Association between age at first calving, first lactation traits and lifetime productivity in Murrah buffaloes

Data on ages at first mating and first calving of Murrah buffaloes to identify the effect of various non-genetic factors on these traits. Period and season were the fixed environmental effects considered for both the traits studied. The overall least-squares means for ages at first mating and calving were 1222.3 ± 11.0 and 1578.7 ± 20.3 days respectively. Period had highly significant (Pe at first calving with peak yield, days to attain peak yield, 305-day milk yield, lactation length, lactation milk yield, milk yield per day of lactation, service period, calving interval, dry period and number of services per conception were -0.214 ± 0.32, 0.013 ± 0.31, 0.089 ± 0.33, 0.584 ± 0.47, 0.166 ± 0.35, -0.177 ± 0.30, 0.576 ± 0.53, 0.563 ± 0.55, 0.276 ± 0.49 and 0.944 ± 0.83 respectively. The study revealed that the ages at first mating and calving observed in Murrah buffaloes at coastal region of Tamil Nadu is comparable to those reported in its breeding tract and elsewhere in India. A negative genetic correlation between age at first calving and milk yield per day of lactation indicated that the selection based on milk yield per day of lactation would lead to reduction in age at first calving with consequent increase of milk yield per day of lactation in future generations.

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Seasonal influence of age at first calving on genetic variation and subsequent reproductive performances in Murrah buffaloes

Biological Rhythm Research ◽

10.1080/09291016.2019.1627655 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Ranjeet Verma ◽

Kennady Vijayalakshmy ◽

Meenakshi Virmani ◽

Sanjeev Kumar ◽

Ashutosh Verma

Keyword(s):

Genetic Variation ◽

Seasonal Influence ◽

Age At First Calving ◽

Murrah Buffaloes

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Effect of Season and Age at First Calving on Early Performance Traits in Murrah Buffaloes

Journal of AgriSearch ◽

10.21921/jas.v6i02.18107 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (02) ◽

Author(s):

GURPREET KOUR ◽

RAMAN NARANG ◽

AMANDEEP SINGH

Keyword(s):

Genetic Factors ◽

Calving Interval ◽

Dry Period ◽

Age At First Calving ◽

Murrah Buffaloes ◽

Lactation Length ◽

Service Period ◽

Productive Traits ◽

Early Performance ◽

Animal Sciences

The present investigation was carried on 659 Murrah buffaloes, sired by 188 bulls, maintained at Directorate of Livestock Farms, Guru AngadDev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, for the duration of 27 years (1991-2017). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of non-genetic factors like season and age at first calving on early reproductive and productive traits like age at first calving (AFC), first service period (FSP), first calving interval (FCI) and age at puberty (AAP), 305 day milk yield (305MY), first lactation length (FLL), first peak yield (FPY), first days to attain peak yield (DPY) and first dry period (FDP). Season of calving had highly significant influence on FSP, FCI and FDP, significant effect on AFC, AAP, 305MY, FLL and FPY and non-significant effect on DPY. Age at first calving had non-significant effect on all the studied traits.

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Correlation between extremes age at first calving with their productive and reproductive performances in Indian Murrah buffaloes (Bubalusbubalis)

Indian Journal of Animal Research ◽

10.18805/ijar.b-3371 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ranjeet Verma ◽

Inderjeet Singh ◽

Ashok K. Balhara ◽

Varij Nayan ◽

Rakesh Kumar Sharma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Calving Interval ◽

Dry Period ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Age At First Calving ◽

Murrah Buffaloes ◽

Lactation Length ◽

Service Period ◽

Performance Traits ◽

Group 2 ◽

Group 1

The dairy economics is greatly affected by the age at first calving as it is an important indicator of precocity and fertility. The present study was carried out to deduce the important productive and reproductive performance traits related to their extremes age at first calving in Murrah buffaloes. Recorded the data of reproductive and productive performances trait of Murrah buffaloes maintained at the animal farm section, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, India during the period of last fifteen year (2001-15). The data of 2753 buffaloes were screened out, on the basis of age at first calving (AFC) categorized into two extreme group. Only 88 out of 2753 buffaloes showed the extremes AFC and categorized as group 1 (n=17 in first parity, 12 in second parity) and group 2 (n=71 in first parity, 36 in second parity) having £36 and ³48 months of AFC respectively. The extreme AFC with their performance traits viz. service period, calving interval, dry period, lactation length and milk yields were included in the analysis. The mean service period, calving interval, dry period was lower in group 1 whereas lactation length and milk yields no differences in between groups. The low milk production was observed in first lactation irrespective to their groups. The extreme AFC was not significantly associated with their performance traits (service period, calving interval, dry period, lactation length and milk yields) in both within and between groups (p >0.05) whereas service period significantly associated with calving intervals (p less than 0.01).

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A FORECAST OF PRODUCTIVE LONGEVITY OF HOLSTEIN COWS BY INDIRECT SIGNS

Molochnoe i miasnoe skotovodstvo ◽

10.33943/mms.2020.55.90.006 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

З.С. САНОВА

Keyword(s):

Correlation Coefficient ◽

Aging Process ◽

Direct Relationship ◽

Stability Index ◽

Age At First Calving ◽

Group I ◽

Predicted Values ◽

The Stability ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

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.

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Keeping Dairy Cows for Longer: A Critical Literature Review on Dairy Cow Longevity in High Milk-Producing Countries

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11030808 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 808

Author(s):

Gabriel M. Dallago ◽

Kevin M. Wade ◽

Roger I. Cue ◽

J T. McClure ◽

René Lacroix ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Dairy Cow ◽

Animal Health ◽

Current Status ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Age At First Calving ◽

Productive Life ◽

Use Of Resources ◽

Animal Remains ◽

Critical Literature

The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic performance of the farms, reduce the environmental footprint of the milk industry, and overall help in justifying a sustainable use of animals for food production. However, there is little published on the current status of cow longevity and we hypothesized that a reason may be a lack of standardization and an over narrow focus of the longevity measure itself. The objectives of this critical literature review were: (1) to review metrics used to measure dairy cow longevity; (2) to describe the status of longevity in high milk-producing countries. Current metrics are limited to either the length of time the animal remains in the herd or if it is alive at a given time. To overcome such a limitation, dairy cow longevity should be defined as an animal having an early age at first calving and a long productive life spent in profitable milk production. Combining age at first calving, length of productive life, and margin over all costs would provide a more comprehensive evaluation of longevity by covering both early life conditions and the length of time the animal remains in the herd once it starts to contribute to the farm revenues, as well as the overall animal health and quality of life. This review confirms that dairy cow longevity has decreased in most high milk-producing countries over time and its relationship with milk yield is not straight forward. Increasing cow longevity by reducing involuntary culling would cut health costs, increase cow lifetime profitability, improve animal welfare, and could contribute towards a more sustainable dairy industry while optimizing dairy farmers’ efficiency in the overall use of resources available.

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