scholarly journals The association between age at first calving and survival of first lactation heifers within dairy herds

animal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1877-1882 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.E. Sherwin ◽  
C.D. Hudson ◽  
A. Henderson ◽  
M.J. Green
2020 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 104108
Author(s):  
M.P. Turiello ◽  
C. Vissio ◽  
A.J. Heinrichs ◽  
L.C. Issaly ◽  
A. Larriestra

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 14-14
Author(s):  
E Knapp ◽  
P Chapaux ◽  
L Istasse ◽  
K Touati

Reproduction performances in cattle regularly decreased with time. For example, the number of inseminations per pregnancy increased in dairy herds from 1.43 to 1.75 and the calving interval (CI) from 385 to 412 days in 10 years (Leroy et al., 2006). Such a reduction is responsible for rising income losses for breeders. In Belgium, an increase of the age at first calving (AFC) by 3 months and of the CI by 20 days induced a gross margin reduction of about 500 € /cow/year.


2014 ◽  
Vol 04 (09) ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Mauren Salazar-Carranza ◽  
Gloriana Castillo-Badilla ◽  
Jaime Murillo-Herrera ◽  
Frank Hueckmann-Voss ◽  
Juan José Romero-Zúñiga

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Dam Otten ◽  
Nils Toft ◽  
Peter Thorup Thomsen ◽  
Hans Houe

Abstract Background The modern dairy industry routinely generates data on production and disease. Therefore, the use of these cheap and at times even “free” data to predict a given state of welfare in a cost-effective manner is evaluated in the present study. Such register data could potentially be used in the identification of herds at risk of having animal welfare problems. The present study evaluated the diagnostic performance of four routinely registered indicators for identifying herds with high lameness prevalence among 40 Danish dairy herds. Indicators were extracted as within-herd annual means for a one-year period for cow mortality, bulk milk somatic cell count, proportion of lean cows at slaughter and the standard deviation (SD) of age at first calving. The target condition “high lameness prevalence” was defined as a within-herd prevalence of lame cows of  ≥ 16% (third quartile). Diagnostic performance was evaluated by constructing and analysing Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and their area under the curve (AUC) for single indicators and indicator combinations. Sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of the indicators were assessed at the optimal cut-off based on data and compared to a set of predefined cut-off levels (national annual means or 90-percentile). Results Cow mortality had the highest AUC (0.76), while adding the three other indicators to the model did not yield significant increase in AUC. Cow mortality and SD of age at first calving had highest Se (100%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 72–100%), while highest Sp was found for the proportion of lean cows at slaughter (83%, 95% CI: 66–93%). The highest differential positive rate (DPR = 0.53) optimizing both Se and Sp was found for cow mortality. Optimal cut-off points were lower than the presently used pre-defined cut-offs. Conclusions The selected register-based indicators proved to be able to identify herds with high lameness prevalences. Optimized cut-offs improved the predictive ability and should therefore be preferred in official control schemes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Amirpour Najafabadi ◽  
Saeid Ansari Mahyari ◽  
Mohammad Ali Edriss ◽  
Eva Strapakova

Abstract. In recent decades, there has been a downward trend in length of productive life (LPL) in Holstein cows across industrial dairy herds. This study examined the factors that might influence LPL and estimated the genetic parameters of LPL in Holstein dairy herds in Isfahan province, Iran. LPL is defined as the number of days between the first calving and the end of recording. Data consisted of 35 137 records of productive life from registered cows that started first calving between 1991 and 2012. Cows that remained alive at the end of the study were considered right-censored. The average lifetime for culled and censored cows was 938 and 1003 days, respectively. A survival analysis was applied using a proportional risk model with a Weibull distribution. Milk production was divided into five groups, where the culling risk of cows with a milk yield of less than 1.5 standard deviations (SD) of the mean was 3.5 times greater than the culling risk of high-producing cows producing more than 1.5 SD above the mean. Results showed that culling risk increased almost linearly beyond the milk production groups. Furthermore, somatic cell count and age at first calving significantly increased the culling risk across the herds. The results for the combined effect of parity  ×  stage of lactation showed a decrease in culling risk during the first calving, and an increase during the further parities. Moreover, a higher age at first calving was observed, reflecting a lower risk of culling. Estimated heritability were 0.074 and 0.18 based on a logarithmic scale and original scale, respectively. According to the results, use of Weibull models showed that the proportional culling risk was higher in low-production cows, but a higher risk ratio was revealed in high-milk-production cows. However, there were some fluctuations in genetic trends, but an overall increase was observed in LPL which will lead to a longer LPL of Holstein cows in Isfahan province.


