Effect of calf stimulation during milking on milk yield and fat content of Bos indicus× Bos taurus cows

Suckling before milking is a common practice to stimulate milk let down in Bos taurus× Bos indicus cows in dual purpose herds, extensively used in tropical American lowlands. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of four cow management strategies at milking on milk yield and compos...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Livestock production science 2003, Vol.79 (2), p.227-232
Main Authors: Combellas, J., Tesorero, M., Gabaldón, L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
body weight
Bos
calves
cows
Dairy cattle
herds
lipid content
livestock production
lowlands
milk
Milk production
Milking
Suckling
weaning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Suckling before milking is a common practice to stimulate milk let down in Bos taurus× Bos indicus cows in dual purpose herds, extensively used in tropical American lowlands. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of four cow management strategies at milking on milk yield and composition and on calves’ live weight (LW) gain. Twenty-four Brahman×Holstein cows were used to compare four treatments: without calf stimulation at milking (W), suckling before milking until let down occurred (S), calf tied beside its mother during milking (P) and suckling before milking followed by calf tied beside its mother until the end of milking (SP). The cows were machine milked twice daily, at 06:30 and 15:30 h, and suckling was allowed for 30 min after morning milking until weaning at 17 weeks. On treatments W, S, P and SP, average saleable milk yields until weaning were 7.7, 9.7, 11.4 and 9.9 kg/day ( P
ISSN:0301-6226
1872-6070
DOI:10.1016/S0301-6226(02)00153-7