THE STUDY OF BODY CONDITIONS OF HOLSTEIN - FRISIAN COWS IN THE FIRST 80 DAYS OF LACTATION
Keywords:
herd management, milk production, body condition scoring (BCS)Abstract
Body condition represents the physiological and maintenance stage of an animal at
a given time. The study on the body condition of the cows was conducted on a group
of 22 Frisian Holstein cows. The average milk production per normal lactation (305
days) was 8664 kg. The animals were bred in free stall, stand for milking type 5x1.
The body condition was assessed after calving (postpartum) and 80 days later. The
body condition index decreased by 26, 39% in this time interval, achieving the
critical score of 2.5 points. The production of milk represented the 27, 64±0, 98% of
the total average milk production. The appreciation of the body condition using the
point method represents and easy method. The appreciation of the body condition by
the point method represents a valuable tool for the health monitoring and proper
nutrition of cows with superior genotypes.
References
Berry, D.P., Buckley, F., Dillon, P., Evans, R.D., Rath, M. and
Veerkamp, R.F. 2002. Genetic parameters for level and change of body
condition score between milk composition and some nutritional parameters
in early lactation. Livest. Prod. Sci. 14:239–254.
Buckley, F., O’sullivan, K., Mee, J.F., Evans, R.D. and Dillon, P.-
- Relationships among milk yield, body condition, cow weight, and
reproduction in spring-calving Holstein-Friesians. Journal of Dairy Science
: 2308–2319.
Ferguson, J., D., D., T., Galligan, and N., Thomsen. – 1994-
Principal descriptors of body condition score in Holstein cows. J. Dairy Sci.
:2695–2703.
Gillund, P., O., Reksen, Y., T., Gro¨Hn, and K., Karlberg – 2001-
Body condition related to ketosis and reproductive performance in
Norwegian dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 84:1390–1396.
Heuer, C., Y. H. Schukken, and P. Dobbelaar. 1999. Post partum
body condition score and results from the first test day milk as predictors of
disease, fertility, yield, and culling in commercial dairy herds. J. Dairy Sci.
:295–304.
