Factors influencing heifer survival and fertility on commercial dairy farms

Animal

Volumn 2, Issue 8, 2008, Pages 1135-1143

  Wathes, D C ^a   Brickell, J S ^a   Bourne, N E ^a   Swali, A ^a,b   Cheng, Z ^a  

^a ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Cattle heifers; Fertility; Growth; Longevity; Somatotrophic axis

Indexed keywords

ANIMALIA; BOS;

EID: 46749154705     PISSN: 17517311     EISSN: 1751732X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1751731108002322     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (56)

1. Barker DJP 1998. Mothers, babies and health in later life, 2nd edition. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.
2. Bell AW 1995. Regulation of organic nutrient metabolism during transition from late pregnancy to early lactation. Journal of Animal Science 73, 2804-2819.
3. Blott S, Kim JJ, Moisio S, Schmidt-Kantzel A, Cornet A, Berzi P, Cambisano N, Ford C, Grisart B, Johnson D, Karim L, Simon P, Snell R, Spelman R, Wong J, Vilkki J, Georges M, Farnir F and Coppieters W 2003. Molecular dissection of a quantitative trait locus: a phenylalanine-to-tyrosine substitution in the transmembrane domain of the bovine growth hormone receptor is associated with a major effect on milk yield and composition. Genetics 163, 253-266.
4. Blowey RW 2005. Management of diseases in calves and heifers. In Calf and heifer rearing: principles of rearing the modern dairy heifer from calf to calving (ed. PC Garnsworthy), pp. 191-196. Nottingham University Press, Notingham, UK.
5. Bourne N, Swali A, Jones AK, Potterton S and Wathes DC 2007. The effects of size and age at first calving on subsequent fertility in dairy cows. In Reproduction in domestic ruminants VI (ed. JL Juengel, JF Murray and MF Smith), p. 526. Nottingham University Press, Notingham, UK.
6. Brickell JS, Bourne N and Wathes DC 2007a. The incidence of calf mortality on dairy farms in southern England. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, 107.
7. Brickell JS, Bourne N, Bleach ECL and Wathes DC 2007b. Influence of pre-weaning diet and sire on growth rates of replacement dairy heifers. Reproduction in domestic ruminants VI (ed. JL Juengel, JF Murray and MF Smith), p. 493. Nottingham University Press, Notingham, UK.
8. Brickell JS, Bourne N, Cheng Z and Wathes DC 2007c. Influence of plasma IGF-I concentrations and body weight at 6 months on age at first calving in dairy heifers on commercial farms. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 42(Suppl. 2), 77-143.
9. Brito LFC, Barth AD, Rawlings NC, Wilde RE, Crews DH, Mir PS and Kastelic JP 2007. Effect of nutrition during calfhood and peripubertal period on serum metabolic hormones, gonadotrophins and testosterone concentrations and on sexual development in bulls. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 33, 1-18.
10. Buchanan FC, Van Kessel AG, Waldner C, Christensen DA, Laarveld B and Schmutz SM 2003. An association between a leptin single nucleotide polymorphism and milk and protein yield. Journal of Dairy Science 86, 3164-3166.
11. Bulman DC and Lamming GE 1979. The use of milk progesterone analysis in the study of oestrous detection, herd fertility and embryonic mortality in dairy cows. British Veterinary Journal 135, 559-567.
12. Buxton D, Caldow GL, Maley SW, Marks J and Innes EA 1997. Neopsporosis and bovine abortion in Scotland. Veterinary Record 141, 649-651.
13. Carson AF, Dawson LER, McCoy MA, Kilpatrick DJ and Gordon FJ 2002. Effects of rearing regime on body size, reproductive performance and milk production during the first lactation in high genetic merit dairy herd replacements. Animal Science 74, 553-565.
14. Coffey MP, Hickey J and Brotherstone S 2006. Genetic aspects of growth of Holstein-Friesian dairy cows from birth to maturity. Journal of Dairy Science 89, 322-329.
