Rearing dairy beef calves by multiple suckling. 1. Effects of liveweight change, onset of oestrus and post-weaning milk production

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to study the effects of multiple suckling during early lactation on liveweight change, the interval to first postpartum oestrus, and post-weaning milk production of cows. The effects of liveweight change and butterfat production during the first six weeks of lactation on the interval to first postpartum oestrus in milked cows were studied in a fourth experiment. Multiple suckling caused greater liveweight loss in suckled cows during the first six months of lactation and stimulated postweaning milk production in two out of three experiments. Multiple suckling also delayed the onset of first postpartum oestrus. In experiment 4 the correlations of liveweight change and butterfat production with interval to first postpartum oestrus were low and non-significant. As suckled and milked cows received the same nutritional treatment, these results indicated that suckling per se, rather than nutritional effects, was the likely factor responsible for the delay in first postpartum oestrus in multiple suckled cows. A possible relationship between the stimulatory effect of suckling and plane of nutrition, and the application of the multiple suckling system to the dairy farm situation are discussed.

Post-parturn oestrous interval of single-suckled Angus beef cows

“…Actual 60-day milk production in the study of Whitmore et al (1974) showed a significant, but low correlation with interval to first post-partum oestrus in cows of dairy breeding (r = 0.16, for 276 df, P < 0.05). Herman & Edmondson (1950) and Kaiser (1975) found no relationship between milk production and the length of the post-partum interval.…”

Beef production from the dairy herd

“…Other factors, including calf grazing techniques, may also be important. When rearing surplus dairy calves for beef production, suckling calf rearing systems, shown to enhance lactation performance (Walsh 1969;Everitt & Phillips 1971;Kaiser ] 975), reduce rearing mortalities (Everitt & Evans 1970;Preston 1973), enhance growth rate of the calves (Kaiser & O'Neill 1975) , and clearly have a gr,eat deal to offer despite the disadvantageous effects of multiple suckling on subsequent reproductive performance of the cow (Kaiser J975) .…”

Endocrine regulation of postpartum ovarian activity in cattle : a review

“…The longer the duration of illumination at the time of calving, the shorter the duration of anoestrus (Bulman and Lamming, 1978 ;Peters and Riley, 1982 ;Hansen and Hauser, 1983 (Clapp, 1937 ;Graves et al, 1968 ;Morrow et a/., 1969 ;Short et al, 1972 ;Randel and Walker, 1976 ;Edgerton, 1980). This interval is shortened by early weaning (Smith and Vincent, 1972 ;Laster et al, 1973 ;Bellows et al, 1974 ;Carter et al, 1980) or by a temporary suspension (48 to 72 hr) of suckling (Smith et al, 1979 ;Dunn et al, 1985).This influence depends on the intensity of the mammary stimulation.According (Kaiser, 1975). As a matter of fact, the duration of anoestrus is longer when access to the mammary glands is ad libitum than if it is restricted to one or a few daily periods Montgomery, 1982 ;Randel and Walker, 1976 Pregnancy has an inhibitory effect on the sensitivity of the pituitary to hypothalamic GnRH .…”

“…According (Kaiser, 1975). As a matter of fact, the duration of anoestrus is longer when access to the mammary glands is ad libitum than if it is restricted to one or a few daily periods Montgomery, 1982 ;Randel and Walker, 1976 Pregnancy has an inhibitory effect on the sensitivity of the pituitary to hypothalamic GnRH .…”