Age and lactation specific disposal pattern in Sahiwal cattle and influence of various genetic and non-genetic factors

Abstract

Premature disposal of female calves before reaching milch herd and undesirable disposal of lactating cows are the major constraints in achieving larger herd size. During the early lactations, younger cows are supposed to give higher milk yield and undesirable disposal of early calvers, thereby, greatly hampers profitability of a dairy farm. Knowledge of the incidence of disposal along with reasons in various age groups and at various parities is essential to identify which age group or parity is more vulnerable for disposal. Moreover, knowledge of various genetic and non-genetic factors associated with disposal of animals may also be helpful in developing breeding and management strategies to reduce the incidence of disposal. In most of the studies, it was found that major reasons of disposal of dairy cattle were mortality among female calves and involuntary culling among adult lactating cows. Maximum mortality in female calves was observed during earlier ages and pneumonia, gastro-enteritis and debility were major reasons of female calf mortality. Whereas, most of the adult cows left the herd, due to teat and udder and reproductive problems. Moreover, indigenous breeds were found to be more adapted to Indian tropical climatic conditions in comparison to crossbred and exotic cattle breeds.

Replacement rate and its components in Sahiwal females from birth to age at first calving

“…Abnormal birth: The overall incidence of abnormal birth in Sahiwal was 6.21% among the 1,885 calving (Table 1). Similar findings were reported by Upadhyay et al (2014) and Singh et al (2011) for Sahiwal cattle. Lower estimates than the present finding were reported by Shahi and Kumar (2006), Banik and Naskar (2006), Abbas (2005), Rawal and Tomar (1996) for Sahiwal, and Lathwal et al (1993) for Red Sindhi while higher estimates were observed by Upadhyay et al (2017) for Karan Fries; Goshu and Singh (2013) for HF cattle; Shahi and Kumar (2006) for J × SW cross and Atrey et al (2005) for Frieswal.…”

“…Maximum mortality was observed mainly due to pneumonia and enteritis, which was in general agreement with findings of Singh and Gurnani (2004). This is probably because neonates are more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections.The present findings revealed that higher incidence of mortality was due to pneumonia and similar findings were also reported by Upadhyay (2013) and Reddy and Nagarcenkar (1989) for Sahiwal; and Maher et al (2015) for Tharparkar. Panmei et al (2016) reported that 3.…”

“…The results obtained were in conformity with the findings of Singh and Gurnani (2003). Similar findings were also reported by Upadhyay et al (2014) for Sahiwal and Jadhav et al (1995) for Friesian Sahiwal cross.…”

“…Disposal, mortality, culling and replacement rate: The overall incidence of disposal, mortality and culling was 27.35, 23.63 and 3.72% respectively, while replacement rate on female calves and total calves basis were 72.64 and 37.55% respectively, upto age at first calving (Table 1). Almost similar findings of mortality upto AFC were reported by Upadhyay et al (2014) and Abbas (2005) for Sahiwal while lower estimates were observed by Shahi and Kumar (2006), Tomar and Rawal (1994) for Sahiwal; Lathwal et al (1993) for Red Sindhi and higher values were reported by Banik and Naskar (2006) There was significant effect (P<0.01) of period of birth and birth weight of calf on the disposal, mortality and replacement rate of calves upto age at first calving. The effect of period might be due to changes in different management strategies and practices over the period as it was higher in first period (P1) and lower in third period (P3) for disposal and mortality, while replacement rate was higher during third period (P3).…”

“…In autumn season, higher incidence of prenatal mortality might be due to preceding hot and humid weather of rainy season which is more stressful during their last trimester of gestation. Similarly, Upadhyay et al (2014) also reported that the autumn calvers were more prone to calving abnormalities in Sahiwal. In contrast to our findings, Thiruvenkadan and Devendran (2014) for Murrah buffalo and Abbas (2005) for Sahiwal reported that the effect of period of birth was significant (P<0.01) on abnormal birth while season of birth had no significant effect.…”