Relationship between body condition score and health traits in first-lactation Canadian Holsteins

The objective of this research was to estimate daily genetic correlations between longitudinal body condition score (BCS) and health traits by using a random regression animal model in first-lactation Holsteins. The use of indicator traits may increase the rate of genetic progress for functional traits relative to direct selection for functional traits. Indicator traits of interest are those that are easier to record, can be measured early in life, and are strongly genetically correlated with the functional trait of interest. Several BCS records were available per cow, and only 1 record per health trait (1 = affected; 0 = not affected) was permitted per cow over the lactation. Two bivariate analyses were performed, the first between BCS and mastitis and the second between BCS and metabolic disease (displaced abomasum, milk fever, and ketosis). For the first analysis, 217 complete herds were analyzed, which included 28,394 BCS records for 10,715 cows and 6,816 mastitis records for 6,816 cows. For the second analysis, 350 complete herds were analyzed, which included 42,167 BCS records for 16,534 cows and 13,455 metabolic disease records for 13,455 cows. Estimation of variance components by a Bayesian approach via Gibbs sampling was performed using 400,000 samples after a burn-in of 150,000 samples. The average daily heritability (posterior standard deviation) of BCS was 0.260 (0.026) and the heritabilities of mastitis and metabolic disease were 0.020 (0.007) and 0.041 (0.012), respectively. Heritability estimates were similar to literature values. The average daily genetic correlation between BCS and mastitis was -0.730 (0.110). Cows with a low BCS during the lactation are more susceptible to mastitis, and mastitic cows are likely to have low BCS. Daily estimates of genetic correlations between BCS and mastitis were moderate to strong throughout the lactation, becoming stronger as the lactation progressed. The average daily genetic correlation between BCS and metabolic disease was -0.438 (0.125), and was consistent throughout the lactation. A lower BCS during the lactation is genetically associated with the occurrence of mastitis and metabolic disease.