Ashley H. Sanders and H. Duane Norman Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD Disposal reporting and disposition of culled cows by parity and herd size
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (2)A. H. Sanders DHIA Termination Codes (TC) 0 Lactation in progress or ended normally 1 Locomotion problems (feet and legs) 2Sold for dairy purpose or herd discontinued testing 3Sold for beef – low production 4Sold for beef – reproductive problems 5Sold for beef – reasons not specified 6Died 7Sold for beef – mastitis or high SCC 8Lactation ended with abortion 1 1 at >= 152 days and = 200 days in milk if no breeding date
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (3)A. H. Sanders Herd Disposal Reporting 40,849 herd-years from 2000 2003 Herds continuing on test 80% test-day records passing edits 10 test days 33% of cows in milk with final record reported during the herd year Termination code (TC) 3-7 reported for 1,043,055 cows No disposal information reported for ~20% of final records
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (4)A. H. Sanders Distribution of TC Annual Percentage of Cows in Milk Herd size Herd- years (no.) Percentage cows with TC 3-7 Percentage of culled cows coded with TC productionreproductionunspecifieddiedmastitis/SCC < , , ≥ All40,
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (5)A. H. Sanders Cow Disposal Reporting 8.5 million final lactation records since 1997 2.8 million likely in progress Calving in 2004 or 2005 TC not 3-7 0.5 million sold for dairy (TC 2) To herds not participating in DHIA testing 4.0 million include disposal code (TC 3-7) 1.2 million unknown disposition Herd discontinued DHIA testing (and TC 2 not used) Disposal not recorded or ambiguous
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (6)A. H. Sanders Distribution of TC Percentage of reported disposals Record Processing Center TC productionreproductionunspecifieddiedmastitis/SCC A B C D All
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (7)A. H. Sanders Data Terminal lactation records (3,138,918) Lactations 1-5 Ending 1998 through 2004 TC 3-7 Paired with herd-year averages for the year culled Milk Fat Protein SCS and SCC
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (8)A. H. Sanders Models Difference from herd average (HA) for milk, fat, and protein included TC (3 vs. other) Difference from HA for SCS and SCC included TC (7 vs. other) Days open included TC (4 vs. other) and was restricted to cows with >50 DIM All included lactation number, termination year and interactions with TC
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (9)A. H. Sanders Yield Results Cows with TC 3 had milk yield 2% and protein yield 3% lower than HA Significantly different from other culled cows with milk yield 5% and protein yield 2% higher than HA
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (10)A. H. Sanders SCS Results Cows with TC 7 had SCS 21% higher than HA Significantly different from other culled cows, although those cows also had SCS higher (4%) than HA
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (11)A. H. Sanders Reproduction Results Cows with TC 4 had significantly higher days open (258) than other culled cows with at least 50 DIM (173 days open)
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (12)A. H. Sanders Disposal by Parity The most common reported reasons for culling cows in 1 st lactation were low production (TC 3) and reproductive problems (TC 4) The most common reported reason for culling cows in 3 rd or later lactation was high SCC/mastitis (TC 7)
ADSA-ASAS-CSAS JOINT MEETING 2005 (13)A. H. Sanders Conclusions Most terminal records include an indication cow status (live/dead) Most records for culled cows include an indication of cause Reported TC are supported by cow and herd records Research aimed at using TC information to improve trait analysis is warranted