Comparison of breeding objectives across countries with application to sheep indexes in New Zealand and Ireland

Investigating How Genetic Merit and Country of Origin Impact the Profitability of Grass-Based Sheep Production Systems

The objective of this study was to simulate and assess the profitability of sheep production systems that varied in maternal genetic merit (high or low) and country of origin (New Zealand (NZ) or Ireland), using the Teagasc Lamb Production Model (TLPM). A production system study performed at Teagasc Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland, from 2016 to 2019, inclusive, provided key animal performance input parameters, which were compared across three scenarios: high maternal genetic merit NZ (NZ), high maternal genetic merit Irish (High Irish) and low maternal genetic merit Irish (Low Irish). Prior to the beginning of the study ewes and rams were imported from New Zealand to Ireland in order to compare animals within the same management system. Ewes were selected based on the respective national maternal genetic indexes; i.e., either the New Zealand Maternal Worth (NZ group) or the €uro-star Replacement index (Irish groups). The TLPM was designed to simulate the impact of changes in physical and technical outputs (such as number of lambs, drafting rates and replacement rates) on a range of economic parameters including variable costs, fixed costs, gross margin and net profit. Results showed that total farm costs (variable and fixed) were similar across the three scenarios, driven by the similar number of ewes in each scenario. The number of lambs produced and the cost of production per lamb was 14.05 lambs per hectare for the NZ scenario at a cost of EUR 82.35 per lamb, 11.40 lambs per hectare for the High Irish scenario at a cost of EUR 101.42 per lamb and 11.00 lambs per hectare for the Low Irish scenario at a cost of EUR 105.72 per lamb. The net profit of the three scenarios was EUR 514, EUR 299, and EUR 258 per hectare, for the NZ, High Irish and Low Irish scenarios, respectively. Overall, the NZ scenario had a lower cost of production in comparison to either Irish group, while the High Irish scenario had a 14% greater net profit than the Low Irish scenario, equating to an additional EUR 41 per hectare net profit. Output from this simulation model reiterates the importance, for overall farm profitability, of maximising the number of lambs weaned per hectare, particularly through maximising income and diluting the total farm costs. To conclude, the use of high-maternal-genetic-merit animals, regardless of their country of origin impacts farm profitability.

Validation of a sheep maternal and terminal breeding objectives using Irish field data

Genetic evaluations provide producers with a tool to aid in breeding decisions and highlight the increase in performance achievable at the farm level through genetic gain. Despite this, large-scale validation of sheep breeding objectives using field data is lacking in the scientific literature. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the phenotypic differences for a range of economically important traits for animals divergent in genetic merit for the Irish national maternal and terminal sheep breeding objectives. A dataset of 17,356 crossbred ewes and 54,322 progeny differing in their maternal and terminal breeding index recorded in 139 commercial flocks was available. The association of the maternal index of the ewe or terminal index of the ram and a range of phenotypic performance traits, including lambing, lamb performance, ewe performance, and health traits, were undertaken. Ewes excelling on the maternal index had higher litter sizes and produced progeny with greater perinatal lamb survival, heavier live weights from birth to postweaning and reduced days to slaughter (P < 0.05). Ewe maternal index had no quantifiable impact on lambing ease, carcass conformation, or fat, the health status of the ewe or lamb, ewe barren rate, or ewe live weight. Lambs born to rams of superior terminal index produced heavier lambs from preweaning onwards, with a reduced day to slaughter (P < 0.05). Lambing traits, lamb health, and carcass characteristics of the progeny did not differ between sires stratified as low or high on the terminal index (P > 0.05). Results from this study highlight that selecting either ewes or rams of superior maternal or terminal attributes will result in an improvement on pertinent performance traits of the national sheep flock, resulting in greater flock productivity and profitability.

