Evaluation of various objective measurements utilized for evaluation of milking speed, udder conformation and general body size in dairy cows

Udder measurements and milk flow measurements were taken on 282 cows over a period of up to seven lactations for a total of 1,342 udder measurements and 1,386 milk flow measurements.

These measurements were analyzed to determine which, if any, accurately reflect animal differences between the two different selection lines. It was found that the group of cows which were selected for production had higher production, larger udders, more pendulous udders, milked slower and a weaker udder suspensory system in contrast to the other line of cows which were selected for both udder conformation and production.

Estimations of heritability and repeatability were made with ranges equal to 0.0 to 0.314 and .318 to .836, respectively.

A smaller study was included which studied various body and hoof measurements as well as udder measurements. The number of observations available significantly limited the analysis performed and consequently the conclusions made.