Breeding concepts for udder health

Liability to mastitis as well as somatic cell count are discussed comparati vely with respect to their importance as traits in the breeding goal of dai ry breeds. New results about the heritability of mastitis frequency and abo ut genetic correlations with other traits (milk performance, culling rates, type traits) are outlined. The question is raised if there are possibiliti es for some sort of recording scheme for clinical mastitis data under Germa n conditions. Furthermore it is tried to identify candidates for future ind icator traits for udder health. Marker assisted preselection of candidate b ulls will soon become a new option to counterbalance the tendency for a det erioration of udder health.