Breeding strategies for the Italian Jersey

Abstract

Jersey dairy cows were introduced in Italy in the early 1980’s, and in 1991 the Italian Jersey Herd book was established. During the last decade the number of registered cows has doubled and nowadays there are more than 5000 registered cows from 488 herds. Most herds have Jersey and Holstein cows even if some “only-jersey” herds do exist. Nevertheless, the Italian Jersey population is, from a genetic point of view, the result of independent breeders’ decisions with regard to importation rather than the result of a national selection program with genetic goals clearly defined. As a result of the growing interest of the breeders, national genetic breeding value estimation.......

Keywords

• Jersey, genetic trend, aggregate index