Dairy cattle

Genetic parameters for residual feed intake and genotypic associations to other traits in Holstein calves

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Abstract

The objective of the study was to estimate genetic parameters for preweaning residual feed intake (RFI), gain-to-feed (G/F), and dry matter intake (DMI) in Holstein calves up to 8-weeks of age and their genetic correlations to nationally evaluated genetic traits. Calves (n = 3813) originated from five commercial farms in southern Minnesota and were housed at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, MN, USA. Calves were born between 2013 and 2025. A smaller subset of calves (n = 199) was genotyped using Zoetis CLARIFIDE Plus (Kalamazoo, MI, USA). Calves were transported to the research center twice per week and birth weight was recorded upon arrival. Daily milk and starter grain intake was recorded on an individual basis. Calves were weaned at 56 days and average daily gain was determined from arrival to weaning. DMI was calculated as the total amount of milk and starter grain consumption from arrival to weaning. Weight gain was determined from subtracting birth weight from weaning weight. G/F was calculated as weight gain divided by DMI during the preweaning period. RFI was estimated with a multivariate linear model that predicted DMI with fixed effects of average daily gain, metabolic body weight (BW0.75) at the midpoint, year-month, and dam age. The residuals from the model were extracted and used as the phenotypic measure of RFI. Genetic parameters were estimated with linear animal models that included fixed effects of mean for all traits. For G/F and DMI, year-month of birth and dam age were also included as fixed effects. Direct additive genetics, maternal additive genetics, and herd were included as random effects for all traits. Estimated breeding values for preweaning RFI, G/F, and DMI for genotyped calves and for sires (n = 260) with at least 5 daughters in our dataset were used to estimate Pearson correlation coefficients with published PTA values from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) and Zoetis. The heritability estimates of RFI, G/F, and DMI were 0.24 (sd = 0.04), 0.26 (sd = 0.04), and 0.35 (sd = 0.04), respectively. For genotyped calves, Pearson correlation estimates ranged from -0.14 to 0.13. For sire with at least 5 daughters, Pearson correlation estimates ranged from -0.20 to 0.22. In conclusion, common selected traits are not strongly correlated with feed efficiency in preweaned Holstein calves, suggesting further exploration of preweaning feed utilization could benefit current selection strategies in dairy cattle.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Rott, I., Heins, B. & Haagen, I., (2026) “Genetic parameters for residual feed intake and genotypic associations to other traits in Holstein calves”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2287319. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.24264

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