Across-country genetic evaluation of meat sheep from Ireland and the United Kingdom

Genetic evaluations in sheep have proven to be an effective way of increasing farm profitability. Much research has previously been conducted on producing within-country genetic evaluations; however, to date, no across-country sheep genetic evaluations have been produced between Ireland and the UK. The objective of the present study was to examine the feasibility of an across-country genetic evaluation of live body weight and carcass composition traits for Texel sheep raised in Ireland and the UK. The benefit of genetic selection based on across-country genetic evaluations, in comparison with within-country genetic evaluations, was also quantified. Animal traits included early-life and postweaning live body weights, and muscle and fat depth ultrasound measurements. Irish and UK data were combined, common animals with progeny with records in both countries were identified and a series of bivariate analyses were performed separately for each trait to produce across-country genetic evaluations. Fixed effects included contemporary group, age at first lambing of the dam, parity of the dam (Ireland), dam age at lamb's birth (UK), a gender by age of the lamb interaction, a birth type by rearing type of the lamb interaction and country of birth of the lamb. Random effects included the animal additive genetic, dam maternal, litter common environment and residual effect. The model for postweaning weight, muscle depth and fat depth included only the animal additive genetic and litter common environmental random effects. Genetic correlations between the two countries ranged from 0.82 to 0.88 for the various traits. Across-country breeding values were estimated for all animals and response to selection was predicted using the top 10 and top 20 sires in both within- and across-country analyses for the two countries. Overall, results showed that rates of genetic gain could potentially increase from between 2.59% and 19.63% from selection based on across-country genetic evaluations compared to within-country evaluations alone. Across-country evaluations are feasible and would be of significant benefit to both the Irish and UK sheep industries. In order to realize these potential gains though, there would need to be a switch in emphasis by sheep breeders towards using objective traits as their primary selection criteria.

The impact of genetic merit on ewe performance and efficiency parameters

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ewe genetic merit on ewe performance and efficiency parameters. The study consisted of three genetic merit groups (New Zealand [NZ], High Irish, and Low Irish) and ran from 2016 to 2019, inclusive. Each genetic merit group contained 30 purebred Suffolk and 30 purebred Texel ewes, which were selected based on their maternal genetic indexes in their country of origin, namely Ireland (€uro-star Replacement index) or New Zealand (New Zealand Maternal worth). Ewe body condition score (BCS), ewe body weight (BW), milk yield, milk composition, dry matter intake (DMI), and efficiency parameters were all analyzed using linear mixed models. Ewe BW was similar across all genetic merit groups at each time point (P > 0.05). In comparison to both High and Low Irish ewes, NZ ewes had a higher BCS at mating, mid-pregnancy, lambing, week 10 post-lambing (PL, P < 0.05). Ewe BW change was similar across genetic merit groups, except between mating and mid-pregnancy where ewe BW loss was greater for NZ ewes than Irish ewes (P < 0.05) and between weeks 6 PL and 10 PL, where NZ ewes gained BW and High and Low Irish ewes lost BW (P < 0.01). Ewe milk yield, milk fat, total solids, and gross energy content were superior for milk produced by NZ ewes at week 6 PL in comparison to milk produced by High Irish and Low Irish ewes (P < 0.01). NZ ewes produced a greater quantity of milk solids/kg of BW at week 6 PL compared with High Irish ewes (P < 0.01), whereas Low Irish ewes did not differ from either NZ or High Irish (P > 0.05). Low Irish ewes had a greater daily DMI than High Irish ewes in late lactation (week 10 PL, P < 0.05) and had a greater DMI/kg of ewe BW compared with the High Irish ewes at the same time point (P < 0.05). NZ ewes weaned a litter BW equivalent to 60.4% of their mating BW, which was more than the Low Irish ewes who weaned 57.1% of the ewe's BW at mating (P < 0.01), whereas the High Irish ewes did not differ from either the NZ or Low Irish ewes at 59.3% of the ewe's BW at mating (P > 0.05). This study presents a range of parameters across ewes of high and low genetic merit, demonstrating the ability to achieve gains through selection of animals of high genetic merit. Sheep producers should consider genetic indexes as a tool to assist in the decision-making process of selecting replacement ewes and/or breeding rams, once satisfied the animal is correct, and meeting the breeding objectives of the system.

