Udder type scores for milk production in Hariana cattle

Abstract

Hariana cows (307) maintained at Government Livestock Farm, Hisar (Haryana) were scored for rear udder width, suspensory ligament and udder depth to assess their influence on milk production. The average scores for udder type traits indicated that the udder of Hariana cattle was intermediate in width with udder floor clearly above the hock. The 'udder type scores were highly heritable (h2>0.54) due to the fact that these were not taken as components of selection programme as was done in European cattle. The relationships between udder type scores and milk production were high in magnitude. This sort of relationship can be utilized in predicting the milk production as well as selecting the high producing cows at early stages. Selection based on suspensory ligament resulted in maximum direct gain (2.45 points) and correlated response in total milk production up to second lactation (68.04 kg). It was concluded that selection based on udder type scores had the potential to enhance mi Ik production besides improving udder health thus reducing the risk of involuntary culling.