Abstract
Abstract. The effect of housing system (tethered vs. loose) and milk yield of 10 358 cows on their fertility was analysed in 1 721 farms from the Pomerania and Kujawy regions of Poland. The GLM, FREQ and CORR procedures of the SAS package were used for statistical calculations. The housing system significantly affected cow fertility, which also depended, both in the first reproductive cycle and over the cows‘ lifetime, on milk production level after the first calving. A stronger relationship (unfavourable for breeders) between milk production and fertility was found for tethered cows compared to their loose-housed contemporaries. Regardless of the milk production level of first calvers, loose-housed cows showed better fertility.
Highlights
Reproduction is essential for species survival and affects the course of breeding and selection and determines the cows’ dairy performance
On most Polish farms, cows are kept in tie stalls (Grodzki et al 2002)
The present study was conducted in 1 679 farms with tethered cows and in 42 farms with loose-housed cows
Summary
Reproduction is essential for species survival and affects the course of breeding and selection and determines the cows’ dairy performance. It is of economic importance because reproductive diseases are the main threat to the economic performance of intensively managed dairy cows (Krzyżewski et al 2004, Studer 1998). When summarizing the findings of other authors who compared the effect of tethered vs loose housing on cows’ milk performance, health, fertility and behaviour. According to Stevenson (2000), the loose housing system reduces individual feed intake control, and feeding errors are known to be the main factor in metabolic diseases and poorer reproductive parameters of the cows
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