Scottish Agricultural College Sustainable Livestock Systems Group, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG.
Vet Rec. 2010 Aug 14;167(7):238-40. doi: 10.1136/vr.c4267.
Risk factors associated with voluntary and involuntary culling within a Holstein-Friesian dairy cow research herd were identified. Data were studied from 3498 completed lactations from the Langhill Holstein-Friesian dairy herd between January 1990 and June 2008. During this period the cows were based on two different farms in Scotland. The culling rate of the milking herd was approximately 25 per cent per annum. Approximately 68 per cent of cows culled were classified as involuntary. The association between different risk factors and the incidence of culling was investigated using a general linear mixed model. Of the 838 cows culled, 59 per cent were culled before the fourth lactation. Culling was associated with cows that had an assisted calving (P<0.01), aborted (P<0.01) and/or suffered from mastitis (P<0.05). Cows that were culled were also more likely to be older cows (P<0.01), have a low number of milking days (P<0.001) and/or a greater number of days from calving to conception (P<0.01). Culling was also associated with conception failure (r=0.752, P<0.001). Further work might help reduce the number of animals culled involuntarily, by identifying key factors associated with the incidence of an assisted calving, abortion and mastitis, and improving milking and fertility performance using detailed data from the Langhill herd.
确定了与荷斯坦弗里森奶牛研究群中自愿和非自愿淘汰相关的风险因素。对 1990 年 1 月至 2008 年 6 月期间朗希尔荷斯坦弗里森奶牛群的 3498 次完整泌乳数据进行了研究。在此期间，这些奶牛分布在苏格兰的两个不同农场。挤奶群的淘汰率约为每年 25%。约 68%的淘汰奶牛被归类为非自愿淘汰。使用一般线性混合模型研究了不同风险因素与淘汰率之间的关系。在 838 头淘汰奶牛中，59%的奶牛在第四次泌乳前被淘汰。淘汰与助产分娩（P<0.01）、流产（P<0.01）和/或乳腺炎（P<0.05）有关。淘汰的奶牛也更有可能是年龄较大的奶牛（P<0.01）、产奶天数较少（P<0.001）和/或从产犊到配种的天数较多（P<0.01）。淘汰还与配种失败有关（r=0.752，P<0.001）。通过识别与助产分娩、流产和乳腺炎发生率相关的关键因素，并利用朗希尔群的数据提高挤奶和繁殖性能，可能有助于减少非自愿淘汰的动物数量。
