Genetic and nongenetic factors associated with lactation length in seasonal-calving, pasture-based dairy cows

Lactation yield estimates standardized to common lactation lengths of 270-d or 305-d equivalents are commonly used in management decision support tools and dairy cow genetic evaluations. The use of such measurements to quantify the (genetic) merit of individual cows fails to penalize cows that do not reach the standardized lactation length, or indeed reward cows that lactate for more than the standardized lactation length. The objective of the present study was to quantify the genetic and nongenetic factors associated with lactation length in seasonal-calving, pasture-based dairy cows. A total of 616,350 lactation length records from 285,598 Irish cows were used. Linear mixed models were used to quantify the associations between lactation length and calving month, parity, age at calving, previous dry period length, calving difficulty score, heterosis, recombination loss, breed, and herd size, as well as to estimate the genetic and residual variance components of lactation length. The median lactation length in the edited data set was 288 d, with 27% of cows achieving lactations of at least 305 d. Relative to cows calving in January, the lactations of cow calving in February, March, or April was, on average, 4.2, 12.7, and 21.9 d shorter, respectively. The lactation length of a first parity cow was, on average, 7.8, 8.6, and 8.4 d shorter than that of second, third, and fourth parity cows, respectively. Norwegian Red and Montbéliarde cows had, on average, a 4.7- and 1.6-d shorter lactation than Holstein-Friesian cows, respectively. The heritability estimate, coefficient of genetic variation, and repeatability estimate of lactation length were 0.02, 1.2%, and 0.04, respectively. Based on the genetic standard deviation for lactation length estimated in the present study (3.3 d), cows ranked in the top 20% for genetic merit for lactation length would be expected to have lactations 9.2 d longer than cows in the bottom 20%, demonstrating exploitable genetic variability. Given the vast array of genetic and nongenetic factors associated with lactation length, an approach which combines improved management practices and selective breeding may be an efficient and effective strategy to lengthen lactations.