The impact of maternal genetic merit and country of origin on ewe reproductive performance, lambing performance, and ewe survival

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the ewe's maternal genetic merit and country of origin [New Zealand (NZ) or Ireland] on ewe reproductive, lambing, and productivity traits. The study was performed over a 4-yr period (2016-2019) and consisted of three genetic groups: high maternal genetic merit (NZ), high maternal genetic merit Irish (High Irish), and low maternal genetic merit Irish (Low Irish) ewes. Each group contained 30 Suffolk and 30 Texel ewes, selected based on the respective national maternal genetic indexes; i.e., either the NZ Maternal Worth (NZ group) or the €uro-star Replacement index (Irish groups). The impact of maternal genetic merit on reproductive traits such as litter size; lambing traits such as gestation length, birth weight, lambing difficulty, mothering ability; and productivity traits such as the number of lambs born and weaned was analyzed using linear mixed models. For binary traits, the impact of maternal genetic merit on reproductive traits such as conception to first artificial insemination (AI) service; lambing traits such as dystocia and perinatal lamb mortality; and productivity traits such as ewe survival was analyzed using logistic regression. NZ ewes outperformed Low Irish ewes for conception to first AI (P < 0.05) and litter size (P = 0.05). Irish ewes were more likely to suffer from dystocia [6.84 (High Irish) and 8.25 (Low Irish) times] compared to NZ ewes (P < 0.001); birth weight and perinatal mortality did not differ between groups (P > 0.05). Lambs born from NZ ewes were 4.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.89-11.55; P < 0.001] and 6.54 (95% CI: 2.56-16.71; P<0.001) times more likely to stand up and suckle unassisted relative to lambs born from High or Low Irish ewes, respectively. NZ and High Irish ewes had a greater number of lambs born and weaned throughout the duration of the study compared to their Low Irish counterparts (P<0.001). NZ ewes tended to be more likely to survive from one year to the next compared with Low Irish ewes (P=0.07). Irish ewes of high maternal genetic merit outperformed their low counterparts in total number of lambs born and weaned per ewe, but performance did not differ across other traits investigated. This highlights the importance of continuous development of the Irish maternal sheep index to ensure favorable improvements in reproductive, lambing, and productivity traits at the farm level. Overall, results demonstrate the suitability of NZ genetics in an Irish production system.

A new selection index percent emphasis method using subindex weights and genetic evaluation accuracy

The current international standard methodology to quantify trait percent emphasis in selection indexes is based on a simple multiplication of the relative contribution of each trait's economic value (converted to absolute value) and its genetic standard deviation. This method does not reflect the actual selection emphasis applied when the index is used in practice. The economic value does not reflect selection effort when traits differ considerably in their accuracy of evaluation, and no account is taken for either favorable or antagonistic correlations among traits. A new emphasis method adjusted by both accuracy and genetic correlation is proposed. Genetically highly correlated traits are grouped into subindexes by applying a hierarchical clustering method to the genetic correlation matrix. Then each trait's subindex emphasis is calculated within its subindex group, with a weighting included for trait accuracy. Finally, each subindex emphasis is converted to a full index emphasis according to the conventional relative emphasis of its corresponding subgroup. The method can also be applied to sets of breeding values and their economic weights. When applied to a New Zealand sheep breeding selection index where trait genetic correlations are distinct across subindex groups, the new method shrank the emphasis on low-heritability traits, including survival, from 51% to 19%; and expanded that on growth traits from 30% to 49%, better reflecting the selection pressure applied in reality. When genetic correlations across traits were similar, clustering became difficult. Accounting for accuracy affected traits' within-subindex group rankings, whereas the clustering to account for correlations affected all traits within a subgroup equally. Accounting for differences in trait accuracy when describing percent emphasis within selection indexes gives a more practical indication of the likely outcome of selecting on the index. Accounting for correlations among traits when defining percent emphasis made a significant difference only in a subset of case study examples.

Invited review: Beef-on-dairy-The generation of crossbred beef × dairy cattle

Because a growing proportion of the beef output in many countries originates from dairy herds, the most critical decisions about the genetic merit of most carcasses harvested are being made by dairy producers. Interest in the generation of more valuable calves from dairy females is intensifying, and the most likely vehicle is the use of appropriately selected beef bulls for mating to the dairy females. This is especially true given the growing potential to undertake more beef × dairy matings as herd metrics improve (e.g., reproductive performance) and technological advances are more widely adopted (e.g., sexed semen). Clear breed differences (among beef breeds but also compared with dairy breeds) exist for a whole plethora of performance traits, but considerable within-breed variability has also been demonstrated. Although such variability has implications for the choice of bull to mate to dairy females, the fact that dairy females themselves exhibit such genetic variability implies that "one size fits all" may not be appropriate for bull selection. Although differences in a whole series of key performance indicators have been documented between beef and beef-on-dairy animals, of particular note is the reported lower environmental hoofprint associated with beef-on-dairy production systems if the environmental overhead of the mature cow is attributed to the milk she eventually produces. Despite the known contribution of beef (i.e., both surplus calves and cull cows) to the overall gross output of most dairy herds globally, and the fact that each dairy female contributes half her genetic merit to her progeny, proxies for meat yield (i.e., veal or beef) are not directly considered in the vast majority of dairy cow breeding objectives. Breeding objectives to identify beef bulls suitable for dairy production systems are now being developed and validated, demonstrating the financial benefit of using such breeding objectives over and above a focus on dairy bulls or easy-calving, short-gestation beef bulls. When this approach is complemented by management-based decision-support tools, considerable potential exists to improve the profitability and sustainability of modern dairy production systems by exploiting beef-on-dairy breeding strategies using the most appropriate beef bulls.

