Multiparity evaluation of calving ease and stillbirth with separate genetic effects by parity.

Evaluations that analyze first and later parities as correlated traits were developed separately for calving ease (CE) from over 15 million calving records of Holsteins, Brown Swiss, and Holstein-Brown Swiss crossbreds and for stillbirth (SB) from 7.4 million of the Holstein CE records. Calving ease was measured on a scale of 1 (no difficulty) to 5 (difficult birth); SB status was designated as live or dead within 48 h. Scores for CE and SB were transformed separately for each trait by parity (first or later) and calf sex (male or female) and converted to a unit standard deviation scale. For variance component estimation, Holstein data were selected for the 2,968 bulls with the most records as sire or maternal grandsire (MGS). Six samples were selected by herd; samples ranged in size from 97,756 to 146,138 records. A multiparity sire-MGS model was used to calculate evaluations separately for CE and for SB with first and later parities as correlated traits. Fixed effects were year-season, calf sex, and sire and MGS birth years; random effects were herd-year interaction, sire, and MGS. For later parities, sex effects were separated by parity. The genetic correlation between first and later parities was 0.79 for sire and 0.81 for MGS for CE, and 0.83 for sire and 0.74 for MGS for SB. For national CE evaluations, which also include Brown Swiss, a fixed effect for breed was added to the model. Correlations between solutions on the underlying scale from the January 2008 USDA CE evaluation with those from the multiparity analysis for CE were 0.89 and 0.91 for first- and later-parity sire effects and 0.71 and 0.88 for first- and later-parity MGS effects; the larger value for later parity reflects that later parities comprised 64% of the data. Corresponding correlations for SB were 0.81 and 0.82 for first- and later-parity sire effects and 0.46 and 0.83 for first- and later-parity MGS effects, respectively. Correlations were higher when only bulls with a multiparity reliability of >65% were included. The multiparity analysis accounted for genetic differences in calving performance between first and later parities. Evaluations should become more stable as the portion of a bull's observations from different parities changes over his lifetime. Accuracy of the net merit index can be improved by adjusting weights to use evaluations for separate parities optimally.

Short communication: Genetic evaluation of milking speed for Brown Swiss dairy cattle in the United States.

Genetic parameters and relative breeding values were estimated for milking speed of US Brown Swiss dairy cattle. Owner-recorded milking-speed scores on a scale of 1 (slow) to 8 (fast) were collected by the Brown Swiss Association as part of its linear type appraisal program starting in 2004. Data were 7,366 records for 6,666 cows in 393 herds. The pedigree file included information for 21,458 animals born in 1985 or later. Six unknown-parent groups that each included 4 birth years were defined. The model included fixed effects for herd appraisal date and parity-lactation stage and random effects for permanent environment, animal, and error. Within parity (1, 2, and > or =3), 6 groups were defined: unknown calving date, four 90-d lactation stages, and lactations with >400 d in milk. Heritability of 0.22 and repeatability of 0.42 were estimated by average-information REML; residual variance was 1.13. Little trend in estimated breeding value was found for cows born from 1999 through 2002. Although solutions increased with lactation stage for first-parity cows by 0.37, no clear trend was found for later parities. Genetic evaluations for milking speed were expressed as relative breeding values with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 5. The 121 bulls with > or =10 daughters had milking speed evaluations that ranged from 83 to 112 and had correlations of 0.56 with productive life evaluations and -0.40 with somatic cell score evaluations. The association of faster milking speed with lower somatic cell score was not expected. The moderate heritability found for milking speed indicates that the evaluations (first released in May 2006) should be useful in detecting bulls with slow-milking daughters.

Genetic parameters and evaluation of rear legs (rear view) for Brown Swiss and Guernseys.

