Application of a Simulation Model for Dairy Cattle Production Systems Integrated with Forage Crop Production: the Effects of Whole Crop Rice Silage Utilization on Nutrient Balances and Profitability

This work aimed to evaluate the effects of crop rotations and soil acidity amelioration on soil physical properties of an Oxisol (Rhodic Ferralsol or Red Ferrosol in the Australian Soil Classification) from October 2006 to September 2011 in Botucatu, SP, Brazil. Treatments consisted of four soybean (Glycine max)–maize (Zea mays)–rice (Oryza sativa) rotations that differed in their off-season crop, either a signal grass (Urochloa ruziziensis) forage crop, a second crop, a cover crop, or fallow. Two acid-neutralising materials, dolomitic lime (effective calcium carbonate equivalent (ECCE) = 90%) and calcium-magnesium silicate (ECCE = 80%), were surface applied to raise the soil’s base saturation to 70%. Selected soil physical characteristics were evaluated at three depths (0–0.1, 0.1–0.2, and 0.2–0.4 m). In the top 0.1 m, soil bulk density was lowest (P < 0.05) and macroporosity and aggregate stability index were greatest (P < 0.05) in the forage crop compared with all other production systems. Also, bulk density was lower (P < 0.05) and macroporosity was greater (P < 0.05) in the acid-neutralising-amended than the unamended control soil. In the 0.1–0.2-m interval, mean weight diameter and mean geometric diameter were greater (P < 0.05) in the forage crop compared with all other production systems. All soil properties evaluated in this study in the 0.2–0.4-m interval were unaffected by production system or soil amendment after five complete cropping cycles. Results of this study demonstrated that certain soil physical properties can be improved in a no-tillage soybean–maize–rice rotation using a forage crop in the off-season and with the addition of acid-neutralising soil amendments. Any soil and crop management practices that improve soil physical properties will likely contribute to sustaining long-term soil and crop productivity in areas with highly weathered, organic matter-depleted, acidic Oxisols.

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Breeding strategies for sustainable intensification of developing smallholder dairy cattle production systems

10.18174/405836 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Charles Mbogo Kariuki

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cattle ◽

Production Systems ◽

Sustainable Intensification ◽

Breeding Strategies ◽

Cattle Production ◽

Smallholder Dairy

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Inhibited development of Ostertagia ostertagi in relation to production systems for cattle

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s003118200005410x ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 85 (1) ◽

pp. 21-25 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

M. G. Smeal ◽

A. D. Donald

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Dairy Cattle ◽

Production System ◽

Production Systems ◽

New South ◽

New South Wales ◽

Cattle Production ◽

Ostertagia Ostertagi ◽

South Wales

SUMMARYOn a coastal farm in New South Wales where beef and dairy cattle production was carried on side-by-side, separate pasture plots were contaminated with eggs of Ostertagia ostertagi by calves from each production system in autumn, winter or spring. Successive groups of parasite-free tracer calves grazed on the plots for 14 days at 4-week intervals and were then killed for worm counts 14 days after removal from pasture. On all plots, the proportion of inhibited early 4th-stage larvae in tracer calves reached a maximum in spring, and was consistently and very significantly higher in calves which grazed plots contaminated with O. ostertagi of beef cattle origin. Factors which may be responsible for this difference between beef and dairy cattle populations of O. ostertagi are discussed.

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Problems of early culling of cows in breeding stocks for milk production

Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry ◽

10.2298/bah2004381p ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 381-392

Author(s):

Predrag Perisic ◽

Renata Relic ◽

Cvijan Mekic ◽

Stefan Stepic

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cattle ◽

Milk Production ◽

Production Systems ◽

Economic Damage ◽

Cattle Production ◽

Cattle Breeding ◽

Breeding Goals ◽

Specific Technology

A common problem of dairy cattle in all production systems and production directions is their reduced production life and therefore their reduced lifetime span. Among the main reasons of dairy cattle premature culling the problems related to reproduction, udder and legs are prevailing. The order of these reasons according to their significance is not the same in all dairy cattle populations and depends on production direction, level of production and specific technology of cattle breeding. There are also other reasons of culling but these three groups are the main ones. Due to frequency of their incidence, as well as economic damage which they can cause in dairy cattle production, today they must be taken into account when defining breeding goals for certain breeds and populations of cattle.

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