Reasons and timing of Holstein dairy cows culls during heat stress in Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to consider the reasons and timing of cows leaving herd during heat stressfor 10 years in Iran. Data regarding dates of birth, calving status, reasons for culling, parity at culling, calving to culling interval were collected from March 2004 to April 2014. Out of a total of 6462 culled cows, reproduction failure (22.5% of all culls) was the most prevalent reason of culling followed by lameness (11.5%) and mastitis (9.4%). Average ± SD of parity at culling was 3.27 ± 2.01. Mean ± SD of last calving to culling interval was 217.88 ± 202.80 days and nearly 38.6% of cows were culled in the first 100 days after calving. Cows culled for milk fever left the herd early in lactation (88.56±127.46, Days in milk), but at a higher parity than other cows (4.50±2.18, P<0.05). In contrast, cows culled for reproduction failure were youngest (2.21±1.83 parity) and culled later within lactation (P<0.05). Cows culled for mastitis and lameness left the herd earlier in lactation (109.89±224.21 vs. 169.12±216.82, Days in milk, P<0.05) than cows culled for reproduction failure (403.12±224.33, Days in milk, P<0.05). These results suggest that most of the culls related to reproduction failure were the main reasons to cull cows and occurred in younger cows and at late lactation.

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Animal Sciences Journal
Volume 29, Issue 110
June 2016
Pages 159-166

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