Genetic parameters were estimated for rear legs (rear view; RLRV) and 15 current linear type traits of Brown Swiss and Guernsey dairy cattle. The Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders' Association of the USA and the American Guernsey Association began scoring RLRV in 2004. For Brown Swiss, 8,502 records were available for 7,676 cows in 417 herds; Guernsey data included 5,437 records for 4,749 cows in 229 herds. Nine unknown-parent groups were defined for each breed, each with 2 birth years. The model included fixed effects for the interaction of herd, appraisal date, and parity; appraisal age within parity; and lactation stage within parity and random effects for animal, permanent environment, and residual error. The multitrait analysis for RLRV and the 15 linear type traits used canonical transformation, multiple diagonalization, and a decelerated expectation-maximization REML algorithm. For Brown Swiss, heritability was 0.102 for RLRV and ranged from 0.099 for rear legs (side view) to 0.453 for stature. For Guernseys, heritability ranged from 0.078 for RLRV to 0.428 for stature. For Brown Swiss, the highest genetic correlation with RLRV was 0.71 for rear udder width; the most negative correlation was -0.19 with rump angle. For Guernseys, the highest genetic correlations with RLRV were 0.43 for rear udder width and 0.42 for body depth; the most negative correlation was -0.46 with rear legs (side view). With heritability near 0.10, RLRV should be useful in selection for improved locomotion. Release of genetic evaluations for RLRV began in May 2006 for Brown Swiss and Guernseys.

Accounting for heterogeneous variances in multitrait evaluation of Jersey type traits.

The multitrait genetic evaluation system for type traits was modified to estimate adjustments for heterogeneous variance (HV) simultaneously with estimated breeding values (EBV) for final score and 14 linear traits. Each variance within herd, year, and parity was regressed toward a predicted variance, which was determined by fitting a model with fixed effects of the mean final score for herd, size of the contemporary group, appraisal month, and year-season and a random effect for herd-appraisal date. Herd-appraisal date was included as a random effect to regress the observed heterogeneity for a given herd-appraisal date toward the fixed effects. Method R was used to estimate variances for the heterogeneity model in each EBV iteration. To evaluate the effect of the adjustment, parent averages were calculated from evaluations with recent appraisals removed. The adjustment slightly improved correlations within birth year between those parent averages and EBV from current data on bulls for most traits, but did not improve correlations for final score, strength, dairy form, teat length, or foot angle. Annual trends for EBV were lower with HV adjustment than for unadjusted EBV for all traits except final score and rump angle for cows and rump width for bulls, which were essentially unchanged. Standard deviations of Mendelian sampling (evaluation minus mean of parent evaluations) declined less over time for HV-adjusted than for unadjusted evaluations. The slope at year 2000 of Mendelian-sampling standard deviations from HV-adjusted evaluations ranged from 10.0% for udder depth to 42.7% for teat length compared with the slope for unadjusted evaluations. This HV adjustment, which was implemented for USDA evaluations in May 2001 for Jerseys and in 2002 for other breeds, improves the accuracy of evaluations, particularly comparisons over time, by accounting for the change in variation.

Clinical characteristics, management strategies, and cost implications of a statewide outbreak of enterovirus meningitis.

A statewide outbreak of enterovirus meningitis occurred in Rhode Island in the summer of 1991. A comprehensive chart review was conducted for determining the demographic and clinical characteristics of the epidemic and for assessing the interinstitutional variation in treatment strategies. Four hundred eight cases were reported, and enteroviruses were recovered in 61 (68%) of 90 cases in which viral isolation was attempted. Of six isolates that were serotyped, all were echovirus 30. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid revealed that an increased total white blood cell count and an increased protein concentration were associated with increasing patient age; however, the percentage of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the cerebrospinal fluid decreased with increasing patient age and longer durations of illness. Marked variations in treatment strategies between institutions were noted in the use of computed tomography of the head, the administration of empirical antimicrobial agents, and the duration of hospitalization. Considerable health resources could have been saved by rapid detection of the virus, dissemination of information about the outbreak, and a conservative approach to clinical management.