Comparative study on production, reproduction and functional traits between Fleckvieh and Braunvieh cattle

Abstract

ObjectiveAim of the current comparative study was to evaluate production outputs, reproduction efficiency and functional traits in dual-purpose Fleckvieh and Braunvieh cows, reared under temperate European conditions.MethodsA data-set from 414 Fleckvieh and 42 Braunvieh cows and 799 lactations was analysed. ID tag number, milk yield per milking session, number of steps/interval and milk conductivity were recorded and collected daily using AfiMilk 3.076 A-DU software (Afimilk Ltd., Kibbutz, Israel). Production and milk quality data were taken from the results of the official performance recordings and the reproductive outputs of cows were recorded by the research stations veterinarians. Comparisons between the two genotypes were carried out using the one way analysis of variance protocol, with categorical factor being considered the breed of cows. All the statistical inferences were carried out using Statistica software (StatSoft Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA).ResultsFleckvieh cows significantly outperformed (p≤0.05) the Braunvieh herd, with average milk yields of 5,252.1±35.79 kg and 4,897.6±128.94 kg, respectively. Age at first calving was significantly (p≤0.01) influenced by the breed, with Fleckvieh heifers being more precocious (32.8±0.29 mo) compared to those of Braunvieh breed (35.7±0.84 mo). Reproduction efficiency as defined by the number of inseminations per gestation, calving interval, dystocia, days dry and days open, was not influenced by genotype (p>0.05). Incidences of sub-clinical mastitis, clinical mastitis, lameness and abortions were not influenced by the breed factor (p>0.05). Stayability of cows was significantly (p≤0.001) influenced by genotype, with Braunvieh cows having an average age at culling of 117.88±11.78 months compared to 90.88±2.89 months in Fleckvieh.ConclusionOverall, results have shown that genotype significantly influenced milk yield, age at first calving and longevity.

The Analysis of Reproduction in Population of the Slovak Spotted Dairy Cows

“…Overall our finding are in accordance with finding reported by Cziszter et al (2017), their reported lower values of analysis of reproduction traits in Simmental cattle reared in Romania (32.8 ± 0.29 months for AFC, 122.0 ± 4.11 days for DO, 1.78 ± 0.03 times for NIC and 385.8 ± 1.65 days for CI). These results are similar with our findings.…”

“…The reproduction traits in population dairy cows of the Simmental cattle were evaluated by Ulutaş and Sezer (2009), Pantelić et al (2011), Bujko et al (2013), Cziszter et al (2017), Toledo-Alvarado et al, (2017, Bujko et al (2018a) and others.…”

Changes in production and reproduction traits in population of the Slovak Spotted Cattle

“…The content components of milk in kg had an increasing tendency, which was directly related to the increase in milk production, where a high positive correlation dependence as stated Bujko, 2011;Cziszter et al, 2017;Bujko et al, 2018a;Karamfilov and Nikolov, 2019. The decrease in the average value of fat content for the evaluated period is also due to the optimization of the feed ration, which is related to the reduction of fibre content and thus the increase of easily digestible carbohydrates.…”

“…in Slovakia (Strapák et al, 2013;Kadlečík et al, 2017;Bujko et al 2018aBujko et al ,b, 2019Kasarda et al, 2019), Austria (Ledinek et al, 2019), Serbia (Perišić et al, 2009, Bulgaria (Karamfilov and Nikolov, 2019), Turkish (Bolacali and Öztürk, 2017;Öner et al, 2019), Romanian (Grădinaru et al, 2014;Cziszter et al, 2017), Poland (Zółkiewski et al, 2018, France (Doublet et al, 2019), Mexican (Utrera et al, 2018) and other countries (Strapák et al, 2013).…”

“…Nowadays, it is enhanced in all continents, and its population is represented by 41 million animals. It is one of the biggest world´s cattle populations (Strapák et al, 2013;Cziszter et al, 2017;Zółkiewski et al, 2018). The Slovak Spotted cattle is an important dual-purpose breed with a long farming tradition in Slovakia.…”