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Taylor EN, Channa K, Hanks J, Taylor NM. Milk recording data indicates the importance of fertility, including age at first calving, on the progression of first lactation cows to second lactation. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0297657. [PMID: 38285711 PMCID: PMC10824451 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Dairy farmers do not recoup the rearing costs incurred from birth to first calving until second lactation but varying proportions of first lactation cows are removed from the herd before second calving. Herein, we used milk recording data to examine the outcomes and performance of first lactation cows to gain insight into farmer decisions to keep or remove them from the herd. An InterHerd+ dataset derived from 500 milk recording dairy herds in UK was used to examine first lactation cows which calved in 2020. Of 29,128 first lactation cows that calved in 2020, 82.6% remained within the herd and re-calved, 4.9% conceived but exited the herd before re-calving, 6.0% were served but exited the herd after failing to conceive and 6.6% exited the herd without being served. The fertility data on these cows support the logical conclusion that farmers retain cows that are served and conceive sooner, possibly in order to keep within a broadly seasonal calving pattern. Cows which were served but not conceived had a median AFC 16-20 days greater than the median AFC for those that conceived. Farmers may also be retaining cows with relatively high milk yields and lower somatic cell counts, or these parameters may be an indicator of a range of attributes affecting the farmer's decision. The data also suggest that farmers are rearing more replacements than required, because over one third of the cows removed in first lactation are never served, and 70% of these are sold within 120 days post-partum. These cows had a significantly older median age at first calving of 818 days, but their early removal without serving suggests there is an oversupply of replacements forcing farmers to dispose of these cows early in lactation. In order to develop a deeper understanding of herd turnover and replacement, future work could examine cow removals in lactation 2 onwards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma N. Taylor
- PAN Livestock Services Ltd., School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Kulwant Channa
- PAN Livestock Services Ltd., School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - James Hanks
- PAN Livestock Services Ltd., School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Nick M. Taylor
- Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU), School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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Confessore A, Schneider MK, Pauler CM, Aquilani C, Fuchs P, Pugliese C, Dibari C, Argenti G, Accorsi PA, Probo M. A matter of age? How age affects the adaptation of lactating dairy cows to virtual fencing. J Anim Sci 2024; 102:skae137. [PMID: 38743503 PMCID: PMC11141297 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skae137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Virtual Fencing (VF) can be a helpful technology in managing herds in pasture-based systems. In VF systems, animals wear a VF collar using global positioning, and physical boundaries are replaced by virtual ones. The Nofence (Nofence AS, Batnfjordsøra, Norway) collars used in this study emit an acoustic warning when an animal approaches the virtual boundaries, followed by an aversive electrical pulse if the animal does not return to the defined area. The stimuli sequence is repeated up to three times if the animal continues to walk forward. Although it has been demonstrated that animals successfully learn to adapt to the system, it is unknown if this adaptation changes with animal age and thus has consequences for VF training and animal welfare. This study compared the ability of younger and older dairy cows to adapt to a VF system and whether age affected activity behavior, milk yield, and animal long-term stress under VF management. The study was conducted on four comparable strip-grazing paddocks. Twenty lactating Holstein-Friesian cows, divided into four groups of five animals each, were equipped with VF collars and pedometers. Groups differed in age: two groups of older cows (>4 lactations) and two groups of younger ones (first lactation). After a 7-d training, paddock sizes were increased by successively moving the virtual fence during four consecutive grazing periods. Throughout the study, the pedometers recorded daily step count, time spent standing, and time spent lying. For the determination of long-term stress, hair samples were collected on the first and last day of the trial and the hair cortisol content was assessed. Data were analyzed by generalized mixed-effect models. Overall, age had no significant impact on animal responses to VF, but there were interaction effects of time: the number of acoustic warnings in the last period was higher in younger cows (P < 0.001), and the duration of acoustic warnings at training was shorter for older cows (P < 0.01). Moreover, younger cows walked more per day during the training (P < 0.01). Finally, no effects on milk yield or hair cortisol content were detected. In conclusion, all cows, regardless of age, adapted rapidly to the VF system without compromising their welfare according to the indicators measured.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Confessore
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI), Università di Firenze, Via delle Cascine 5, Firenze, 50144, FI, Italy
| | - Manuel K Schneider
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Forage Production and Grassland Systems, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Grazing Systems, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland
| | - Caren M Pauler
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Forage Production and Grassland Systems, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Grazing Systems, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland
| | - Chiara Aquilani
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI), Università di Firenze, Via delle Cascine 5, Firenze, 50144, FI, Italy
| | - Patricia Fuchs
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Grazing Systems, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland
| | - Carolina Pugliese
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI), Università di Firenze, Via delle Cascine 5, Firenze, 50144, FI, Italy
