Review: Opportunities and challenges for the genetic selection of dairy calf disease traits

Interest in dairy cow health continues to grow as we better understand health’s relationship with production potential and animal welfare. Over the past decade, efforts have been made to incorporate health traits into national genetic evaluations. However, they have focused on the mature cow, with calf health largely being neglected. Diarrhea and respiratory disease comprise the main illnesses with regards to calf health. Conventional methods to control calf disease involve early separation of calves from the dam and housing calves individually. However, public concern regarding these methods, and growing evidence that these methods may negatively impact calf development, mean the dairy industry may move away from these practices. Genetic selection may be a promising tool to address these major disease issues. In this review, we examined current literature for enhancing calf health through genetics and discussed alternative approaches to improve calf health via the use of epidemiological modelling approaches, and the potential of indirectly selecting for improved calf health through improving colostrum quality. Heritability estimates on the observed scale for diarrhea ranged from 0.03 to 0.20, while for respiratory disease estimates ranged from 0.02 to 0.21. The breadth in these ranges is due, at least in part, to differences in disease prevalence, population structure, data editing and models, as well as data collection practices, which should be all considered when comparing literature values. Incorporation of epidemiological theory into quantitative genetics provides an opportunity to better determine the level of genetic variation in disease traits, as it accounts for disease transmission among contemporaries. Colostrum intake is a major determinant for whether a calf develops either respiratory disease or diarrhea. Colostrum traits have the advantage of being measured and reported on a continuous scale, which removes the issues classically associated with binary disease traits. Overall, genetic selection for improved calf health is feasible. However, to ensure maximum response, first steps by any industry members should focus efforts on standardizing recording practices and encouragement of uploading information to genetic evaluation centres through herd management software, as high-quality phenotypes are the backbone of any successful breeding program.