The time between birth and first calving represents a period in which replacement heifers are not generating income. Instead this rearing period requires considerable capital expenditures including feed, housing, and veterinary expenses. These expenses constitute 15 to 20% of the total expenses related to milk production (Heinrichs, 1993). A basic approach to reducing this cost is to reduce the...

Productivity of 2-yr-old crossbred cows containing various proportions (0, 1/4 or 1/2) of Brahman breeding was evaluated using 203 spring-calving and 171 fall-calving heifers over a 3-yr period. All heifers were mated to Limousin sires. Percentage of cows exposed to breeding that weaned a calf was the only trait for which a significant crossbred cow group x season of calving interaction was fou...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships between several health disorders: milk fever (MF; hypocalcaemia and parturient paresis), retained placenta (RP; retained foetal membranes), metritis (ME; endometritis and pyometra), ovarian cysts (OC; follicular and luteal cysts), clinical mastitis (CM), and lameness (LS; foot and leg problems) as affecting the reproductive performan...

the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of bovine leukemia virus (blv) in khorasan razavi and khorasan shomali provinces which are the main provinces located in the northeast of iran. total number of 429 blood samples were collected from industrial dairy herds. the samples were categorized based on province, age (2-3, 4-6, and 7-10 years old), calving (≤ 2, 3-5, and > 5) and h...

Daily milk records of 88 cows in a multibreed dairy herd were used to describe lactation curves and test the ability of seven models to predict daily milk yields, and accumulated 100-d and 305-d milk yields. The seven mathematical models were a gamma function, a mixed log second-degree polynomial model, and five polynomial regression models. Cows were of three breed groups: Holstein Friesian (H...