DYNAMICS OF MILK PRODUCTIVITY AND BODY WEIGHT OF COWS BY AGE AND PERIODS OF LACTATION

DOI: 10.32900/2312-8402-2023-130-4-15

Admina Natalia,
PhD of Agricultural Science, S. Sc.,
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5224-2640,
Admin Olexandr,
PhD of Agricultural Sciences, S. Sc.,
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5070-8926,
Osypenko Tetiana,
PhD of Agricultural Sciences, S. Sc.,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2605-3587,
Livestock farming institute of NAAS of Ukraine

Keywords: husbandry technology, dairy cattle, age, month of lactation, daily yield, fat content, protein content, body weight


The research was conducted on the farms of the Stepne State Enterprise and the Agroprogres Private Enterprise (stall housing) and on the dairy complex of the Kutuzivka State Enterprise (free housing).

It was established that the shape of the lactation curve of first-borns significantly differed from the classical one during untethered confinement. The average daily milk yield reached a maximum at 3-4 months and almost did not decrease until the 7th month of lactation. In older cows, fertility increased and reached a maximum at 2-3 months of lactation, and then gradually decreased. The relative increase in milk yield in comparison with the first month of lactation was 31% in first-born cows, 17% in second-calving cows, 7% in third-calving cows, and 18% in older animals, and in stall housing – 33%, 17%, 10 % and 2 %, respectively. The power of influence (η2) of the month of lactation on the fat content in milk during untethered confinement was 8.5% in first-born cows, 14.5% in the second lactation, 13.1% in the third lactation, 12.2% in older cows, and for tethered confinement 14.8%, 36.9%, 33.6%, and 11.6%, respectively (р<0.001). Similar to the fat content in milk, the protein content of cows also changed during lactation. At the same time, the influence of the month of lactation on this indicator was much smaller than on the fat content, and in some cases it was improbable for stall housing.

The influence strength of the month of lactation on the daily yield of cows that were culled from the herd was 23.8% for free housing, 1.9% for body weight, and 8.0% for stall housing and 11.6 % (p<0.001). Correlation coefficients are 0.181, +0.411, and –0.223, +0.335, respectively (p<0.01).

Age-related changes in the body weight of animals depended on the technology of their husbandry. In free housing, it was higher both in the sample as a whole (6%) and in animals of different lactations (3-14%). The increase in body weight of cows with age in free housing was: 31 kg in the second lactation, 71 kg in the third lactation, and 100 kg in adult cows, while in stall housing these differences were only 6, 11, 35 kg, respectively.

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