Culling reasons and risk factors in Estonian dairy cows

Rilanto, Triin; Reimus, Kaari; Orro, Toomas; Emanuelson, Ulf; Viltrop, Arvo; Mõtus, Kerli

doi:10.1186/s12917-020-02384-6

Cited by 59 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Longevity of dairy cows has been mostly evaluated in terms of culling of individual cows, as longevity is determined by the moment of the cows' departure from the herd for voluntary or involuntary reasons. Culling reasons and risk factors for culling are intensively studied worldwide [e.g., (21)(22)(23)]. Also studies on optimization of culling decisions and costs of culling (24-26) are performed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Empirical Analysis on the Longevity of Dairy Cows in Relation to Economic Herd Performance

et al. 2021

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Several studies have stated the various effects of an increased dairy cow longevity on economic herd performance, but empirical studies are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the association between longevity of dairy cows and the economic performance of dairy herds based on longitudinal Dutch accounting data. Herd and farm accounting data (n = 855 herds) over the years 2007–2016 were analyzed. Herd data contained yearly averages on longevity features, herd size and several production variables. Longevity was defined as the age of cows at culling and by lifetime milk production of culled cows. Farm accounting data contained yearly averages on revenues, fixed and variable costs of the herds, by which gross margins were defined. Data was analyzed using generalized linear mixed modeling, with gross margin as dependent variable. The independent variables consisted of average age of culled cows, average lifetime production of culled cows, year, herd size, herd intensity (milk production per ha), herd expansion rate, soil type, milking system, successor availability, total full-time equivalent, heifer ratio (% of heifers per cow) and use of outsourced heifer rearing. Herd was included as a random effect to account for the heterogeneity among herds. Descriptive statistics showed that the average age of culled cows was 5.87 (STD = 0.78) years and the average lifetime milk production of culled cows was 31.87 (STD = 7.56) tons per cow with an average herd size of 89 cows (STD = 38.85). The average age of culled cows was stable over the 10 years (variation between 5.79 AND 5.90 years). The gross margin was on average €24.80/100 kg milk (STD = 4.67), with the lowest value in year 2009 and the highest value in year 2013. Gross margin was not significantly associated with age of culled cows and lifetime milk production of culled cows. Variance in longevity between herds was large (STD = 0.78 years) but herds with a higher longevity did not perform economically better nor worse than herds resulting in lower longevity. This indicates that, within current practice, there is potential for improving longevity in order to meet society's concerns on animal welfare and environmental pollution, without affecting the economic performance of the herd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Empirical Analysis on the Longevity of Dairy Cows in Relation to Economic Herd Performance

et al. 2021

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“…Culling is well-defined as the departure of animals from the herd because of reproductive problems, low milk production, or infection diseases [ 6 , 7 ]. Several dairy goats are culled due to reasons related to poor welfare provoked by infectious disease, udder or teats problems, infertility, feet and legs (lameness), mastitis, and non-conforming to specifications [ 8 ]. Commonly, there are two types of culling; (1) voluntary culling happens when the farmer selects to eradicate a healthy-fertile female due to low productivity, while (2) involuntary culling happens when the farmer is enforced to detach productive, profitable, females because of death, injury, infectious disease, infertility, or illness [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last decades, culling reasons have altered. The percentage of culling owing to voluntary causes (e.g., delayed age at first kidding and low milk yield), has decreased and changed into more disease-related causes [ 8 , 10 ]. Involuntary culling is needed to decrease further suffering in individual animals, but a superior percentage of involuntary culling in the herd shows poor animal welfare and ineffective utilization of animal resources, which decreases sustainable dairy production [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainable Management of Voluntary Culling Risk in Primiparous Zaraibi Goats in Egypt: Roles of Season and Reproductive and Milk Production-Related Traits

El-Raghi

Hassan

El‐Ratel

et al. 2021

Animals

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The purpose of the current study is to reconnoiter the relationships between season (birth season, BS, and kidding season, KS), reproductive traits (birth weight, BW; total litter size at birth, TLS; litter size at weaning, LSW; the number of kids dead, NKD, and; age at first kidding, AFK) and milk production (total milk yield, TMY; average daily milk yield, DMY, and; lactation period, LP), with voluntary culling risk in primiparous Zaraibi goats. Records of 637 primiparous does were collected during the period 2008–2014 from a herd of Zaraibi goats raised at the El-Serw Experimental Station, which belongs to the Animal Production Research Institute. Our data revealed that the voluntary and involuntary culling was 89.12% and 10.88%, respectively. Moreover, the BW, TLS, LSW, NKD, TMY, DMY, LP, AFK had significant effects on culling risk (p < 0.05), while both the season of birth and kidding did not exhibit significant effects on culling risk. The thinnest goats at birth were more likely to be culled compared to those with body energy reserves. Does with weaned twins and triplets kids were 9.5% (OR = 0.905) and 43% (OR = 0.570), respectively less likely to be culled compared to those with singles. Likewise, does with dead twins and triplets kids had 2.566 and 2.138 times, respectively higher odds of culling compared to those with singles. Interestingly, culling risk decreased with 74.6% (OR = 0.254), 79.8% (OR = 0.202), and 75.6% (OR = 0.244) in does with TMY, LP, and DMY more than 230 kg, 260 days, and 0.800 kg, respectively compared to their counterparts (less than 185 kg, 240 day, and 0.500 kg, respectively). Moreover, culling risk increased steadily along with increasing AFK; the animals with an AFK of more than 24 months had 2.974 times higher odds of culling compared to those with an AFK that varied between 22 and 24 months. It could be concluded that the most critical issues for higher culling probability in dairy goats were attributed to the lower TMY (<185 kg) and DMY (<0.5 kg), and shorter LP (<245 days), as well as older age at first kidding (>2 years). This putative information could be used as indicators to enhance the management and genetic approaches in dairy goats and thus sustain productivity with low cost.

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“…According to Kvapilík et al (2016), udder diseases are the most common reasons for involuntary culling of dairy cows in the Czech Republic. Rilanto et al (2020) reported that udder disease is the second most common reason for culling, after foot and claw disorders. The improvement of cow treatment and herd management can lead to a decrease of the CM incidence in dairy herds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%