The effect of space allowance and milk yield level on the performance and behaviour of dairy cattle housed in straw yards

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 108-108
Author(s):  
J. A. Fregonesi ◽  
J.D. Leaver

Space allowance could be an important variable affecting production, health, reproductive performance and behaviour of dairy cattle. Also, high and low yielding cows may have different ways of coping with insufficient space allowance. The aim of this experiment was to study the influence of space allowance and milk yield level on the performance and behaviour of strawyard housed dairy cows.The experiment was carried out using 24 Holstein Friesian cows with two groups in early lactation of high (over 30 kg/day milk yield) and two groups in late lactation of low yield (under 25 kg/day milk yield). The groups were allocated to strawyard systems with low stocking density (bed area/cow = 9 m2; pen area/cow = 13.5 m2; feed face width/cow = 1.5 m) or high stocking density (bed area/cow = 4.5 m2; pen area/cow = 6.75 m2; feed face width/cow = 0.75m) conforming to a changeover design with two periods, each of four weeks. The cows were fed a total mixed ration ad libitum and 2kg/cow/day of concentrate in the milking parlour. All animals were milked twice daily.

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 108-108
Author(s):  
J. A. Fregonesi ◽  
J.D. Leaver

Space allowance could be an important variable affecting production, health, reproductive performance and behaviour of dairy cattle. Also, high and low yielding cows may have different ways of coping with insufficient space allowance. The aim of this experiment was to study the influence of space allowance and milk yield level on the performance and behaviour of strawyard housed dairy cows.The experiment was carried out using 24 Holstein Friesian cows with two groups in early lactation of high (over 30 kg/day milk yield) and two groups in late lactation of low yield (under 25 kg/day milk yield). The groups were allocated to strawyard systems with low stocking density (bed area/cow = 9 m2; pen area/cow = 13.5 m2; feed face width/cow = 1.5 m) or high stocking density (bed area/cow = 4.5 m2; pen area/cow = 6.75 m2; feed face width/cow = 0.75m) conforming to a changeover design with two periods, each of four weeks. The cows were fed a total mixed ration ad libitum and 2kg/cow/day of concentrate in the milking parlour. All animals were milked twice daily.


animal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 796-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lawrence ◽  
M. O’Donovan ◽  
T.M. Boland ◽  
E. Lewis ◽  
E. Kennedy

1990 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 451
Author(s):  
TM Davison ◽  
WD Jarrett ◽  
R Clark

An experiment was conducted with Holstein-Friesian cows to determine the effect on milk yield and composition of feeding different amounts of meat-and-bone meal (MBM). Thirty-two cows grazed either tropical grass pastures fertilised with nitrogen (GN) or tropical grass-legume pasture (GL). Cows were offered 2.5 kg DM/day of a molasses supplement incorporating 1 of 4 levels of MBM: 0, 250, 500 or 750 g DM/day. The experiment was conducted over the first 160 days of lactation. With GN pastures, fat-corrected milk (FCM) yield (kg/cow.day) for days 1-160 of lactation was linearly related to the intake of MBM (kg DM/cow.day) and was described by the equation FCM = 14.0 + 1.84 MBM (P<0.01, R2 = 0.95). Most of this response occurred in the first 100 days of lactation, when significant I (P<0.05) relationships between milk yield, FCM yield and intake of MBM were found. Milk yield and FCM yield of cows grazing grass-legume pastures were increased by feeding MBM, but the FCM response was a mean of 32% less than with the nitrogen-fertilised pasture and non-significant at the 5% confidence level. The following mean values over 160 days were recorded for cows on GN and GL pastures, respectively: milk yield, 15.8 and 17.4 kg/day; FCM yield, 14.6 and 16.7 kg/day; butterfat, 3.54 and 3.69%; solids-not-fat, 8.40 and 8.59%; lactose, 4.91 and 4.95%. It was concluded that a MBM supplement will increase the milk yield for cows grazing nitrogen-fertilised pastures, but only during early lactation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 933 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C. Granzin ◽  
G. McL. Dryden

Summary. Monensin was fed to Holstein–Friesian cows in early lactation to study its effects on concentrations of blood metabolites, feed intake, body condition and milk production. In the first experiment, 18 Holstein–Friesian cows were randomly stratified into 6 similar groups of cows based on parity and previous milk yield. Cows within these groups were assigned randomly to be fed either 0, 150 or 300 mg of monensin per day. Monensin was fed as a component of a 1 kg grain supplement at 0600 h daily from 14 days prepartum to 84 days postpartum. Mean milk yields (kg/day) of cows supplemented with monensin at 150 mg/day (23.0) and 300 mg/day (23.7) were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of unsupplemented cows (21.1). Milk fat and protein contents were not affected by monensin feeding but daily yields of milk fat and protein differed significantly (P<0.05) between treatments. Monensin supplemented at 300 mg per day significantly (P<0.05) reduced the molar proportion of rumen acetate and increased the molar proportion of rumen propionate. Monensin fed at either 150 or 300 mg/day significantly (P<0.05) increased the ratio of plasma glucose: β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), but had no effect on concentrations of blood acetoacetate, serum nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), plasma glucose or BHB. Monensin had no effect on liveweight change or condition score. In the second experiment, 12 Holstein–Friesian cows in early lactation were blocked on parity into 3 groups of 4 cows, and 2 cows within each block were of either high, or low genetic merit. Monensin (none or 320 mg per day) and genetic merit were assigned as a 2 by 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Monensin supplementation commenced 28 days prepartum and ended 56 days postpartum. Monensin caused a significant (P<0.05) increase in feed intake (21.6 v. 23.2 kg/day) and significantly reduced plasma BHB concentration (64.0 v. 6.7 mg/dL). Cows with a higher genetic merit had a significantly (P<0.05) higher milk yield (27.2 kg/day) compared to cows of low genetic merit (26.3 kg/day). Low genetic merit cows fed monensin had significantly (P<0.05) lower daily milk fat yield, lower serum NEFA concentration and higher plasma glucose concentration compared to low genetic merit cows not fed monensin, or high genetic merit cows. Serum insulin and bovine somatotrophin concentrations were unaffected by the treatments. The results of these experiments suggest that with Holstein–Friesian cows in early lactation, the increase in hepatic propionate supply caused by monensin supplementation increases glucose synthesis and subsequent milk production when the requirements of the mammary gland for glucose are not otherwise being met. If the glucose requirements of the mammary gland are being satisfied, monensin decreases ketogenesis and the mobilisation of adipose tissue. Monensin had a positive effect on intake in this study.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2006 ◽  
pp. 86-86
Author(s):  
G Wellwood ◽  
J K Margerison