Author(s):  
З.С. САНОВА

В статье представлены материалы о взаимосвязи продолжительности продуктивного использования коров с характеристикой устойчивости к деградации, с возрастом отела и удоем. В исследованной, разнородной по происхождению, группе животных для прогноза продуктивного периода коров, обусловленного устойчивостью к деградации и возрастом первого отела, пригодно уравнение регрессии, аргументами в котором являются индекс устойчивости, возраст первого отела в первой и второй степенях. Коэффициент корреляции межу предсказанными значениями продуктивного периода и его фактическими величинами в I группе составляет 0,502, во II - 0,604. При этом крайние варианты прогнозируются со статистическими ошибками 5 мес при оценке индекса устойчивости по 2 лактациям и 4,1 мес по 3, а средние варианты, соответственно, 1,6 и 1,51 мес. Индекс устойчивости к процессу старения является важной характеристикой биологических особенностей коров, определяющий их продуктивное долголетие. Его оценка по первым 2 и 3 лактациям имеет прямолинейную связь с продуктивным периодом (r=0,4109 и r=0,5270), соответственно. Зависимость продуктивного периода от возраста первого отела криволинейная — с увеличением возраста первого отела сокращается срок продуктивного использования, при возрасте первого отела более 1400 дней срок продуктивного использования колеблется от 1,33 до 1,41 лактации. Коэффициент корреляции между этими характеристиками коров составляет - 0,2164 в I и - 0,2620 во II группах. The article presents materials about the relationship of the duration of productive use of cows with the characteristic of resistance to degradation, with the age of calving and milk yield. In the studied group of animals, which is heterogeneous in origin, the regression equation is suitable for predicting the productive period of cows due to resistance to degradation and the age of the first calving, the arguments of which are the stability index, the age of the first calving in the first and second degrees. The correlation coefficient between the predicted values of the productive period and its actual values in group I is 0.502, in group II - 0.604. At the same time, the extreme variants are predicted with statistical errors of 5 months when evaluating the stability index for 2 lactations and 4.1 months for 3, and the average variants, respectively, are 1.6 and 1.51 months. The index of resistance to the aging process is an important characteristic of the biological characteristics of cows, which determines their productive longevity. Its estimate for the first 2 and 3 lactations has a direct relationship with the productive period (r=0.4109 and r=0.5270), respectively. The dependence of the productive period age at first calving curvilinear with increasing age at first calving reduces the time to productive use, while age at first calving of more than 1400 days, the period of productive use ranges from 1.33 to 1.41 lactation. The correlation coefficient between these characteristics of cows is-0.2164 in I and-0.2620 in II groups.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1031
Author(s):  
George Lindley ◽  
Jim Willshire ◽  
Steven Van Winden

In autumn calving dairy herds, treatment of cattle not observed in estrus prior to the breeding season is common. Routinely, a single prostaglandin or a modified Ovsynch (MOFT) protocol are used—without evidence of their relative effectiveness. This study compares the effects on conception, associated timing, and profitability of administering cows with prostaglandin or MOFT treatment. A hundred and ninety-two Holstein-Friesian cows from three herds without an observed estrus within 28-days before mating start date were randomly treated with d-cloprostenol (PGOD) or an 8-day MOFT protocol. The association of treatment and calving-breeding start-date interval (CBSI) on the risk of conception were investigated. Partial budget, sensitivity analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation was used to assess economic performance, identify critical input variables, and explore the effects of input uncertainties on model output. There was a significant association between MOFT treatment and conception during 21 and 84 days after mating start date, compared to PGOD. MOFT treatment was associated with a mean net benefit of £58.21 (sd £19.42) and £27.29 (sd £17.75) per cow for herds with a fixed or variable dry-off date, respectively. The relative profitability of an MOFT protocol is dependent on its effects on barren rate and herd dry-off strategy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmita Shrestha ◽  
Rebanta Kumar Bhattarai ◽  
Himal Luitel ◽  
Surendra Karki ◽  
Hom Bahadur Basnet

Abstract Background The threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) exists globally and has been listed as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization. One of the sources of MRSA emergence is livestock and its products, often raised in poor husbandry conditions. There are limited studies in Nepal to understand the prevalence of MRSA in dairy animals and its antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profile. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chitwan, one of the major milk-producing districts of Nepal, from February 2018 to September 2019 to estimate the prevalence of MRSA in milk samples and its AMR profile. The collected milk samples (n = 460) were screened using the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and positive samples were subjected to microbiological analysis to isolate and identify S. aureus. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to identify the presence of the mecA gene and screen for MRSA. Results In total, 41.5% (191/460) of milk samples were positive in the CMT test. Out of 191 CMT positive milk samples, the biochemical tests showed that the prevalence of S. aureus was 15.2% (29/191). Among the 29 S. aureus isolates, 6.9% (2/29) were identified as MRSA based on the detection of a mecA gene. This indicates that that 1.05% (2/191) of mastitis milk samples had MRSA. The antibiotic sensitivity test showed that 75.9% (22/29) and 48.3% (14/29) S. aureus isolates were found to be sensitive to Cefazolin and Tetracycline respectively (48.3%), whereas 100% of the isolates were resistant to Ampicillin. In total 96.6% (28/29) of S. aureus isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Conclusions This study revealed a high prevalence of S. aureus-mediated subclinical mastitis in dairy herds in Chitwan, Nepal, with a small proportion of it being MRSA carrying a mecA gene. This S. aureus, CoNS, and MRSA contaminated milk poses a public health risk due to the presence of a phenotype that is resistant to very commonly used antibiotics. It is suggested that dairy herds be screened for subclinical mastitis and treatments for the animals be based on antibiotic susceptibility tests to reduce the prevalence of AMR. Furthermore, future studies should focus on the Staphylococcus spp. to explore the antibiotic resistance genes in addition to the mecA gene to ensure public health.


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