• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.747-753
• /
• 2001

In this study, the Italian milk recorded buffalo population from 1974 to 1996 was analysed with the purpose to estimate genetic and environmental variability and provide genetic parameters for the most important economic traits. High variability between herds was evident due to the poor knowledge of feeding requirements and husbandry technology in this species compared to cattle. Age at first calving was reduced by 57 days during the considered years following efforts made in better feeding and management from 1990; on the contrary, calving interval has increased by 17 days as a consequence of forcing buffaloes to calve in spring, in order to have the peak milk yield when milk is much better paid. Average milk yield increased by 1853 kg during these years, while lactation duration was reduced by 30 days. Season of calving has no effect on all traits. Calving order has a positive effect on milk yield especially because older cows produce more milk in shorter lactations. Heritability for the age at first calving and calving interval was 0.26 and 0.05 respectively. Heritability of productive traits, milk yield and duration of the lactation was 0.19 and 0.13 respectively, with repeatabilities of 0.40 and 0.26. Genetic trend for milk yield was 2.1 kg milk/year for the bulls and 1 kg for all population. The high genetic variability of milk production as well as duration of the lactation, indicates that there are good opportunities for genetic improvement when including these traits in a selection scheme. The low genetic trend registered over 15 years of recording activity can be explained by the fact that neither progeny testing was performed or selection schemes were implemented, due to the difficulties to use artificial insemination in buffalo.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.58 no.2
• /
• pp.8.1-8.14
• /
• 2016

In this research data representing 72,946 primiparous cows from 724 herds with 638,063 total test day records calved between 2001 and 2011. These data were analysed to determine the effect of age at first and season of calving on parameters of the Wood lactation curve. Also, genetic trend of the lactation curve parameters in different calving years were evaluated. The results indicate that the highest rate of atypical lactation curve was related to cows that calved in summer (28.05 %). The maximum phenotypic relationship between initial milk yield and total 305-d milk yield was observed in cows calved in spring (0.40). The role of peak yield is more than peak time on 305-d total milk yield in primiparous Holstein. One month increase in age at first calving from 18 to 26 month raised 305-d milk yield by around 138 kg and from 27 to 32 month decreased by 61 kg. The persistency of lactation between 101 and 200 days is higher than that of 201-305 days. Our results indicate that the shape of lactation curve is largely dependent on the season of calving (higher level of milk production in cows which calved in autumn and winter). The heritabilities of parameters of lactation curve and persistency measures were low. The genetic trends for peak time, peak yield and 305-d milk yields were positive and estimated to be 0.019, 0.021 and 8.13 kg/year respectively. So the range from 24 to 26.5 month of calving is the optimum calving time in primiparous Holstein for maximizing 305-d milk yield.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.22-27
• /
• 2012

The experiment involved observations of 2,514 Holstein-Friesian cows to determine the effects of environmental factors (cow's age, calving season, weight and sex of calves, housing system) and genetic factors on gestation length in dairy cattle and the correlation between gestation length and other reproductive traits (calving ease, stillbirth rates and placental expulsion). Genetic parameters were estimated based on the sires of calved cows (indirect effect) and the sires of live-born calves (direct effect). The following factors were found to contribute to prolonged gestation: increasing cow's age, male fetuses and growing fetus weight. Optimal gestation length was determined in the range of 275-277 days based on calving ease and stillbirth rates. The heritability of gestation length was estimated at 0.201-0.210 by the direct effect and 0.055-0.073 by the indirect effect. The resulting genetic correlations suggest that the efforts to optimize (prolong) gestation length could exert an adverse influence on the breeding value of bulls by increasing perinatal mortality and calving difficulty. The standard errors of the investigated parameters were relatively high, suggesting that any attempts to modify gestation length for the purpose of improving calving ease and reducing stillbirth rates should be introduced with great caution.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 1993

The study was conducted to investigate the effects on environmental factors on the reproductive performance of Korean native cattle based on the data from 13, 588 records which were surveyed from 1983 to 1992. The results obtained in this study are as follows; 1. Mean performaces of the reproductive traits were 510.2days for the age at 1st service, 525.0days for the age at 1st conception, 808.7 days for the age at 1st calving, 102.5 days for the days to 1st conception postpartum and 388.6 days of the calving inverval. The cows of Chunbuk province were tended to be bred and calved at younger age and showed shorter calving interval than those of other provinces. 2. The effect of birth year was significant for the reproductive performances, especially, in 1986~1987 when the cattle prices dropped sharply and reproductive performances were poor. 3. The times of 1st service and 1st conception of heifers calved in spring tended to be delayed. Days to 1st conception postpartum, calving interval and days to 1st service postpartum of cows calved in fall were shorter than other calving season's cows. 4. Days to 1st conception postpartum, calving interval and days to 1st service postpartum of cow's were shortened and gestation length was prolonged as the number of parity increases.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.9
• /
• pp.1225-1233
• /
• 2017

