that can help cows last longer? Dr. Kent Weigel, University of Wisconsin- Madison, conducted a study evaluating Holsteins that calved for the first time between 1992 and 1996. When looking for type traits that were highly correlated with longevity, he found that all udder traits as well as "rear legs, rear view" had a linear relationship with productive life. For example, cows with high fore-udder scores lasted more than a year longer than their low-scoring counterparts, and a similar pattern was seen for suspensory ligament. The relationship was even more pronounced for udder depth, with cows that scored 40 lasting from 12 to 18 months longer than cows scoring 10 on Holstein Association USA’s 50-point linear scale.

This is consistent with findings published by Holstein Association USA, which concluded that type conformation is an important factor in long-lived cows. Its research has shown that among all linear traits, udder depth and fore-udder attachment are the two most important traits for explaining longevity. In addition, bulls that sire cows that last also sire cows with better feet and legs.

In addition, the Association conducted a study on herdlife, which identified six important linear udder traits and their contribution to increased longevity in Holsteins (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Udder traits that help increase longevity.

Holstein Association USA has developed the Udder Composite Index (UDC), using individual traits derived from the results of a research study on herdlife. This study shows the following weights accurately reflect each udder trait's contribution to increased longevity.
Udder depth	.30
Fore udder attachment	.16
Front teat placement	.16
Rear udder height	.16
Rear udder width	.12
Udder cleft	.10

Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751