Records of 4,595 lactations from 2,254 cows, daughters of 145 sires and 1,618 dams of Gyr breed from 18 herds, with observed calving time from 1980 to 1997, were used to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters of milk yield up to 305 days and projected partial lactations. From 91, 151, 211 or 241 days in milk, 10, 30, 50 or 70% of the milk yield were projected for the observed and 305 days of lactation. The genetic parameters were obtained using MTDFREML system. Independent of the trait, as fixed effects the herd-year, calving season and calving age of the cow were included in the animal model, with linear and quadratic effects and it was considered as random effects of animal, the permanent environment and error. Heritability estimates for milk yield up to 305 days (P305d) was 0.17 (0.047), and for the estimated projected production (PE) of one percentage of lactations, ranged from 0.17 (0.048) to 0.27 (0.056). Genetic and phenotypic correlations estimates between P305d and PE ranged from 0.94 (0.466) to 1 (0.589) and from 0.73 (0.236) to 1 (0.194), respectively. The production estimated by projecting the milk productions of 10% of the lactations from 91, 151 and 211 days or by the projection of 10, 30, 50 or 70% of the lactations from the 241 days were similar to that obtained for the milk production up to 305 days, and that the milk productions estimated by the projections of the milk productions were highly correlated with the milk productions up to 305 days.
animal model; genetic correlations; Gyr cattle; heritability; partial projected lactation; restricted maximum likelihood
