Performance and longevity of dairy heifers born during winter 1 (W1) and reared according to three growth profiles during winter 2 (W2) in a strategy based on first calving at 36 months of age - INRAE - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Livestock Science Année : 2011

Performance and longevity of dairy heifers born during winter 1 (W1) and reared according to three growth profiles during winter 2 (W2) in a strategy based on first calving at 36 months of age

Yannick Le Cozler
Frederic Dessauge
Luc Delaby

Résumé

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that restricted growth patterns during winter 2 (W2) would affect subsequent performance of dairy heifers born during winter 1 (W1) and going through first calving at 36 mo of age. The study used simultaneously two INRA experimental herds in two different parts of France (Le Pin-au-Haras and Mirecourt), totalling 158 heifers born during three successive winters (1994-1997). All animals were followed from birth until the day of culling. Animal breeds were Holstein (Ho) and Normande (No) at Le Pin-au-Haras, and Holstein (Ho) and Montbeliarde (Mo) at Mirecourt. At the beginning of W2, heifers were 332 (+/-19) and 365 (+/-27) d old at Le Pin-au-Haras and Mirecourt, respectively. The animals were then housed and subjected to a restricted feeding strategy to achieve an average daily gain (ADG) of 600, 400 or 200 g/d at Le Pin-au-Haras, and 500, 200 and -200 g/d at Mirecourt, respectively. Duration of W2 varied from 114 to 167 days depending on birth year and herd. At the end of W2, animals were 453 (+/-19) and 514 (+/-33) d old at Le Pin-au-Haras and Mirecourt, respectively. During pasture grazing seasons, management and feeding were similar for all animals. As expected, body weight differed between treatments at the end of W2 (p<0.05), but not at first calving. In both herds, performance during the first lactation was generally unaffected by feeding treatments. On overall lactations, the 600 g/d group of heifers at Le Pin-au-Haras showed lower milk performance calculated on a 4% basis and a poorer milk composition (p<0.05). However, when expressed per productive day of life, milk production on a 305-day basis (p<0.05) was the highest for these animals. Of the 158 animals that started the experiment, 41% were culled due to reproductive disorders, probably a result of the seasonal calving system. These results indicate that a strategy based on first calving at 36 mo of age makes it possible to voluntarily reduce ADG during a short growth period without any major effects on short- or long-term performance. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
2011_Le_Cozler_Livestock_Science_1.pdf (457.71 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...

Dates et versions

hal-00729310 , version 1 (29-05-2020)

Identifiants

Citer

Yannick Le Cozler, Y. Gallard, Frederic Dessauge, J. R. Peccatte, J. M. Trommenschlager, et al.. Performance and longevity of dairy heifers born during winter 1 (W1) and reared according to three growth profiles during winter 2 (W2) in a strategy based on first calving at 36 months of age. Livestock Science, 2011, 137 (1-3), pp.244-254. ⟨10.1016/j.livsci.2010.11.018⟩. ⟨hal-00729310⟩
146 Consultations
101 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More