Mastitis is a complex disease causing inflammation of the udder, which has been estimated to cost the dairy farmer between £40-£117/cow per year (Stott et al., 2002). Economic loss occurs as a result of discarded milk, reduced milk yield and milk quality, increased vet costs and an increase in replacement costs. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of breed on the incidence of mastitis and somatic cell counts and milk production capabilities of Holstein Friesian, Brown Swiss and Brown Swiss crossbred cows.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Kolenda ◽  
Dariusz Piwczyński ◽  
Marcin Brzozowski ◽  
Beata Sitkowska ◽  
Piotr Wójcik

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the changes in selected production and functional traits of Polish Holstein-Friesian cows after switching from a conventional (CMS) to an automatic milking system (AMS). The study consisted of 3398 Polish Holstein- Friesian dairy cows, from 16 herds in which CMS was changed to AMS. Cows were in their 1st (L1) or 2nd lactation (L2). The data consisted of milk yield [MY, kg], fat content [FC, %], protein content [PC, %], dry matter [DM, %], lactose content [LC, %], urea content [MU, mg/l], somatic cell count [SCC, thous./ml] and score [SCS, log]. The milking system had a significant impact on milk yield, fat, lactose, dry matter and urea contents. Regardless of lactation number, milk derived from CMS was characterised by higher values for FC, PC, DM SCC and SCS, while milk from AMS had higher MY, LC and MU. Multifactor analysis of variance also confirmed significant effect of herd, season, herd × milking system interaction on SCS in milk of cows in L1. In the studied herds change from CMS to AMS was evaluated separately for cows in L1 and L2. The transitioning from CMS to AMS resulted in the decrease of fat content in 6 L1 and 7 L2 herds, dry matter in 8 L1 and 5 L2 herds. SCS in milk also decreased in 4 L1 and 5 L2 herds. The change caused the increase of MY in 11 L1 and 9 L2 herds, lactose content in 6 L1 and 4 L2 herds and urea content in 9 L1 and 10 L2 herds. AMS may positively affect milk yield and health status, however, the change of milking system should be also accompanied by the change in herd management.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 338 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. VAHLSTEN ◽  
E. MÄNTYSAARI ◽  
I. STRANDÉN

Pedigree data from national breeding value evaluations were used in calculation of the coefficient and rate of inbreeding, average coefficient and rate of relationship and generation intervals for the Finnish Ayrshire and Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle populations. The data had 1,366,555 Ayrshire and 377,869 Holstein-Friesian animals. The mean coefficient of inbreeding for Ayrshire and Holstein-Friesian animals born in the 1990s was 2.29% and 0.90%, respectively, and the trend was towards higher inbreeding values. The average coefficient of relationship, mean increase in inbreeding and generation interval was calculated for bulls born between 1976 and 1999, and for cows born between 1986 and 1999. The mean coefficient of relationship of Ayrshire bulls increased 2.22 %-units per generation and inbreeding increased 0.20 %-units per generation during the years studied. The mean coefficient of relationship of Finnish Holstein-Friesian bulls increased 0.96 %-units per generation and inbreeding 0.17 %-units per generation. The mean coefficient of relationship and inbreeding of Ayrshire cows increased 0.38 %-units and 0.31 %-units per generation, respectively. For Holstein-Friesian cows the mean coefficient of relationship and inbreeding increased 0.25 %-units and 0.11 %-units per generation, respectively. Results show that inbreeding is low and it is increasing slowly in both breeds. However, especially the coefficients of relationship of Ayrshire bulls are high in some age classes and this may lead into faster increase in coefficients of inbreeding.;


Author(s):  
C. A. Huckle ◽  
A. J. Rook ◽  
R. J. Wilkins

Clements, Huckle and Wilkins (1991) reported that milk yield did not differ significantly between cows grazing grass-clover swards with compressed sward heights maintained at either 4.5 or 6 cm in early season. However, cows grazing the shorter sward produced milk with a lower protein concentration. The feeding of 4 kg concentrates/day resulted in an increase in milk yield at both sward heights but there was no effect on milk constituent concentrations. The present experiment was designed to investigate the effect of a wider range of sward heights and their interaction with concentrate supplementation.Forty eight, multiparous, Holstein Friesian cows with a mean calving date of 21 March were continuously stocked on mixed grass-clover swards. The cows were blocked by calving date, parity and milk yield and randomly allocated to one of six treatments, 0 (U) or 4 kg concentrate supplementation (S) with swards maintained at 4, 6 or 8 cm compressed sward height. Sward heights were maintained by adjusting the grazed area. The swards were permanent pastures which had received no fertilizer nitrogen.


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