15. Deas W 1981. Non-brucella abortion in cattle. In Practice 3, 14-19.
16. Esslemont RJ and Kossaibati MA 1996. Incidence of production disease and other health problems in a group of dairy herds in England. Veterinary Record 139, 486-490.
17. Esslemont RJ and Kossaibati MA 1997. Culling in 50 dairy herds in England. Veterinary Record 140, 36-39.
18. Ettema JF and Santos JE 2004. Impact of age at first calving on lactation, reproduction, health and income in first-parity Holsteins on commercial farms. Journal of Dairy Science 87, 2730-2742.
19. Frisancho AR, Matos J, Leonard WR and Yaroch LA 1985. Developmental and nutritional determinants of pregnancy outcome among teenagers. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 66, 247-261.
20. Grisart B, Coppieters W, Farnir F, Karim L, Ford C, Berzi P, Cambisano N, Mni M, Reid S, Simon P, Spelman R, Georges M and Snell R 2002. Positional candidate cloning of a QTL in dairy cattle: identification of a missense mutation in the bovine DGAT1 gene with major effect on milk yield and composition. Genome Research 12, 222-231.
21. Hansen LB 2000. Consequences of selection for milk yield from a geneticist's viewpoint. Journal of Dairy Science 83, 1145-1150.
22. Hansen M 2004. Quantitative genetic analysis of mortality in Danish Holstein calves. PhD, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark.
23. Haworth GM, Tranter WP, Chuck J, Cheng Z and Wathes DC 2008. Relationships between age at calving and first lactation milk yield with lifetime productivity and longevity in dairy cows. Veterinary Record 162 (in press).
24. Heinrichs AJ and Radostits OM 2001. Health and production management of dairy calves and replacement heifers. In Herd health food animal production medicine, , 3rd edition, vol. 9 (ed. OM Radostits), pp. 333-395. WB Saunders Company, Philadelphia, USA.
25. Hoffman PC 1997. Optimum body size of Holstein replacement heifers. Journal of Animal Science 75, 836-845.
26. Johanson JM and Berger PJ 2003. Birth weight as a predictor of calving easeand perinatal mortality in Holstein cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 86, 3745-3755.
27. Keown JF and Everett RW 1986. Effects of days carried calf, days dry and weight at first calving on yield. Journal of Dairy Science 69, 1891-1896.
28. Klassen DJ, Monardes HG, Jairath L, Cue RI and Hayes JF 1992. Genetic correlations between lifetime production and linearized type in Canadian Holsteins. Journal of Dairy Science 75, 2272-2282.
29. Løvendahl P, Angus KD and Woolliams JA 1991. The effect of genetic selection for milk yield on the response to growth hormone secretagogues in immature cattle. Journal of Endocrinology 128, 419-424.
30. Lucy MC 2001. Reproductive loss in high-producing dairy cattle: where will it end? Journal of Dairy Science 84, 1277-1293.
31. McCrabb G, Egan AR and Hosking BJ 1992. Maternal undernutrition during mid-pregnancy in sheep: variable effects on placental growth. Journal of Agricultural Science 118, 127-132.
32. Mellor DJ and Stafford KJ 2004. Animal welfare implications of neonatal mortality & morbidity in farm animals. Veterinary Journal 168, 118-133.
33. Nieuwhof GJ, Norman HD and Dickinson FN 1989. Phenotypic trends in herdlife of dairy cows in the United States. Journal of Dairy Science 72, 726-736.
34. Ong KK, Ahmed ML, Emmett PM, Preece MA and Dunger DB 2000. Association between postnatal catch-up growth and obesity in childhood: prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal 320, 967-971.
35. Ortiz-Pelaez A, Pritchard DG, Pfeiffer DU, Jones E, Honeyman P and Mawdsley JJ 2008. Calf mortality as a welfare indicator on British cattle farms. Veterinary Journal 176, 177-181.
36. Osgerby JC, Gadd TS and Wathes DC 2003. The effect of maternal nutrition and body condition on placental and foetal growth in the ewe. Placenta 24, 236-247.
