Abstract
BackgroundHigh turnover rate in dairy farms due to culling and mortality is associated with poor animal welfare, an increase in production costs and lower economic benefits for the dairy farm. Understanding cow elimination better would help to formulate specific prevention measures and improve the efficiency of milk production in dairy farms. Culling and mortality data from five standard high-producing dairy farms in Spain were analysed over a period of 11 years (2006–2016). Data were collected by the same veterinary team and using the same software system.ResultsSignificant between-herd differences in eliminated cows were observed for type of elimination (slaughter or death on the farm), age at elimination, cause of elimination, number of lactations and production parameters, such as total days in milk, life milk yield, litres per day of productive life and litres per day of life. Culling and mortality were higher during the hot season and for cows of second and third parities. Between-herd differences were observed. Reproductive disorders (30.2%) were the most frequent reason for elimination, with low production (23.4%) being the second most frequent reason. Accidents on the farm (7.7%) were a more frequent cause of elimination than metabolic diseases (7.2%), locomotor disorders (2.4%) and obstetrics (2.4%).ConclusionsVeterinary teams or farmers’ associations can use culling and mortality information for benchmarking cow farms if data collection and analysis is standardised for comparability. The analysis of culling and mortality information should help farmers to improve efficiency.
Highlights
High turnover rate in dairy farms due to culling and mortality is associated with poor animal welfare, an increase in production costs and lower economic benefits for the dairy farm
Productive data of cows eliminated A total of 4811 cows from five dairy farms were either sent to slaughter or died on the farm from 2006 to 2016
Defining culling criteria and a cause of mortality can be biased depending on how data are collected, who is responsible for the data collection and on the data analysis system [1]
Summary
High turnover rate in dairy farms due to culling and mortality is associated with poor animal welfare, an increase in production costs and lower economic benefits for the dairy farm. Culling and mortality data from five standard high-producing dairy farms in Spain were analysed over a period of 11 years (2006–2016). Culling (removal of a live cow from the farm for slaughter), mortality (death of an animal on the farm, whether euthanized or unassisted) and sale (selling cows to other farms) are normal events in intensive dairy production systems. In any livestock production system, net farm revenue is affected by income and costs. The sale of milk is the most important factor for income in dairy farms and the rearing and purchase of replacements are important costs for the farm [1]. A high turnover rate negatively affects the farms average milk production due to the fact that replacements. Weather conditions could affect culling and mortality parameters throughout the year
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