The presence and importance of visual oestrous symptoms and the relation to conception, breed, housing system and milk yield were studied. Data were collected from a Swedish research herd during a 16-year period. Local, secondary and primary oestrous symptoms and an overall oestrus intensity score (OI) were studied. Decreasing trends in oestrous expression and conception rates (CR), and an increase in CR with more intensive oestrus, from 24% at OI score one (very week) to 54% at OI score five (very strong) were observed. The mean interval from first to last observed oestrus symptom was long with a large variation (54?±?SD?=?32?h). Generally, irrespectively of housing system, Swedish Red cows had higher CR, more intensive oestruses and longer oestrus durations compared to Swedish Holstein cows. Local oestrous symptoms, with CR of 24–28%, were most frequently detected, which is why more attention should be paid to local oestrous symptoms. 相似文献
The aim of this study was to characterize preferences of farmers for breeding goal traits with Danish Red (DR) or Danish Jersey (DJ) cows. A breed-specific survey was established to characterize farmers’ preferences for improvements in 10 traits, by means of pairwise rankings using the online software 1000Minds. These pairwise rankings were based on equal economic worth of trait improvements. The DR survey was filled in by 87 farmers and the DJ survey by 76 farmers. Both DR and DJ farmers gave the highest preference to improvements in mastitis, and the lowest to calving difficulty. By means of a cluster analysis, three distinct clusters of farmers were identified per breed. Comparisons of herd characteristics between clusters suggest that farmers choose to improve traits that are problematic in their herds. This study shows that heterogeneity exists in farmers’ preferences for trait improvements and that herd characteristics influence these preferences in DR and DJ. 相似文献
Insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1) is one of the important factors for growth, milk production and reproductive functions and mainly released from the liver in response to growth hormone (GH) via GH receptor (GHR) in cattle. Recently, some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the bovine GHR gene. Some GHR‐SNPs were shown to be related to plasma IGF‐1 concentration in cattle. Hence, the capacity to IGF‐1 production in the liver might be affected by GHR‐SNP and associated with performance in the future. This study examined whether GHR‐SNP is associated with IGF‐1 production in the liver of pre‐pubertal heifers. In 71 Holstein calves, blood samples for genomic DNA extraction were obtained immediately after birth. To genotype the GHR‐SNPs in the promoter region, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products were digested with restriction enzyme NsiI (cutting sites: AA, AG and GG). All heifers at 4 months of age were intramuscularly injected with 0.4 mg oestradiol benzoate. Blood samples were obtained from the jugular vein just before (0 h) and 24 h after injection. The number of AA, AG and GG at the NsiI site was 0, 17 and 54 respectively. In AG and GG, plasma GH concentrations were higher pre‐injection than 24 h post‐injection (p < 0.01). Moreover, plasma GH concentrations in AG post‐injection were higher than in GG (p < 0.05). In contrast, the GG genotype exhibited higher plasma IGF‐1 concentrations in pre‐injection than post‐injection (p < 0.01), although oestradiol did not change IGF‐1 concentration in the AG genotype. We conclude that the GG polymorphism in the promoter region of GHR is associated with a higher potential capacity of IGF‐1 production in the liver of cattle. 相似文献
During the early postpartum period dairy cows mobilize fat and muscle to support lactation. This is associated with alterations in blood metabolite and hormone profiles which in turn influence milk yield and fertility. This study developed models to determine how metabolic traits, milk yield and body condition score were inter-related at different times in the periparturient period and to compare these relationships in primiparous (PP, n=188) and multiparous (MP, n=312) cows. Data from four previous studies which included information on blood metabolic parameters, parity, milk yield, body condition score and diet were collated into a single dataset. Coefficients of polynomial equations were calculated for each trait between -1 week pre-calving and week +7 postpartum using residual maximum likelihood modelling. The completed dataset was used in a multiple correlation model to determine how the best fit curves were related to each other over time. PP cows had higher concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-I and lower beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations throughout, higher leptin concentrations pre-partum and both the peak in non-esterified fatty acids and the nadir in urea concentration occurred earlier after calving. These differences were associated with significantly lower milk production. Leptin concentrations fell at calving and were related to body condition score. Insulin was negatively correlated with yield in MP cows only. In MP cows the relationship between insulin-like growth factor-I and yield switched from negative to positive between weeks +4 and +7. Both beta-hydroxybutyrate and urea were positively related to yield in PP cows. In contrast, in MP cows beta-hydroxybutyrate was negatively correlated with yield and urea was strongly related to body condition score but not yield. These results suggest that there are differences in the control of tissue mobilization between PP and MP cows which may promote nutrient partitioning into growth as well as milk during the first lactation. 相似文献
Thirty-seven bulk tank milk (BTM) and individual milk samples of all contributing cows were tested for Coxiella burnetii detection by a real-time PCR assay and used to assess the relationship between the BTM PCR-response and (i) the within-herd prevalence of milk-shedder cows and (ii) the proportion of heavy milk-shedder cows. The within-herd prevalence of milk-shedder cows (i) was found to be significantly higher in herds with a positive BTM and (ii) increased significantly with the estimated titre in Coxiella burnetii obtained in positive BTM. The proportion of heavy milk-shedder cows among the milk-shedder cows increased significantly with an increased estimated titre in Coxiella burnetii in positive BTM. Therefore, a real-time PCR assay applied to BTM samples collected repeatedly over time appears to be a valuable tool to assess on a larger scale the status of herds towards Coxiella shedding, and to evaluate the efficiency of control actions aimed at controlling and/or preventing Coxiella shedding in dairy herds. 相似文献
During the last few years, many Danish dairy farmers have expressed increasing concerns regarding a group of cows, which we have chosen to term ‘loser cows’. Until now, a loser cow has not been described scientifically. We defined a loser cow on the basis of a clinical examination of the cow. A total of 15,151 clinical examinations were made on 6,451 individual cows from 39 randomly selected, large Danish dairy herds with loose-housing systems using a clinical protocol. Scores for the clinical signs lameness, body condition, hock lesions, other cutaneous lesions, vaginal discharge, condition of hair coat and general condition were converted into a loser cow score. Cows with a loser cow score of 8 or more were classified as loser cows. The overall prevalence of loser cows was 2.15%, 4.50% and 2.98% during the first, second and third round of herd visits, respectively.
The associations between the loser cow state and milk production, mortality, morbidity, culling and workload for the farmer were evaluated using data from herd visits and from the Danish Cattle Database and a number of different statistical techniques. It was concluded that the loser cow state has significant negative consequences for both the farmer and the cow. On average, loser cows yielded 0.61 to 2.24 kg energy corrected milk less per day than non-loser cows depending on parity. Hazard ratio for death or euthanasia was 5.69 for loser cows compared to non-loser cows. Incidence rate ratio for disease treatments was 0.69 for non-loser cows compared to loser cows. Loser cows were often culled in an ‘unfavourable’ way and generally caused extra workload for the farmer.
A simplified version of the loser cow score was evaluated and is recommended for future research and use in practice. 相似文献