Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:45:54.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Analysis of some factors which affect the productivity of beef cows and of their calves in a marginal rainfall area of Rhodesia 2. The yield and composition of milk of suckling cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

F. D. Richardson ,
J. Oliver  and
G. P. Y. Clarke
F. D. Richardson
Affiliation:
Mlezu Rural Technical Institute, PO Box 311, Que Que, Rhodesia
J. Oliver
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Rhodesia, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Salisbury, Rhodesia
G. P. Y. Clarke
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Rhodesia, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Salisbury, Rhodesia
Get access

Summary

The milk production of three groups of cows grazing on veld and receiving different amounts of concentrates during winter and the first 8 weeks of lactation was studied over four successive calving seasons. Calves were weaned at either 150 or 240 days.

Cows offered most concentrates and those whose calves had been weaned early in the previous year produced more milk per lactation (P < 0·01) than other cows but weaning age did not affect yield/cow per year. Data for each treatment in each year were considered as a separate class. Regression analyses showed that milk yield increased with cow weight at calving and with calf birth weight. Changes in cow weight during early lactation, after adjusting for initial weight, were directly related to milk yield.

In a concurrent experiment, three groups of heifers were confined in pens and given sufficient amounts of a complete diet to promote either gain, maintenance or loss of weight during lactation. Heifers that gained or maintained weight produced significantly (P<0·01) more milk of a higher solids-not-fat and protein content than those which lost weight. Food intake had a significant (P < 0·01) positive effect on milk yield but the effects of weight and weight change on milk yield were negative after adjusting for food consumption.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , December 1977 , pp. 359 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Research Council. 1965. The Nutrient Requirements of Farm Livestock. No. 2, Ruminants. Agricultural Research Council, London.Google Scholar
Box, G. E. P. 1966. Use and abuse of regression. Technometrics 8: 625–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
British Standards Institution. 1951. Methods for the chemical analysis of liquid milk. BS 1741. British Standards Institution, London.Google Scholar
British Standards Institution. 1955. Gerber method for the determination of fat in milk and milk products. BS 696. British Standards Institution, London.Google Scholar
Brody, S. 1945. Bioenergetics and Growth. Reinhold, New York.Google Scholar
Broster, W. H. 1974. Response of the dairy cow to level of feeding. Bienn. Rev. Natn. Inst. Res. Dairy, pp. 14–34.Google Scholar
Broster, W. H., Broster, V. J. and Smith, T. 1969. Experiments on the nutrition of the dairy heifer. VIII. Effect on milk production of level of feeding at two stages of the lactation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 72: 229–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broster, W. H., Broster, V. J., Smith, T. and Siviter, J. W. 1975. Experiments on the nutrition of the dairy heifer. IX. Food utilization in lactation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 84: 173–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broster, W. H. and Tuck, V. J. 1967. Experiments on the nutrition of the dairy heifer. VI. The effect on milk production of the level of feeding during the last six months of pregnancy and the first eight weeks of lactation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 69: 465–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, A. W. A. 1957. The influence of level of feeding during lactation upon the yield and composition of milk. Dairy Sci. Abstr. 19: 435–454.Google Scholar
Christian, L. L., Hauser, E. R. and Chapman, A. B. 1965. Association of preweaning and postweaning traits with weaning weight in cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 24: 652–659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heyns, H. 1960a. The growth of the Afrikaner calf in relation to the production and composition of the milk of its dam. I. The production and composition of the milk. S. Afr. J. agric. Sci. 3: 349–366.Google Scholar
Heyns, H. 1960b. The growth of the Afrikaner calf in relation to the production and composition of the milk of its dam. II. The milk production of the dam and growth of the calf. S. Afr. J. agric. Sci. 3: 517–530.Google Scholar
Huber, J. T. and Bowman, R. L. 1966. Effect of grain level and protein content of the grain for grazing cows on milk composition and yield, and certain blood and rumen constituents. J. Dairy Sci. 49: 395–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreft, H. W. 1962. [Production qualities of heifers of different beef breeds and types.] S. Afr. J. agric. Sci. 5: 483–490.Google Scholar
Peart, J. N. 1967. The effect of different levels of nutrition during late pregnancy on the subsequent milk production of Blackface ewes and the growth of their lambs. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 68: 365–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peart, J. N. 1968. Lactation studies with Blackface ewes and their lambs. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 70: 87–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, F. D., Oliver, J. and Clarke, G. P. Y. 1975. Analysis of some factors which affect the productivity of beef cows and of their calves in a marginal rainfall area of Rhodesia. I. Factors affecting calving rate. Anim. Prod. 21: 41–49.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. and Cochran, W. G. 1967. Statistical Methods. 6th ed. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames, la.Google Scholar
Willis, M. B. and Preston, T. R. 1967. [Some aspects of performance testing in the Charolais breed.] Rev. cubana Cienc. Agric. 1: 21–31.Google Scholar