Live weight and growth of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and crossbred dairy heifers in New Zealand

Handcock, R. C.; López‐Villalobos, N.; McNaughton, L.R.; Back, P. J.; Edwards, Grant; Hickson, R. E.

doi:10.1080/00288233.2018.1465984

Cited by 28 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…For the heifers in the current study, the periods of slowest growth occurred between 5 and 12 mo of age and between 20 and 22 mo of age (Handcock et al, 2018). The slow growth over these periods is similar to what has been reported previously in New Zealand dairy heifers (McNaughton and Lopdell, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Heifers were included if they had at least 2 BW records between birth and 12 mo of age and at least 2 BW records between 13 mo of age and first calving at 2 yr of age (between June and December) or 24 mo of age for heifers that did not have a recorded calving date at 2 yr of age. Growth curves were generated for each heifer using random regression of a fourth-order Legendre polynomial in ASReml (Gilmour et al, 2015), as described by Handcock et al (2018). Using the regression coefficients from the growth curves, BW were predicted for each heifer at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 mo of age in SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC).…”

Section: Initial Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The target growth trajectory between the target BW is predominantly linear; however, heifer growth in a seasonal pasture-based system did not follow the linear trajectory that the target BW necessitated (Handcock et al, 2018). Furthermore, the growth pattern of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and their crossbred heifers differed throughout the rearing phase (Handcock et al, 2018), suggesting possible breed-specific optimum BW to yield maximum milk production. The aim of the current study was to explore the relationships between precalving BW and milk production in New Zealand dairy heifers of varying breed makeup over multiple lactations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The major dairy breeds in New Zealand are Holstein-Friesian (33.0%), Jersey (9.3%), and Holstein-Friesian-Jersey crossbred (48.0%), with a large range of Holstein-Friesian and Jersey breed proportions within the crossbreeds. Jersey heifers produced less milk (Sneddon et al, 2016;Livestock Improvement Corporation and DairyNZ, 2017) and were lighter (Handcock et al, 2018) than Holstein-Friesian-Jersey crossbred and Holstein-Friesian heifers. The aforementioned milk production studies (van der Waaij et al, 1997;McNaughton and Lopdell, 2013) did not compare the relationships between BW and milk production among heifers of differing breed makeup.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recommended target BW for dairy heifers in New Zealand and elsewhere are based on percentages of mature BW (Troccon, 1993;NRC, 2001;Wathes et al, 2014). The target growth trajectory between the target BW is predominantly linear; however, heifer growth in a seasonal pasture-based system did not follow the linear trajectory that the target BW necessitated (Handcock et al, 2018). Furthermore, the growth pattern of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and their crossbred heifers differed throughout the rearing phase (Handcock et al, 2018), suggesting possible breed-specific optimum BW to yield maximum milk production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Positive relationships between body weight of dairy heifers and their first-lactation and accumulated three-parity lactation production

Handcock

López‐Villalobos

McNaughton

et al. 2019

Journal of Dairy Science

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describes the effect that BW of replacement heifers has on accumulated milk yields without discriminating whether the increased milk yield came from greater survival or from greater production per surviving cow. Further research on the relationships between BW and survival of heifers is required to confirm whether the heavier heifers survived longer than the lighter heifers, but could explain why the relationship between BW and 3-parity milk yields was more curvilinear than the relationship between BW and firstlactation milk production. Holstein-Friesian heifers that were 450 kg in BW at 21 mo of age were estimated to produce 168 and 509 kg more ECM than 425-kg Holstein-Friesian heifers in first-lactation and 3-parity accumulated yields, respectively. A further increase in BW at 21 mo of age, from 450 to 475 kg, was estimated to result in 157 and 409 kg more ECM in firstlactation and 3-parity accumulated yields, respectively. Consequently, for heifers that were average and below average in BW, considerable milk production benefits would occur over the first 3 lactations by improving rearing practices to result in heavier heifers throughout the precalving phase.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Initial Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%