Objective: Calving ease (CE) is a complex reproductive trait of economic importance in dairy cattle. This study was aimed to investigate the genetic merits of CE for Holsteins in Korea. Methods: A total of 297,614 field records of CE, from 2000 to 2015, from first parity Holstein heifers were recorded initially. After necessary data pruning such as age at first calving (18 to 42 mo), gestation length, and presence of sire information, final datasets for CE consisted of 147,526 and 132,080 records for service sire calving ease (SCE) and daughter calving ease (DCE) evaluations, respectively. The CE categories were ordered and scores ranged from CE1 to CE5 (CE1, easy; CE2, slight assistance; CE3, moderate assistance; CE4, difficult calving; CE5, extreme difficulty calving). A linear transformation of CE score was obtained on each category using Snell procedure, and a scaling factor was applied to attain the spread between 0 (CE5) and 100% (CE1). A sire-maternal grandsire model analysis was performed using ASREML 3.0 software package. Results: The estimated direct heritability ($h^2$) from SCE and DCE evaluations were $0.11{\pm}0.01$ and $0.08{\pm}0.01$, respectively. Maternal $h^2$ estimates were $0.05{\pm}0.02$ and $0.04{\pm}0.01$ from SCE and DCE approaches, respectively. Estimates of genetic correlations between direct and maternal genetic components were $-0.68{\pm}0.09$ (SCE) and $-0.71{\pm}0.09$ (DCE). The average direct genetic effect increased over time, whereas average maternal effect was low and consistent. The estimated direct predicted transmitting ability (PTA) was desirable and increasing over time, but the maternal PTA was undesirable and decreasing. Conclusion: The evidence on sufficient genetic variances in this study could reflect a possible selection improvement over time regarding ease of calving. It is expected that the estimated genetic parameters could be a valuable resource to formulate sire selection and breeding plans which would be directed towards the reduction of calving difficulty in Korean Holsteins.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.5-8
• /
• 1999

Weight records from birth to calving and calving scores of 407 two-year old heifers and weights of their offspring from birth to one year of age were used to study the effects of sire birth weight on maternal traits of their female progeny. The heifers ($G_1$) were Ihe progeny of 81 sires ($G_0$) and were classified into three classes based on their sires' birth weights (High, Medium and Low). The heifers were from three distinct breed-groups and were mated to bulls with medium birth weights within each breed-group to produce the second generation ($G_2$). The data were analyzed using a covariance model. The female progeny of high birth-weight sires were heavier from birth to calving than those sired by medium and low birth-weight bulls. The effect of sire birth weight on calving difficulty scores of their female progeny was not significant. Grand progeny (G2) of low birth-weight sires were lighter at birth than those from high birth-weight sires (p < 0.05) but they did not differ significantly in weaning and yearling weights from the other two Grand progeny groups. The results indicated that using low birth weight sires would not result in an increase in the incidence of dystocia among their female progeny calving at two-year of age and would not have an adverse effect On weaning and yearling weights of their grand progeny.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.11
• /
• pp.1700-1713
• /
• 2018

Objective: The aim of this study was to verify the usefulness of artificial neural networks (ANN), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), naïve Bayes classifier (NBC), general discriminant analysis (GDA), and logistic regression (LR) for dystocia detection in Polish Holstein-Friesian Black-and-White heifers and cows and to indicate the most influential predictors of calving difficulty. Methods: A total of 1,342 and 1,699 calving records including six categorical and four continuous predictors were used. Calving category (difficult vs easy or difficult, moderate and easy) was the dependent variable. Results: The maximum sensitivity, specificity and accuracy achieved for heifers on the independent test set were 0.855 (for ANN), 0.969 (for NBC), and 0.813 (for GDA), respectively, whereas the values for cows were 0.600 (for ANN), 1.000 and 0.965 (for NBC, GDA, and LR), respectively. With the three categories of calving difficulty, the maximum overall accuracy for heifers and cows was 0.589 (for MARS) and 0.649 (for ANN), respectively. The most influential predictors for heifers were an average calving difficulty score for the dam's sire, calving age and the mean yield of the farm, where the heifer was kept, whereas for cows, these additionally included: calf sex, the difficulty of the preceding calving, and the mean daily milk yield for the preceding lactation. Conclusion: The potential application of the investigated models in dairy cattle farming requires, however, their further improvement in order to reduce the rate of dystocia misdiagnosis and to increase detection reliability.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.93-96
• /
• 2016