| | - Camilla Dibari
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI), Università di Firenze, Via delle Cascine 5, Firenze, 50144, FI, Italy
| | - Giovanni Argenti
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI), Università di Firenze, Via delle Cascine 5, Firenze, 50144, FI, Italy
| | - Pier Attilio Accorsi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche Veterinarie, Università di Bologna, Ozzano Emilia, 40064, BO, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Probo
- Agroscope, Research Division Animal Production Systems and Animal Healt, Grazing Systems, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland
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Opoola O, Shumbusho F, Hambrook D, Thomson S, Dai H, Chagunda MGG, Capper JL, Moran D, Mrode R, Djikeng A. From a documented past of the Jersey breed in Africa to a profit index linked future. Front Genet 2022; 13:881445. [PMID: 36386792 PMCID: PMC9649858 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.881445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 09/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The paper reports on the prevalence and performance of the Jersey cattle breed in Africa, highlighting its geographic distribution and describing the reported performance and other related characteristics from the early 1900s to the present day. The review examines the contribution of Jersey cattle in increasing the volume and efficiency of milk production across the continent. Data relating to the Jersey cattle breed has been reported in more than 30 African countries based on available material published between 1964 and 2020. A key encompassing parameter of any reference was a well-described consideration of the Jersey cattle breed (as pure or crossbred with other exotic and/or indigenous breeds) with reported performance within a variety of production systems and agro-ecologies in Africa. The main focus was on breed and performance parameters, breed types, percentage of different breed types in specific environments, reproduction method and fertility; survival and longevity; disease incidence; and production efficiency metrics such as: feed efficiency (milk unit per dry matter intake, DMI) and milk yield (MY) per unit of body weight (BW). The main performance descriptors identified were based on observations on resilience under both abiotic (heat, nutrition) and biotic (incidences of pests and diseases) stressors, milk production, BW, nutrition and utilisation of feed resources. From the literature consulted, we grouped key dairy cattle performance characteristics reported in each country under the following areas to aid comparisons; a. Milk production (Milk nutrient value, daily MY, lifetime MY and annual MY); b. Fertility traits and AFC; c. Survival and longevity, d. Production efficiency (Feed efficiency, milk per unit BW and milk per unit DMI and e. Disease incidences. Results of the review showed that the smaller stature and lower maintenance nutrient requirements of the Jersey breed means that it is better suited to tolerate the tropical production conditions in the African small-scale dairy farming sector. Detailed analyses on MY and survival showed that Jersey crosses with exotic and African indigenous breeds performed better than purebred cattle with strong evidence to support the suitability of the Jersey breed in crossbreeding with indigenous breeds for use in smallholder production systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oluyinka Opoola
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Felicien Shumbusho
- Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), Kigali, Rwanda
| | - David Hambrook
- Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society (RJAHS), Trinity, Jersey
| | - Sam Thomson
- Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society (RJAHS), Trinity, Jersey
| | - Harvey Dai
- Land O’Lakes Venture37®, Arden Hills, MN, United States
| | - Mizeck G. G. Chagunda
- Animal Breeding and Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Jude L. Capper
- Livestock Sustainability Consultancy, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Dominic Moran
- Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Raphael Mrode
- Scotlands’ Rural College, Roslin Institute Building, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Appolinaire Djikeng
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Pytlewski J, Antkowiak IR. The effect of age at first calving on the milking performance of primiparous Jersey cows. ROCZNIKI NAUKOWE POLSKIEGO TOWARZYSTWA ZOOTECHNICZNEGO 2021. [DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0014.9406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
<b>The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age at first calving on the milking performance of primiparous Jersey cows (261 cows). Analyses were conducted on 2461 test day milking samples from 17.09.2007 to 26.07.2016. The primiparous cows were divided into four groups according to their age at first calving (≤ 24, > 24–26, > 26–28, > 28 months), and their daily milk yields were compared. Fourfold contingency tables were prepared to investigate the distribution of the population of cows calving at different ages and the peak daily milk yield. The significance of the association between factors was estimated using Fisher's exact test. To illustrate the course of 305-day lactation in primiparous cows varying in age at first calving, linear graphs were plotted with linear trends for daily milk yields. Primiparous Jersey cows calving at the age of > 26–28 months of life had the highest daily milk yield. In terms of the contents of basic milk constituents in the first lactation, the most advantageous age at first calving was > 24–26 months of life. However, a younger age at first calving (≤ 24 months) was associated with a lower somatic cell count in milk as well as a more favourable lactation curve for daily milk yield. The results of the study may suggest that Jersey cows calving at an earlier age (up to 24 months) may have a longer productive life and thus better performance parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jarosław Pytlewski
- Department of Animal Breeding and Product Quality Assessment, Złotniki, ul. Słoneczna 1, 62- 002 Suchy Las, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland
| | - Ireneusz Ryszard Antkowiak
- Department of Animal Breeding and Product Quality Assessment, Złotniki, ul. Słoneczna 1, 62- 002 Suchy Las, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland
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