Influence of Body Condition Score on Yield and Composition of Milk in Crossbred Dairy Cows

The study was carried out for a period of 150 days on 120 Holstein Friesian crossbred dairy cows between mid to late lactation to quantify the influence of body condition score (BCS) on yield and composition of milk. Total 12 dairy farms having same housing systems and holding at least 20 crossbred dairy cows per farm between mid to late lactation were selected for this study purposes. BCS of individual cows was recorded in a 1-5 scale. Milk samples were collected from individual cow. Samples collected from cows having same BCS were mixed together to make composite sample. Chemical analyses of the samples were carried out in triplicate for fat, protein, lactose, ash, total solids (TS) and solids not fat (SNF). Results indicated that, BCS significantly (P0.05) with increasing BCS up to 4.0. Correlation coefficient matrix indicated that BCS was negatively correlated with milk yield. However, there was a positive relationship of BCS with milk protein, lactose, TS, SNF and SG even though the strength of association was variable.