Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2008, 53(3):91-97 | DOI: 10.17221/2712-CJAS

Factors affecting the functional length of productive life in Slovak Pinzgau cows

G. Mészáros1, J. Wolf2, O. Kadlečík1
1 Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovak Republic
2 Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic

A proportional hazard model was used to analyze the impact of the most important factors on the length of productive life in 44 796 Slovak Pinzgau cows. The calculations were carried out with Survival Kit 3.12. The milk production level within a herd was the most important factor. The relation between the milk production level and the culling risk was strongly non-linear. Cows with extremely low milk production (less than 1.5 standard deviations below average) had a 4.8 times higher culling risk than average cows. The culling risk for the highest yielding cows was about one half of the risk of average cows. In the first lactation the culling risk was highest at the beginning and decreased in the course of lactation whereas in subsequent lactations the culling risk was highest at the end of lactation. The risk decreased with parity. The effect of age at first calving did not have a large influence on the length of productive life, although a linear increase in culling risk was observed as the age at first calving increased. Cows from expanding herds were at lower risk to be culled compared to cows in herds of stable and decreasing size.

Keywords: cattle; functional traits; longevity; survival analysis; risk ratio

Published: March 31, 2008  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Mészáros G, Wolf J, Kadlečík O. Factors affecting the functional length of productive life in Slovak Pinzgau cows. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2008;53(3):91-97. doi: 10.17221/2712-CJAS.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Bielfeldt J.C., Tölle K.H., Badertscher R., Krieter J. (2006): Longevity of Swiss Brown cattle in different housing systems in Switzerland. Livest. Sci., 101, 134-141. Go to original source...
    2. Chirinos Z., Carabaňo M.J., Hernández D. (2007): Genetic evaluation of length of productive life in the Spanish Holstein-Friesian population. Model validation and genetic parameters estimation. Livest. Sci., 106, 120-131. Go to original source...
    3. Cox D.R. (1972): Regression models and life-tables (with discussion). J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. B, 34, 187-220. Go to original source...
    4. Ducrocq V. (1994): Statistical analysis of length of productive life for dairy cows of the Normande breed. J. Dairy Sci., 77, 855-866. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Ducrocq V., Sölkner J. (1998): The Survival Kit - V3.0. A package for large analyses of survival data. In: Proc. 6th World Congr. Genet. Appl. Livest. Prod., 27, 447-448.
    6. Ducrocq V., Quaas R.L., Pollak E.J., Casella G. (1988): Length of productive life of dairy cows. 1. Justification of a Weibull model. J. Dairy Sci., 71, 3061-3070. Go to original source...
    7. Dürr J.W., Monardes H.G., Cue R.I. (1999): Genetic analysis of herd life in Quebec Holsteins using Weibull models. J. Dairy Sci., 82, 2503-2513. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Egger-Danner C. (1993): Zuchtwertschätzung für Merkmale der Langlebigkeit beim Rind mit Methoden der Lebensdaueranalyse. [Dissertation.] Universität für Bodenkultur, Wien, Austria.
    9. Egger-Danner C., Kadlečík O., Fuerst C., Kasarda R. (2005): Joint genetic evaluation for functional longevity for Pinzgau cattle. In: 56th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, June 5-8, Uppsala, Sweden, CG2.26.
    10. Essl A. (1998): Longevity in dairy cattle breeding: a review. Livest. Prod. Sci., 57, 79-89. Go to original source...
    11. Forabosco F., Bozzi R., Filippini F., Boettcher P., Van Arendonk J.A.M., Bijma P. (2006): Linear model vs. survival analysis for genetic evaluation of sires for longevity in Chianina beef cattle. Livest. Sci., 101, 191-198. Go to original source...
    12. Fuerst C., Egger-Danner C. (2002): Joint genetic evaluation for functional longevity in Austria and Germany. In: Proc. 7th World Congr. Genet. Appl. Livest. Sci., Montpellier, France.
    13. Kadlečík O., Kasarda R., Hetényi L. (2004): Genetic gain, increase in inbreeding rate and generation interval in alternatives of Pinzgau breeding program. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 49, 524-531. Go to original source...
    14. Kadlečík O., Kasarda R., Hubka M., Mészáros G. (2006): Pedigree analyses of genetically valuable cow group of Slovak Pinzgau breed. Acta Fytotech. Zootech., 9, 94-96.
    15. Kalbfleisch J.D., Prentice R.L. (1980): The statistical analysis of failure time data. John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA.
    16. Kasarda, R., Kadlečík O. (2007): An economic impact of inbreeding in the purebred population of Pinzgau cattle in Slovakia on milk production traits. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 52, 7-11. Go to original source...
    17. Krupa E., Huba J., Daňo J., Krupová Z., Ryba Š. (2006): Relative economic importance parameters of beef cattle in dependence to various economic production parameters of breeding conditions. Acta Fytotech. Zootech., 9, 131-134.
    18. Ojango J.M.K., Ducrocq V., Pollott G.E. (2005): Survival analysis of factors affecting culling early in the productive life of Holstein-Friesian cattle in Kenya. Livest. Prod. Sci., 92, 317-322. Go to original source...
    19. Páchová E., Zavadilová L., Sölkner J. (2005): Genetic evaluation of the length of productive life in Holstein cattle in the Czech Republic. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 50, 493-498. Go to original source...
    20. Roxström A., Strandberg E. (2002): Genetic analysis of functional, fertility-, mastitis-, and production-determined length of productive life in Swedish dairy cattle. Livest. Prod. Sci., 74, 125-135. Go to original source...
    21. Sewalem A., Kistemaker G.J., Ducrocq V., Van Doormaal B.J. (2005): Genetic analysis of herd life in Canadian dairy cattle on a lactation basis using a Weibull proportional hazards model. J. Dairy Sci., 88, 368-375. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Vollema A.R., Van Der Beek S., Harbers A.G.F., De Jong G. (2000): Genetic evaluation for longevity of Dutch dairy bulls. J. Dairy Sci., 83, 2629-2639. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Vukasinovic N., Moll J., Künzi N. (1997): Analysis of productive life in Swiss Brown cattle. J. Dairy Sci., 80, 2572-2579. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    24. Vukasinovic N., Moll J., Casanova L. (2001): Implementation of a routine genetic evaluation for longevity based on survival analysis techniques in dairy cattle populations in Switzerland. J. Dairy Sci., 84, 2073-2080. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    25. Wolfová M., Wolf J., Kvapilík J., Kica J. (2007): Selection for profit in cattle: I. Economic weights for purebred dairy cattle in the Czech Republic. J. Dairy Sci., 90, 2442-2455. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    26. Wood P.D.P. (1967): Algebraic model of the lactation curve in cattle. Nature, 216, 164-165. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content