Awareness and interest in calf health and wellbeing is intensifying, prompting change in the management and breeding decisions of producers and associated policy-makers. The objectives of the present study were to 1) quantify the risk factors associated with subjectively measured scores of vigor and birth size as well as diagnoses of scour and pneumonia in a large national dataset of beef calves, and 2) to estimate the contribution of genetic variance to such phenotypic measures. After edits, the data consisted of health and birth size data subjectively scored by producers on 88,207 calves born in 6,126 Irish beef herds. Vigor was recorded on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good). Birth size was also scored on a scale of 1 (very small) to 5 (very large). Scour and pneumonia were both scored independently based on the suspected number of occurrence of each (0 = no occurrence, 1 = one occurrence, or 2 = more than one occurrence). On average, 14.7% of calves were recorded as having had at least one occurrence of scour within the first 5 mo of life, whereas 6.4% of calves were recorded as having had at least one occurrence of pneumonia within the first 5 mo of life. Relative to female calves, male calves had a worse vigor score and a suspected greater incidence of both scour and pneumonia. Relative to singletons, twins were, on average, smaller at birth, they had a worse vigor score, and they were more prone to scour. Calves born in the later periods of the calving season (i.e., late and very late) had a greater incidence of scour relative to calves in the herd born earlier in the calving season. Heritability estimates for vigor, birth size, and pneumonia were 0.12 (0.02), 0.33 (0.03), and 0.08 (0.02), respectively; no genetic variance was detected for scour. Breeding for vigorous calves that are less susceptible to pneumonia could provide producers with an additional strategy to ensure consumer concerns regarding food quality, safety, and calf wellbeing are being met.

中文翻译：

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与小牛健康和活力特征相关的遗传和非遗传因素

对小牛健康和福祉的认识和兴趣正在加强，促使生产者和相关决策者的管理和育种决策发生变化。本研究的目的是 1) 量化与主观测量的活力和出生体型评分相关的风险因素，以及在大型国家牛肉小牛数据集中诊断腹泻和肺炎，以及 2) 估计遗传的贡献这种表型测量的差异。编辑后，数据包括生产者对 6,126 头爱尔兰牛群中出生的 88,207 头小牛进行主观评分的健康和出生体型数据。活力以 1（非常差）到 5（非常好）的等级记录。出生大小也以 1（非常小）到 5（非常大）的等级进行评分。腹泻和肺炎均根据疑似发生次数独立评分（0 = 未发生，1 = 发生一次，或 2 = 发生多于一次）。平均而言，14.7% 的小牛在生命的前 5 个月内至少发生过一次腹泻，而 6.4% 的小牛在生命的前 5 个月内至少发生过一次肺炎。相对于雌性小牛，雄性小牛的活力评分更差，并且疑似腹泻和肺炎的发病率更高。与单胞胎相比，双胞胎平均出生时更小，他们的活力得分更差，而且更容易冲刷。相对于在产犊季节较早出生的牛群中的犊牛，在产犊季节后期（即晚和非常晚）出生的犊牛的冲刷发生率更高。活力、出生体型和肺炎的遗传力估计值分别为 0.12 (0.02)、0.33 (0.03) 和 0.08 (0.02)；没有检测到冲刷的遗传变异。为不易感染肺炎的强壮小牛进行育种可以为生产者提供额外的策略，以确保满足消费者对食品质量、安全和小牛健康的担忧。