Genetic Parameters for Age at First Calving and First Calving Interval of Beef Cattle

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for age at first calving (AFC) and first calving interval (FCI) for the entire beef cattle population and separately for the Charolais (CH) and Aberdeen Angus (AA) breeds in the Czech Republic. The database of performance testing between the years 1991 and 2019 was used. The total number of cows was 83,788 from 11 breeds. After editing, the data set contained 33,533 cows, including 9321 and 4419 CH and AA cows, respectively. The relationship matrix included 85,842 animals for the entire beef population and 24,248 and 11,406 animals for the CH and AA breeds, respectively. A multibreed multitrait animal model was applied. The estimated heritability was low to moderate. Genetic correlations between AFC and FCI varied depending on the breeds from positive to negative. Differences between variance components suggest that differences between breeds should be considered before selection and breeding strategy should be developed within a breed.