The objective of the present study was to quantify the relationships among body condition score (BCS; scale 1 to 5), live weight (WT) and milk production in Irish Holstein-Friesian spring calving dairy cows. Data were from 66 commercial dairy herds during the years 1999 and 2000. The data consisted of up to 9886 lactations with records for BCS or WT at least once pre-calving, or at calving, nad...

This study describes the occurrence of preterm calving in Great Britain and evaluates its associations with subsequent milk production and reproductive performances and survival on farm of dairy cows. A total of 53 British dairy farms and 5759 animals with detailed breeding and milk recording data available were used to form two study groups: preterm calving (calving occurring between days 266 ...

A total of 1385 lactation records of Tharparkar cattle collected from LRS Chandan, Jaisalmer spreading over a period of 33 years were utilized to assess the effects of period and season of birth/calving on age at first calving, calving interval and service period and also studied effect of parity on calving interval and service period. The least-squares means were 1821.86 ± 37.022 days, 414.16 ...

Bone accumulations faithfully record historical ecological data on animal communities, and owing to millennial-scale bone survival on high-latitude landscapes, have exceptional potential for extending records on arctic ecosystems. For the Porcupine Caribou Herd, maintaining access to calving grounds on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, Alaska) is a central management concern. However, ...

Iceberg calving from all Antarctic ice shelves has never been directly measured, despite playing a crucial role in ice sheet mass balance. Rapid changes to iceberg calving naturally arise from the sporadic detachment of large tabular bergs but can also be triggered by climate forcing. Here we provide a direct empirical estimate of mass loss due to iceberg calving and melting from Antarctic ice ...

The aim of this study was to determine if, and under what conditions, indoor-housed dairy cows would seek a shelter to calve. Seventy-two Holstein dairy cows were paired by expected calving date and moved into a maternity pen that contained an open area with no cover and a sheltered area that was covered on all sides except for the ceiling and an entrance where cows could freely enter or exit. ...

Records of 547, 2-yr-old heifers of three breed groups were used to evaluate the relative influence of dam's body and pelvic measurements, calf birth weight, sire birth weight and some relative measures (ratios) of calf birth weight and dam weight at calving on calving difficulty. The data were analyzed by regression and least squares procedures. The full model explained 32.5% of the variation ...