Effect of Body Condition Score at Parturition on Post-partum Productive and Reproductive Performance in Crossbred Dairy Cows

Abstract

Twenty three HF crossbred cows with 260-270 days gestation were selected for the study. The animals were grouped based on their body condition score (BCS) in to three groups I, II and III with 2.5-2.99, 3.00-3.49 and 3.5 and above 3.5 respectively. The objective of the present study was to quantify the relationships between body condition score (BCS; scale 1 to 5), live weight (WT) changes, milk production and reproductive performance in crossbred dairy cows during 60 days of postpartum. The mean BCS at calving were 2.72±0.05, 3.20±0.03 and 3.74±0.011 for group I, II and III respectively. Statistical analysis reveals that significant associations were observed on productive performance but no significant association on reproductive performance. However, cows in group-III with BCS > 3.5 at calving had the most favorable reproduction indicators when compared to group I and II. The cows having high BCS at calving had lost more condition and body weight, when compared to cows with low body condition and lesser body weights.