Genetic parameters of milk yield and composition and their relationships with alternative breeding goals

Milk records on 32,077 Holstein cows in first lactation from 1116 herds on the Quebec Dairy Herd Analysis Service between 1973 and 1983 were used to estimate heritabilities of and genetic correlations between milk, fat, protein, and carrier (water, lactose, ash) yields; fat, protein, and carrier percentages; and ratios of protein to fat and protein plus fat to carrier. The cows were daughters of 451 sires; each sire was represented by five or more daughters. Heritabilities were from .20 to .31 for yields, .59 to .61 for percentages, and .58 to .61 for ratio measures. The heritability of protein yield was considerably lower than other yield traits (.20 vs. .28 to .31). The expected effects of multiple trait selection under 10 alternative breeding goals, using different sets of relative economic values, were considered using the genetic parameter estimates. Selection under the existing pricing system (milk yield plus fat percentage differential) had similar expected genetic gains for fat and protein yields as would be achieved under goals that either gave weight to milk yield and fat yield or to milk yield and the ratio of protein plus fat to carrier. Inclusion of information on protein percentage in an index gave relative little additional genetic progress in most traits, except some increases in protein yield and protein percentage were expected to be greater.