Occurrence of preterm calving in Great Britain and associations with milk production and reproductive performance in dairy cattle

Damaso, A F; Velasova, M; Van Winden, S C L; Chang, Y M; Guitian, J

Abstract

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 and 277 of gestation) and full-term calving (calving occurring at 278 days of gestation and over). Mixed effects models were implemented to compare milk production, clinical cases of mastitis and number of services per conception between groups. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analyses compared time from calving to conception, calving interval and survival on farm between groups. Preterm calving cows showed significantly lower milk yield (P

Citation

Damaso, A. F., Velasova, M., Van Winden, S. C. L., Chang, Y. M., & Guitian, J. (2018). Occurrence of preterm calving in Great Britain and associations with milk production and reproductive performance in dairy cattle. Veterinary Record Open, 5, e000221. https://doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2017-000221

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 7, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 20, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 16, 2018
• Journal: Veterinary Record Open
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Pages: e000221
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2017-000221
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1389195