Environmental factors and progeny affecting milk yield and composition during the first lactation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the milk yield (MY) of primiparous cows is affected by their housing to weaning, the method of providing liquid feed, sire (S) line, and season of birth and calving. Thirty-two heifer-calves were used in the experiment; 19 heifers were kept in individual housing (IH) and 13 in loose housing (LH) from the second day of life. On the seventh day the IH heifers were divided according to feeding milk replacer (MR) or milk: 10 were relocated from IH to a pen with a computer-controlled feeder (CCF) providing automatic feeding of MR (AF), 9 heifers stayed in IH with bucket drinking (BF). The LH heifers were moved to a nursing cows pen (UF). Heifers were kept in free-stall housing after the first calving. The cows were also divided according to the sire, season of birth and calving. LH primiparous cows produced more milk throughout the first eight months of lactation, more MY, FCM and protein for 305 d lactation (P<0.05). UF cows had the highest MY throughout the first lactation and reached the significantly highest milk yield and FCM (6894.1; 6541.9 kg), whereas AF cows, the lowest (5757.5; 5820.9 kg; P<0.01) for 305 days of lactation. The contents of fat and total solids (TS) were the highest in group AF. Sire lineages differed in the contents of fat, protein, lactose, non-fat solids (NSF), TS, and MY, lactose and NFS. Cows born and calved in the summer showed lower MY and FCM yields. The most productive cows were born and calved in the winter and spring.

Impact of thermal-humidity index on milk yield under conditions of different dairy management

“…Dairy cows calved in the winter and in the spring yielded the most milk, while dairy cows calved in the summer the least (Strabel, 2004;Broucek et al, 2005). Under Mediterranean climatic conditions, summer calvers produce less milk per lactation than winter calvers (Barash et al, 1996).…”

Effect of high temperature on growth performance of calves maintained in outdoor hutches

“…High temperature have not only a direct eff ect on growth of calves, but also a latent eff ect during a dry period of their mothers, especially in the last 60 d of gestation on milk performance of dairy cows (Broucek et al, 2005(Broucek et al, , 2007. Th is may lead to a decreased immunity and transfer of maternal immunoglobulins to colostrum, vigour and ability of the newborn calf to absorb immunoglobulins during hot weather.…”

Non-parametric analysis of the effects of αS1-casein genotype and parturition non-genetic factors on milk yield and composition in Murciano-Granadina goats

“…To our knowledge, no study assessing for such differences between seasons through the use of non-parametric tests exists. However, Broucek et al (2005) found the same differences in milk yield between seasons using a Kruskal-Wallis test for dairy cattle, reporting the negative effect of summer/autumn months against the positive effect of winter-spring months. The same authors would also agree that fat percentage was statistically higher during summer and autumn months as reported by the results of Dunn's test carried out in our study.…”