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Performance of Friesian cows with high and low breeding indexes 1. Stall feeding and grazing experiments and performance during the whole lactation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. Grainger ,
A. W. F. Davey  and
C. W. Holmes
C. Grainger
Affiliation:
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
A. W. F. Davey
Affiliation:
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
C. W. Holmes
Affiliation:
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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Abstract

The performance of 38 Friesian cows with either high or low breeding indexes was measured during the whole lactation and in short-term experiments where the cows were individually given cut pasture in stalls, or grazed on pasture.

Cows with high breeding indexes produced more milk fat than did cows with low breeding indexes in the short-term experiments, and during the whole lactation. There was close agreement between the expected differences (predicted from breeding indexes) and the measured differences in milk fat yield. When fresh cut pasture was given ad libitum in stalls the intake per cow was the same between genotypes. However, when intake was expressed per unit of metabolic weight, the mean pasture drymatter intake of the high breeding index cows was 1·05 of that of the low breeding index cows, but the difference was significant in only one of the four indoor feeding experiments.

The difference between genotypes in size was not regarded as significant because the differences in mean live weight at calving (high breeding index – low breeding index) of the animals purchased in the 1st and 2nd years were –28 and 9 kg respectively. During the whole lactation, low breeding index cows gained significantly more live weight and lost significantly less body condition than did the high breeding index cows. No significant differences in live-weight and body-condition changes could be detected during the shorter periods (4 to 5 weeks) of the indoor feeding and grazing experiments.

It can be calculated that the higher milk production of the high breeding index cows could be explained partly because they eat more (per unit metabolic live weight) and more importantly because they divert a higher proportion of the food they eat to milk production and a lower proportion to live-weight gain than do the low breeding index cows.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , June 1985 , pp. 379 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1985

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References

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