37. Pirlo G, Miglior F and Speroni M 2000. Effect of age at first calving on production traits and on difference between milk yield returns and rearing costs in Italian Holsteins. Journal of Dairy Science 83, 603-608.
38. Rhind SM 2004. Effects of maternal nutrition on fetal and neonatal reproductive development and function. Animal Reproduction Science 82-83, 169-181.
39. Roy JHB 1990. The calf, vol 1. Management of health. Butterworths, Boston, MA, USA.
40. Royal MD, Darwash AO, Flint APF, Webb R, Woolliams JA and Lamming GE 2000. Declining fertility in dairy cattle: changes in traditional and endocrine parameters of fertility. Animal Science 70, 487-501.
41. Santos JE, Thatcher WW, Chebel RC, Cerri RL and Galvao KN 2004. The effect of embryonic death rates in cattle on the efficacy of estrus synchronization programs. Animal Reproduction Science 82-83, 513-535.
42. Serjsen K 2005. Mammary Development. In Calf and heifer rearing: principles of rearing the modern dairy heifer from calf to calving (ed. PC Garnsworthy), pp. 237-251. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK.
43. Svensson C, Linder A and Olsson 2006. Mortality in Swedish dairy calves and replacement heifers. Journal of Dairy Science 89, 4769-4777.
44. Swali A 2004. Early development and subsequent metabolic and reproductive parameters in the Holstein-Friesian dairy calf. PhD, Royal Veterinary College, University of London.
45. Swali A and Wathes DC 2006. Influence of the dam and sire on size at birth and subsequent growth, milk production and fertility in dairy heifers. Theriogenology 66, 1173-1184.
46. Swali A and Wathes DC 2007. Influence of primiparity on size at birth, growth, the somatotrophic axis and fertility in dairy heifers. Animal Reproduction Science 102, 122-136.
47. Taylor VJ, Beever DE, Bryant MJ and Wathes DC 2004. First lactation ovarian function in dairy heifers in relation to pre-pubertal metabolic profiles. Journal of Endocrinology 180, 63-75.
48. Taylor VJ, Beever DE, Bryant MJ and Wathes DC 2006. Pre-pubertal measurements of the somatotrophic axis as predictors of milk production in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 31, 1-18.
49. Tsuruta S, Misztal I and Lawlor TJ 2004. Genetic correlations among production, body size, udder, and productive life traits over time in Holsteins. Journal of Dairy Science 87, 1457-1468.
50. Tsuruta S, Misztal I and Lawlor TJ 2005. Changing the definition of productive life in US Holsteins: effect on genetic correlations. Journal of Dairy Science 88, 1156-1165.
51. Van Amburgh ME, Galton DM, Bauman DE, Everett RW, Fox DG, Chase LE and Erb HN 1998. Effects of three prepubertal body growth rates on performance of Holstein heifers during first lactation. Journal of Dairy Science 81, 527-538.
52. Vukasinovic N, Schleppi Y and Kunzi N 2002. Using conformation traits to improve reliability of genetic evaluation for herd life based on survival analysis. Journal of Dairy Science 85, 1556-1562.
53. Wall E, Coffey MP and Brotherstone S 2007. The relationship between body energy traits and production and fitness traits in first-lactation dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 90, 1527-1537.
54. Wallace JM, Regnault TR, Limesand SW, Hay WW and Anthony RV 2005. Investigating the causes of low birthweight in contrasting ovine paradigms. Journal of Physiology 565, 19-26.
55. Wathes DC, Taylor VJ, Cheng Z and Mann GE 2003. Follicle growth, corpus luteum function and their effects on embryo development in the postpartum dairy cow. Reproduction Supplement 61, 219-237.
56. Wathes DC, Fenwick M, Cheng Z, Bourne N, Llewellyn S, Morris DG, Kenny D, Murphy J and Fitzpatrick R 2007. Influence of negative energy balance on cyclicity and fertility in the high producing dairy cow. Theriogenology 68(Suppl. 1), S232-S241.