Genetic investigations on male and female fertility in cattle

More than one million inseminations from Red Danish (RDM), Black and White Danish (SDM) and Danish Jersey (DJ) bulls were analyzed to obtain heritability estimates on non-return rate (NR%). The results ranged from 0.010 ± 0.003 to 0.036 ± 0.009. Three NR% and three methods of calculation are used in the analyses.Investigations on 32,100 first calving intervals (CI) within the same breeds yielded heritability estimates of 0.096±0.014, 0.030±0.011 and 0.031±0.018 for RDM, SDM and DJ, respectively.The phenotypic correlations between the bulls' own (NR%) fertility and that of their daughters' (CI) were ?0.17, ?0.16 and 0.10 for RDM, SDM and DJ, the corresponding genetic correlations being ?0.30, ?0.35 and 0.20.It is suggested that in a possible breeding scheme for fertility, attention should concentrate on the female's side (progeny testing).