Sire Evaluation for Milking Duration

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the help of several individuals within the dairy industry. My advisor, Dr. Stan Henderson, provided the opportunity to research this project. Dr. Henderson guided me throughout the project and assisted in obtaining these data. Dr. Henderson also assisted in compiling these data and developing the manuscript. Without the help of Dr. Henderson, this project would not have been successful. Many other people were extremely helpful in undertaking this project. First and foremost, three dairy producers allowed for their herd information to be analyzed. were extremely helpful and positive about the project. They allowed for me to obtain data from their herds and publish it in my manuscript. In addition, several individuals aided in the collection of data. Townsend obtained the data from the Bar 20 Dairy. Mr. Bill Verboort traveled to Dairyland Farms and Van Beek Brothers Dairy and obtained the data needed for the project. Last but not least, Mr. Bruce Golden and Mr. Dennis Edlund assisted me in analyzing the data I have obtained. Dr. Bruce Golden guided me through the statistical analysis and data analyzing allowing for a logical paper to be developed. Mr. Edlund provided me with a herd-mate comparison and also provided me with information for my project. Without the constant aid of these individuals, this project would not have been a success. ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to utilize electronically recorded data from on-farm milk recording systems and herd management software to determine if a sire has a genetic influence on his daughter's milking duration. Measurements of milking duration from three dairy facilities 25,070 observations, corresponding to 9,418 cows and 895 sires. These data were evaluated with a SAS alongside a herd-mate comparison. The statistical analysis demonstrated that a sire does have a genetic influence on the milking duration of his progeny. The Van Beek Brothers and Dairyland Farms data sets reported an estimated covariance of 0.117 and 0.1491 for sire with heritability of 0.18947368 and 0.46706868 respectively. In addition, the herd-mate comparison showed some differences amongst sire ranging from the mean of 12.62 minutes. After comparing sires with over 50 daughters, a total of 35 bulls, the deviations between daughter milking duration were between-2.91 and 2.03 minutes. Based on the results presented in this study, it appears that further research will be required to finalize any significant outcome. With increasing technologies, the …