Genetic and economic benefits of foreign sire contributions to a domestic sheep industry; including an Ireland-New Zealand case study

Background

Importation of foreign genetics is a widely used genetic improvement strategy. However, even if the foreign genetic merit is currently greater than the domestic genetic merit, differences in foreign and domestic trends mean that the long-term competitiveness of an importation strategy cannot be guaranteed. Gene flow models are used to quantify the impact that a specific subpopulation, such as foreign genetics, can have over time on the genetic or economic benefit of a domestic industry.

Methods

We used a deterministic recursive gene flow model to predict the commercial performance of lambs born across various subpopulations. Numerous breeding strategies were evaluated by varying market share, proportions of rams selected for mating, genetic trend, superiority of foreign genetics over domestic genetics and frequency of importation. Specifically, an Ireland-New Zealand case study was simulated to quantify the potential gain that could be made by using foreign sire contributions (New Zealand) in a domestic sheep industry (Ireland).

Results

Genetic and economic gains were generated from alternative breeding strategies. The ‘base scenario’ (i.e. representing the current industry) predicted an average genetic merit value of €2.51 for lambs born and an annualised cumulative benefit of €45 million (m) after 20 years. Maximum genetic (€9.45 for lambs born) and economic (annualised cumulative benefit of €180 m after 20 years) benefits were achieved by implementing the ‘PRO-intense-market scenario’ which involved shifting market share away from conservative domestic breeders and reducing the proportion of rams that were selected for mating by progressive domestic breeders from the top 40% to the top 20%, without the use of any foreign genetics. The ‘PROFOR scenario’, which considered the use of foreign and progressive domestic genetics, predicted an average genetic merit value of €7.37 for lambs born and an annualised cumulative benefit of €144 m, after 20 years.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that there is opportunity for a domestic industry to increase industry benefits without the use of foreign genetics but through an attempt to shift the market share away from conservative domestic breeders towards progressive domestic breeders. However, the importation and use of progressive foreign genetics may be an effective method to trigger a change in behaviour of conservative domestic breeders towards the use of progressive genetics.

Validation of a beef cattle maternal breeding objective based on a cross-sectional analysis of a large national cattle database

Despite the importance of validating any technology prior to recommendation for use, few studies exist in the scientific literature which have demonstrated the superior performance of high-ranking animals in a given total merit index; this is especially true for maternal cattle selection indexes. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the impact of the Irish total merit maternal-based index and provide the benefits of using the Irish total merit maternal-based beef index as part of a breeding policy. The validation exercise was undertaken using 269,407 records (which included the cow's own records and her progeny records) from 92,300 females differing in a total merit index for maternal value; a comparison was also made with the Irish terminal index. Association analyses were undertaken within the framework of linear and threshold mixed models; the traits analyzed were fertility (e.g., calving interval), slaughter (e.g., harvest weight), live weight (e.g., weaning weight), and producer-recorded traits (e.g., docility). All traits were analyzed with the maternal index and terminal index fitted as covariate(s) separately. Depending on the independent variable analyzed, the other fixed effects included: parity of cow, heterosis and recombination loss of cow and/or progeny, gender of progeny, and the estimated breeding value of the sire; contemporary group was included as a random effect. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of using total merit indexes to improve performance in a whole range of different traits, despite the often antagonistic genetic correlations among traits that underpin the index. Cows excelling on the maternal index had less calving difficulty, superior fertility performance, lighter carcasses, and live weight, as well as being more easily managed. Additionally, progeny of higher maternal index cows were lighter at birth and more docile albeit with a small impact on slaughter traits. In contrast, higher terminal index cows had more calving difficulty, compromised fertility and had heavier carcasses themselves as well as their progeny. While the differences in phenotypic performance between groups on maternal index was, in most instances, relatively small, the benefits are: (1) expected to be greater when more genetically extreme groups of animals are evaluated and (2) expected to accumulate over time given the cumulative and permanent properties of breeding schemes.

