Genetic selection for reduced health treatment costs in Holstein cows: implications from a long-term study.

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of health treatment cost of Holstein cows from producer-recorded health treatments in 8 herds over an 8-yr period of time. Genetic parameters of health treatment cost were estimated in first ( = 2,214), second ( = 1,487) and third ( = 800) parities of US Holstein cows. The health treatments were uniformly defined and consistently recorded by 8 high-performance dairy herds in Minnesota from 2008 to 2015.

Health Treatment Cost of Holsteins in Eight High-Performance Herds.

Health treatments of Holstein cows ( = 2214) were recorded by the owners of eight high-performance dairy herds in Minnesota. Cows calved from March 2008 to October 2015, and 14 types of health treatments were uniformly defined across the herds. Specific types of health treatment were subsequently assigned a cost based on the mean veterinary cost obtained from the veterinary clinics that serviced the eight herds.