This retrospective study evaluated the effect of age at first calving on the productive and reproductive performance in Holstein dairy cattle. Data were collected on 2,297 lactations from 19 dairy farms, including dates of birth, insemination, pregnancy, calving, and lactation and milk production (305-day milk yield at first lactation and lifetime milk yield). Lactation data were grouped based on age at first calving into the early (< 24 months, n = 414), moderate (24 ${\leq}$ and ${\leq}$ 28 months, n = 1,268), and late (> 28 months, n = 615) groups. The 305-day milk yield at first lactation was higher (p < 0.005) in the late group (8,461.9 kg) than in the early (8,130.8 kg) and moderate (8,261.9 kg) groups. Lifetime days in milk were shorter (p < 0.01) in the early group (1,045.7) than in the moderate (1,143.1) and late (1,110.7) groups, whereas the lifetime milk yield was higher (p < 0.05) in the moderate group (34,171.8 kg) than in the early group (31,791.6 kg). The second calving interval (days) differed (p < 0.0001) between the early (416.9), moderate (438.9), and late (455.3) groups. The culling rate at the first and second lactations tended to be higher (p = 0.08) in the early group (31.2%) than in the moderate group (26.0%), whereas it was intermediate in the late group (29.3%). In conclusion, dairy heifers aged 24-28 months at first calving showed a higher productive performance through an increased lifetime milk yield and a decreased culling rate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.12
• /
• pp.1889-1896
• /
• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of prepartum body condition score (BCS) on the milk yield, lipid metabolism, and oxidative status of Holstein cows. Methods: A total of 112 multiparous Holstein cows were divided into 4 groups according to the BCS at 21 days before calving: medium BCS (3.0 to 3.25, MBCS), high BCS (3.5 to 3.75, HBCS), higher BCS (4.0 to 4.25, HerBCS), and highest BCS (4.5 to 5.0, HestBCS). Blood samples were collected on 21, 14, and 7 days before calving (precalving), on the calving day (calving), and on 7, 14, and 21 days after calving (postcalving). The indices of lipid metabolism and oxidative status were analyzed using bovine-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Colostrum were taken after calving and analyzed by a refractometer and milk analyzer. The individual milk yield was recorded every 3 days. Results: The density and levels of immune globulin and lactoprotein of colostrum from Holstein cows in the HestBCS group were the highest (p<0.05). These animals not only had the highest (p<0.05) levels of serum non-esterified fatty acids and beta-hydroxybutyrate, but also had the highest (p<0.05) levels of malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, vitamin A, and vitamin E. In addition, greater (p<0.05) BCS loss was observed in the HestBCS cows. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the milk yield, lipid metabolism, and oxidative status of Holstein cows are related to prepartum BCS and BCS loss during the transition period. HestBCS cows are more sensitive to oxidative stress and suffer greater loss of BCS after calving, whereas the MBCS animals had better milk yield performance.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
• /
• v.51 no.6
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2017

A diverse of recommendation has been made for the structure and management of dairy cows, despite demanding research, the relationship between lactation number and various factors is yet to be established. The present study was aimed to investigate the covariance among lactation number, growth performance, calving interval, and milk production was considered to increase an efficiency of selection schemes and to manage more efficiently Holstein dairy cows that have been raised on small-scale family farms in Republic of Korea. For that purpose, the data were observed from 850 Holstein dairy cows, which a total of 3929 milking, since April 2016 - January 2017. We measured the body weight, height, age, calving interval, and milk production of the each dairy cow. Also, information about the date of lactation, calving interval, and milk production was recorded using an automatic milking system(AMS) with identification numbers. Milk production was calculated per udder quarter in the AMS. Our study results showed the increased average body weight(p>0.05) in 1, 2, 3, and $4^{th}$ lactating dairy cows and afterwards, we noticed the tendency on the average body weight(p<0.05) per lactation progressed. There was no significant difference noticed on height measurement of dairy cows. From the processing data of 850 Holstein dairy cows, the lactation number 1 and 7 had a greater calving interval with significantly lowered milk production, and the lactation number 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 had significantly lowered the calving interval(p<0.05) with a greater milk production. From our study results, we evidenced that there is a significant relationship between the lactation number, growth performance, calving interval, and milk yield, and the maximum production of milk occurring in the $3^{rd}$ and $4^{th}$ lactation dairy cows. The achieved results from this study can be used by the small-scale farmers to encourage the structure and management of growth performance, calving interval, and milk yield in Holstein dairy cows in Korea.