On-farm net benefit of genotyping candidate female replacement cattle and sheep

The net benefit from investing in any technology is a function of the cost of implementation and the expected return in revenue. The objective of the present study was to quantify, using deterministic equations, the net monetary benefit from investing in genotyping of commercial females. Three case studies were presented reflecting dairy cows, beef cows and ewes based on Irish population parameters; sensitivity analyses were also performed. Parameters considered in the sensitivity analyses included the accuracy of genomic evaluations, replacement rate, proportion of female selection candidates retained as replacements, the cost of genotyping, the sire parentage error rate and the age of the female when it first gave birth. Results were presented as an annualised monetary net benefit over the lifetime of an individual, after discounting for the timing of expressions. In the base scenarios, the net benefit was greatest for dairy, followed by beef and then sheep. The net benefit improved as the reliability of the genomic evaluations improved and, in fact, a negative net benefit of genotyping was less frequent when the reliability of the genomic evaluations was high. The impact of a 10% point increase in genomic reliability was, however, greatest in sheep, followed by beef and then dairy. The net benefit of genotyping female selection candidates reduced as replacement rate increased. As genotyping costs increased, the net benefit reduced irrespective of the percentage of selection candidates kept, the replacement rate or even the population considered. Nonetheless, the association between the genotyping cost and the net benefit of genotyping differed by the percentage of selection candidates kept. Across all replacement rates evaluated, retaining 25% of the selection candidates resulted in the greatest net benefit when genotyping cost was low but the lowest net benefit when genotyping cost was high. Genotyping breakeven cost was non-linearly associated with the percentage of selection candidates retained, reaching a maximum when 50% of selection candidates were retained, irrespective of replacement rate, genomic reliability or the population. The genotyping breakeven cost was also non-linearly associated with replacement rate. The approaches outlined within provide the back-end framework for a decision support tool to quantify the net benefit of genotyping, once parameterised by the relevant population metrics.

Population structure and breed composition prediction in a multi-breed sheep population using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism genotypes

Knowledge of population structure and breed composition of a population can be advantageous for a number of reasons; these include designing optimal (cross)breeding strategies in order to maximise non-additive genetic effects, maintaining flockbook integrity by authenticating animals being registered and as a quality control measure in the genotyping process. The objectives of the present study were to 1) describe the population structure of 24 sheep breeds, 2) quantify the breed composition of both flockbook-recorded and crossbred animals using single nucleotide polymorphism BLUP (SNP-BLUP), and 3) quantify the accuracy of breed composition prediction from low-density genotype panels containing between 2000 and 6000 SNPs. In total, 9334 autosomal SNPs on 11 144 flockbook-recorded animals and 1172 crossbred animals were used. The population structure of all breeds was characterised by principal component analysis (PCA) as well as the pairwise breed fixation index (Fst). The total number of animals, all of which were purebred, included in the calibration population for SNP-BLUP was 2579 with the number of animals per breed ranging from 9 to 500. The remaining 9559 flockbook-recorded animals, composite breeds and crossbred animals represented the test population; three breeds were excluded from breed composition prediction. The breed composition predicted using SNP-BLUP with 9334 SNPs was considered the gold standard prediction. The pairwise breed Fst ranged from 0.040 (between the Irish Blackface and Scottish Blackface) to 0.282 (between the Border Leicester and Suffolk). Principal component analysis revealed that the Suffolk from Ireland and the Suffolk from New Zealand formed distinct, non-overlapping clusters. In contrast, the Texel from Ireland and that from New Zealand formed integrated, overlapping clusters. Composite animals such as the Belclare clustered close to its founder breeds (i.e., Finn, Galway, Lleyn and Texel). When all 9334 SNPs were used to predict breed composition, an animal that had a majority breed proportion predicted to be ≥0.90 was defined as purebred for the present study. As the panel density decreased, the predicted breed proportion threshold, used to identify animals as purebred, also decreased (≥0.85 with 6000 SNPs to ≥0.60 with 2000 SNPs). In all, results from the study suggest that breed composition for purebred and crossbred animals can be determined with SNP-BLUP using ≥5000 SNPs.

