Lactation traits associated with short- and long-term once-daily milking performance in New Zealand crossbred dairy cattle

The main objectives of this study were to establish the relative value of milk yields under twice-daily milking (TDM) as a predictor of yield and yield loss under once-daily milking (ODM), and to understand the role of residual milk and udder storage capacity-related traits in regulating yield and yield loss during ODM. A Holstein-Friesian × Jersey crossbred herd was established over 2 seasons (years), as 2 individual cohorts on the same farm, managed on a pasture-based system over 4 lactations. Short-term (1-wk) ODM studies, with a starting total of 690 cows, were undertaken in mid- and late-lactation in lactation 2 and in mid-lactation in lactation 3 for each cohort. A 10-wk study of ODM performance began in mid-lactation in lactation 3, whereas lactation 4 was a full-lactation assessment of ODM. In the short-term studies, milk yield under ODM was well predicted (R2 = 0.7 to 0.8 in 5 of 6 studies) by the daily yield under TDM in the week before ODM. Yield loss (kg/d) increased with increasing milk yield and with increasing somatic cell count (SCC), although predictions were relatively poor (R2 = 0.09 to 0.30). Yield loss (%) decreased with increasing TDM yield in 3 of the 6 studies and was positively correlated with SCC during ODM. Nevertheless, ODM yield loss, in absolute or percentage terms, was a poorly repeatable trait in grazing cows. Part of the variation in yield loss percentage (30%) was positively associated with residual milk (%), measured pretrial, during measurement of functional udder capacity in lactation 3. Total production (kg of milk) over the full-lactation ODM study in lactation 4 was correlated with total production in the 10-wk trial in lactation 3 (r = 0.72 and 0.63 for cohorts 1 and 2, respectively). Identifying the highest- and lowest-producing 10% of animals during the full lactation of ODM indicated that poor production was associated with high yields of residual milk (measured in lactation 3) and, conversely, high production was associated with low yields of residual milk, relative to the other 80% of animals. These same “high” and “low” production groups from lactation 4 had similar differences in performance in the earlier short-term studies and a larger or smaller percentage yield loss associated with the residual milk measurement. Breeding strategies for ODM may benefit, therefore, from greater emphasis on selecting for a low residual milk fraction to optimize milking performance. Nevertheless, the level of milk production under TDM is a strong phenotypic predictor of milk production under ODM.