Abstract #280

# 280
Genomic evaluation for cow and calf wellness traits in US Jersey cattle.
D. Gonzalez-Pena*1, N. Vukasinovic1, J. Brooker1, C. Przybyla1, S. DeNise1, 1Zoetis, Kalamazoo, MI.

In recent years, the number of Jersey cows in the USA has been steadily increasing. To help producers maintain health and wellness of their Jersey animals, Zoetis has developed genomic predictions for wellness traits in Jersey cattle using producer-recorded data. The traits included mastitis (MAST), metritis (METR), retained placenta (RETP), displaced abomasum (DA), ketosis (KETO), lameness (LAME), and milk fever (MFV) in cows, and calf livability (DEAD), respiratory disease (RESP), and scours (DIAR) in calves. Phenotypic data on health events, pedigree, and genotypes were collected directly from producers upon obtaining their permission. Each trait was defined as a binary event, having a value of one if an animal has been recorded with a disorder, and zero otherwise. The number of phenotypic records ranged from 216K for DA to 629K for MAST and from 186K records for DIAR to 380K records for DEAD for cows and calves, respectively. The number of genotyped animals was 41,271. All traits were analyzed using a univariate threshold animal model. The model for cow wellness traits included fixed effect of parity and random effects of herd by year by season of calving, animal, and permanent environment. The model for calf wellness traits included fixed effect of year of birth by calving season by region and random effects of herd by year of birth and animal. A total of 45,163 SNPs were used in genomic analyses. Animals genotyped with low-density chips were imputed. All analyses were based on the single step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP). Heritabilities ranged from 0.06 for DA to 0.12 for LAME. Predicted transmitting abilities (PTA) were expressed in percent points as deviations from the average estimated probability of a disorder in the base population. Reliabilities of genomic PTAs for young genotyped animals without recorded health events or progeny had average values between 32% (DA) and 51% (MAST). The results indicate that a direct evaluation of cow and calf wellness traits under a genomic threshold model is feasible and offers predictions with average reliabilities comparable to other lowly heritable traits for Jersey cattle.

Key Words: Jersey, genomic prediction, wellness traits