Impact of birth and rearing type, as well as inaccuracy of recording, on pre-weaning lamb phenotypic and genetic merit for live weight

The objective of the present study was to quantify the impact of the systematic environmental effects of both birth and rearing type on pre-weaning lamb live weight, and to evaluate the repercussions of inaccurate recording of birth and rearing type on subsequent genetic evaluations. A total of 32,548 birth weight records, 35,770 forty-day weight records and 32,548 records for average daily gain (ADG) between birth and 40-day weight from the Irish national sheep database were used. For each lamb, a new variable, birth-rearing type, reflecting both the birth and rearing type of a lamb was generated by concatenating both parameters. The association between birth-rearing type and birth weight, 40-day weight, and ADG was estimated using linear mixed models. The repercussions of inaccurate recording of birth type were determined by quantifying the impact on sire estimated breeding value (EBV; with an accuracy of ≥ 35%), where one of the lambs born in a selection of twin litter births was assumed to have died at birth but the farmer recorded the birth and rearing type as a singleton. The heaviest mean birth weight was associated with lambs born and subsequently reared as singles (5.47 kg); the lightest mean birth weight was associated with lambs born and reared as triplets (4.10 kg). The association between birth-rearing type and 40-day weight differed by dam parity (P < 0.001). Lambs reared by first parity dams as singles, irrespective of birth type were, on average, heavier at 40-day weighing than lambs reared as multiples, but as parity number increased, single-born lambs reared as twins outperformed triplet-born lambs reared as singles. Irrespective of the trait evaluated, the correlation between sire EBV estimated from the accurately recorded data and sire EBV estimated from the data with recording errors was strong ranging from 0.93 (birth weight) to 0.97 (ADG). The EBV for sires with progeny data manipulated were 0.14 kg, 0.34 kg and 5.56 g/d less for birth weight, 40-day weight and ADG, respectively, compared to their equivalent EBV calculated using accurately recorded data. Results from this study highlight the importance of precise recording of birth-rearing type by producers for the generation of accurate genetic evaluations.

Economic values for health and feed efficiency traits of dual-purpose cattle in marginal areas

Economic values of clinical mastitis, claw disease, and feed efficiency traits along with 16 additional production and functional traits were estimated for the dairy population of the Slovak Pinzgau breed using a bioeconomic approach. In the cow-calf population (suckler cow population) of the same breed, the economic values of feed efficiency traits along with 15 further production and functional traits were calculated. The marginal economic values of clinical mastitis and claw disease incidence in the dairy system were -€ 70.65 and -€ 26.73 per case per cow and year, respectively. The marginal economic values for residual feed intake were -€ 55.15 and -€ 54.64/kg of dry matter per day for cows and breeding heifers in the dairy system and -€ 20.45, -€ 11.30, and -€ 6.04/kg of dry matter per day for cows, breeding heifers, and fattened animals in the cow-calf system, respectively, all expressed per cow and year. The sums of the relative economic values for the 2 new health traits in the dairy system and for residual feed intake across all cattle categories in both systems were 1.4 and 8%, respectively. Within the dairy production system, the highest relative economic values were for milk yield (20%), daily gain of calves (20%), productive lifetime (10%), and cow conception rate (8%). In the cow-calf system, the most important traits were weight gain of calves from 120 to 210 d and from birth to 120 d (19 and 14%, respectively), productive lifetime (17%), and cow conception rate (13%). Based on the calculation of economic values for traits in the dual-purpose Pinzgau breed, milk production and growth traits remain highly important in the breeding goal, but their relative importance should be adapted to new production and economic conditions. The economic importance of functional traits (especially of cow productive lifetime and fertility) was sufficiently high to make the inclusion of these traits into the breeding goal necessary. An increased interest of consumers in animal welfare and quality of dairy farm products should probably lead to the incorporation of health traits (clinical mastitis incidence and somatic cells score) into the breeding goal. However, keeping carcass traits in the breeding goal of the Slovak Pinzgau breed does not seem to be relevant to the long-term market situation.