Investigation of 16 years of data on culling reasons and the trend of its changes at mega dairy Holstein cow farms in Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Animal Science, Agriculture Research Institute, Iranian Research Organization for Science &; Technology( IROST), Tehran, Iran

2 Associate professor Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University College of Abureyhan University of Tehran ،Tehran , Iran

3 Department of Animal Science, Agriculture Research Institute, Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology(IROST),Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Since cow culling is one of the main economic aspects in large industrial cattle farms, we decided to study the main removal or death reasons which can help determine management problems in herds. Removal is typically divided into two types, optional and non-optional (mandatory cull) where economic losses differ in these two types.
Materials and Methods: The data of culled cows from 20 industrial mega dairy farms (Holstein Frisian cows) located in 14 provinces in Iran during the last 15 years (2006-2020), belonging to 112096 culled cows were analyzed by T-Student methods of SAS software version 9.1.
Results and Discussion: The average herd size was 2069 Holstein-Frisian cows (max: 5301, min: 400 cows) and the annual culling rate of dairy cows was 23.5%. The main reasons for culling were fertility problems and abortion (21.3%), metabolic and digestive disorders (19.0%), and infectious diseases (14.0%). The data Analysis showed that fertility problems and abortion decreased from 21.7% in 2015 to 20% in 2019 (P<0.05). The Mobility problems (P<0.01), infectious diseases (P<0.01), and mammary system problems (P<0.01) in 2019 are lower than the average of 15 years. It can be concluded that by controlling infectious diseases and improving management, the life span of livestock has increased significantly which has led to farm's economic improvement too. Also, the optional removal of cows has helped the farmers have a proper intensity of breeding selection which led to excellent genetic gain too.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Iranian Journal of animal Science

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 July 2024

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History

  • Receive Date: 28 January 2024
  • Revise Date: 17 April 2024
  • Accept Date: 30 April 2024

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