Effects of Some Management Factors on Milk Production in First-calf Heifers

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate whether milk performance is impacted by the housing of heifers from the second to the seventh day of life, the method of feeding milk from the second week of life to weaning, the sire lineage and by the season of birth and season of calving. From 32 Holstein heifer-calves, which spent their first day of life in a loose housing maternity pen with their mother, 19 heifers were randomly placed in hutches (IH), and 13 stayed in a loose housing maternity pen (MP). At the seventh day IH heifers were assigned to one of two treatments, 10 heifers were randomly taken from IH and relocated to a loose housing pen with an automatic feeding station (AD), 9 calves stayed in hutches with bucket drinking (BD). MP heifers were moved to a group pen with nursing cows (UD). All animals were weaned at the age of 8 weeks (56 days) and kept in group pens. After calving, they were in freestall housing. Trial cows were divided according to the sire, season of birth and calving. The five-factorial ANOVA revealed that among all the factors taken into account in this study, only sire lineage and season of birth had significant effects. The production of milk, FCM and protein were higher in the MP group than in the IH group. The UD group tended to have the highest production of milk, FCM, protein, lactose, SNF and total solids (TS) and the AD group the lowest. The content of fat and TS were highest in the AD group. Effects of the sire were significant for average daily gains (ADG) from birth to weaning (0.55±0.03 kg, p<0.05), contents of fat (3.81±0.08%, p<0.05), protein (3.13±0.02%, p<0.05), and TS (12.67±0.12%, p<0.05). In the season of birth evaluation, statistical difference was found only in the content of protein (3.13±0.13%, p<0.05). Cows born in March-May had the highest % protein and cows born in June-August the lowest (3.21±0.04 vs. 3.06±0.05%). Dairy cows born and subsequently calving in December-February had the highest production of milk, protein and TS, and dairy cows born in June-August the lowest. FCM and fat yields were highest in the group born in September-November and lowest in the group born in June-August.

Effect of hot temperatures on the hematological parameters, health and performance of calves

“…Cows born in the summer showed lower milk yield and FCM yield. The most productive were cows born in the winter and spring (Broucek et al 2006). Nardone et al (1997) reported lower immunoglobulin content in the colostrum of primiparous cows exposed to heat stress prepartum.…”

Relationship of dairy heifer reproduction with survival to first calving, milk yield and culling risk in the first lactation

“…Our results agree with other studies, which found that birth season is associated with milk yield after first calving, although the results are quite variable. In Slovakia, based on the results of 32 heifer calves it was found that calves born in summer had the lowest MY1, producing 1,243 kg less compared to cows born in winter [ 19 ]. Conversely, in Belgium, winter-born cows had significantly lower MY1 compared to cows born in any other season, based on the results of 74 Holstein animals [ 4 ].…”

“…We found that summer-calving heifers had the lowest, whereas autumn-calving heifers had the highest milk yield in first lactation. First calving in summer is usually associated with the lowest MY1 compared to other calving seasons [ 19 ], however, summer and autumn were associated with the highest MY1 under Belgian circumstances [ 25 ]. It is possible that in Hungary the heat stress could contribute to the lower MY1 in heifers that calved in summer, since heat stress heavily affects high-yielding dairy cows with intensive metabolism [ 27 ].…”

Impact and adoption of feed technologies at Nharira-Lancashire Dairy Scheme

“…The seasonality of milk yield in the current study was characteristic of most dairy enterprises. Earlier studies have shown that milk production varies according to animal age (Prichard and Marshall, 1983), breed (Marius et al, 2010), season and parity (Yang et al, 2013), health status (Katsande et al, 2013), lactation stage (Washaya et al, unpublished data), nutrition (Lanyasunya et al, 2005) and management (Broucek et al, 2006). Poor nutrition is largely blamed (Lanyasunya et al, 2005) for predisposing animals to diseases, and its effects on milk production and quality cannot be overemphasised.…”