Conformation Recording: Relationship between conformation and functional traits for dairy and dual purpose cattle

General considerations on the use of conformation data for longevity

Conformation appraisal of cattle was introduced with the goal of comparing animals with breed standards (true type model). An additional goal of conformation recording was to be a simple predictor of production potential and longevity.

Since these times, many new traits have been recorded and evaluated for dairy and dual-purpose cattle regarding health and longevity. These traits have been supplemental to conformation recording and have even replaced them for certain purposes.

However, conformation recording is still an efficient way to assess many cows during a relatively short period of time and requires less commitment and time from the dairy producer to collect the data.

The usefulness of this data for the prediction of health and longevity should be considered in the setting up of a conformation recording system.

In Appendix 5, the relationship between some of the ICAR standard conformation linear traits for dairy and dual-purpose cattle and health and longevity is described in detail. This information can be used to show farmers how the conformation scores can help him to breed a kind of cow which is able to perform the best in the herd.