Calf-sex bias in Holstein dairy milk production under extensive management

Quaresma, Miguel; Rodrigues, M.A.M.; Medeiros-Sousa, P.; Martins, A.

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2020.104016

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…For example, from 2002 to 2013, in Denmark, all but two years showed a significant increase in the milk production compared to the previous year [33]. In São Miguel island, Azores, the same evolution was observed [34].…”

Section: Evolution Of Dairy Milk Productionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…The production and calving in Azores are not, however, as seasonal as the one observed in New Zealand [34,40]. In the non-seasonal pasture-based system no calf-sex bias in milk yield was observed, even though a slight increase in fat percentage was associated with the birth of a male calf [34].…”

Section: -2017mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…In dairy cows in particular, studies addressing milk production sex-bias so far led to different results. While most studies described an advantage of female offspring, this effect was not observed for all the populations and a significant difference was not always observed [1,33,34,40,41,54,55]. Canadian and Iranian data for calf-sex bias in milk production found milk yield to be increased when a heifer was calved [41,58].…”

Section: Bovine Sex-biased Milk Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: -2017mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A significant difference between the dairy industry in Azores [34] or New Zealand [40] compared with other populations is that both are primarily pasturebased. The production and calving in Azores are not, however, as seasonal as the one observed in New Zealand [34,40]. In the non-seasonal pasture-based system no calf-sex bias in milk yield was observed, even though a slight increase in fat percentage was associated with the birth of a male calf [34].…”

Section: -2017mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Calf-Sex Influence in Bovine Milk Production

Quaresma¹,

Payan-Carreira²

2021

Animal Reproduction in Veterinary Medicine

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The main source of incomes in a dairy farm is milk sales, and any factor altering the production affects the farmers' income significantly. According to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, if the cows' systems are generally good and offer competitive conditions, they produce more milk for bull calves. They also suggest that cows in a worse condition or of a genetically diverging strain invest more milk in heifer calves. The existence of a sex-bias in cows' milk production remains controversial even if it would open new insights on the economic impacts of using sex-sorted semen to enhance farm productivity. Sex-biased milk production in cows can vary, favoring one sex or the other and, sometimes, none. It seems to favor females in intensive production systems, while in other less intensive systems, this effect seems to disappear. This chapter intends to address available evidence on the sex-biased cows' milk production and discuss why further research forecasting this issue is needed, including other cattle populations and correlating the investment strategy with an animal welfare index. Besides, other factors, such as different housing and feedings, can impact the calf-sex milk production bias through pathways still to be understood.

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Section: Evolution Of Dairy Milk Productionmentioning

confidence: 70%