Responses to selection against clinical mastitis in the Norwegian cattle population

The genetic trend for clinical mastitis was estimated for Norwegian Cattle, a population in which mastitis resistance has been included in the breeding programme since 1978. More than 1.2 million first-lactation daughters, with clinical mastitis records registered from 1978 to 1995, bred by 2043 sires, were analysed with a linear sire model. For bulls born from 1974 to 1990 a flat genetic trend for clinical mastitis was found. However, bull sires born from 1983 onwards, selected on a breeding goal with increased weight on mastitis relative to milk production, showed consistently larger and favourable selection differentials for mastitis relative to bull sires born earlier, which had an average selection differential of approximately zero. This will influence genetic trend in the population through their sons, which were born from 1990 onwards.