Milk Yield and Composition, Nutrition, Body Conformation Traits, Body Condition Scores, Fertility and Diseases in High‐Yielding Dairy Cows – Part 1

Abstract

Twenty-nine pairs of high-yielding dairy cows (HC; > or = 45 kg/day reached at least once during lactation) and corresponding control cows (CC; with milk yields representing the average yield of the herds) were examined on 29 Swiss farms from March 1995 to September 1996. The hypotheses were tested that there are differences in feed intake, body-conformation traits, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), fertility status and disease incidence between HC and CC cows. Cows were studied 2 weeks before and at 5, 9, 13, 17 and 40 weeks post-partum. HC cows produced more energy-corrected milk (ECM) than CC cows (10,670 +/- 321 kg in 293 +/- 5 days and 8385 +/- 283 kg in 294 +/- 4 days, respectively; P < or = 0.001) and yields in the first 100 days of lactation were greater in HC than in CC cows (46.2 +/- 1.1 and 36.2 +/- 1.0 kg ECM/day, respectively; P < or = 0.001). Concentrate intake was greater (P < or = 0.05) in HC than in CC cows (7.6 +/- 0.5 and 5.7 +/- 0.5 kg/day, respectively) and dry matter intakes (measured in week 5 of lactation over 3 days on six farms) were greater in HC than in CC cows (24.0 +/- 1.1 and 20.3 +/- 1.1 kg/day, respectively; P < or = 0.001). HC cows were taller than CC cows (wither heights 143.3 +/- 0.8 and 140.1 +/- 0.8 cm, respectively; P < or = 0.01). Although BW in HC cows was greater than in CC cows throughout the study, differences and decreases of BW during lactation were not significant. BCS at the end of pregnancy and decrements during lactation were similar in HC and CC cows. Fertility parameters were similar in HC and CC cows. Incidences of mastitis, claw and feet problems, hypocalcemia/downer cow syndrome, ovarian cysts and abortions were similar in HC and CC cows, but there were more indigestion problems in HC than in CC cows.

Efeito da condição corporal ao parto sobre a produção e composição do leite, a curva de lactação e a mobilização de reservas corporais em vacas da raça Holandesa

“…Holter et al (1990) e Berry et al (2002 avaliaram o peso corporal no início da lactação de vacas com diferentes ECCP e verificaram que vacas com maior ECCP apresentaram maior redução de peso pós-parto, com o peso corporal atingindo seu menor valor próximo a 40 dias pós-parto. No entanto, Santos (1996) não verificou diferenças em relação à mudança de peso em vacas de diferentes ECCP, e Aeberhard et al (2001), que avaliaram vacas de alta e média produção, não verificaram diferenças na mudança de peso ao longo da lactação nos diferentes níveis de produção.…”

Relationships among body condition score, milk yield and reproduction in Czech Fleckvieh cows

“…When the milk production peaks and the energy requirements exceed its intake, the cows go into the negative energy balance (NEB) when they mobilize their lipid reserves, getting thinner, and lose their body condition score (BCS) (Aeberhard et al, 2001a;Coffey et al, 2002;Agenäs et al, 2003). Not all the cows reduce their BCS equally.…”

“…The above-mentioned findings were obtained mostly in Holstein cattle, but a few studies exist in dual-purpose cattle, for example Gillund et al (2001) in Norwegian cattle under conditions of Norway and Aeberhard et al (2001a) in Brown Swiss and Simmental × Red Holstein under Swiss conditions. It is necessary to verify these observations in order to recommend body condition scoring as a method of evaluating nutritional and reproduction management of dairy cows in dualpurpose cattle.…”

Evaluation by Weight Change Rate of Dairy Herd Condition

“…A decrease in BCS during early lactation in cows affects reproductive performance and milk production [2,5]. However, there are problems with this parameter because, as a general procedure, it is applied to different cows regardless of body structure and scoring is subjective.…”