Proceedings

Dairy goat lactation records, obtained from the National Cooperative Dairy Herd Improvement Program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory, were examined to evaluate relationships among production and reproduction traits. Five breeds of does, kidding from 1966 through 1980, were represented: Alpine, La Mancha, Nubian, Saanen and Toggenburg. Production traits included milk and fat yield and days in milk. Reproduction traits included conception month, days open, days dry, days carried kid during lactation, gestation length and kidding interval. Overall means for production traits were 750 kg milk, 28 kg fat and 258 days in milk. About 97 percent of conceptions occurred from August through January. Overall means for reproduction traits were: 226 days open, 68 days days dry, 33 days carried kid, 151 days gestation and 360 days kidding interval. Overall correlations between production traits were 0.89 for milk with fat yield, and 0.55 for milk and fat yield with days in milk. Overall correlations between reproduction traits were close to zero, except days open with days carried kid (r equal -0.43) and days dry (r equal -0.18). Overall correlations between milk yield, fat yield and days in milk were 0.34, 0.33 and 0.72 with days open; -0.16, -0.12 and -0.23 with days dry; 0.17, 0.16 and 0.31 with days carried kid; and near zero with gestation length and kidding interval. Correlations within breed or lactation were close to overall values