The incidence of difficult calvings in the beef cattle in the Slovak Republic

Ján Tomka

doi:10.15414/afz.2018.21.04.135-137

Abstract

Received: 2018-05-04 | Accepted: 2018-05-14 | Available online: 2018-11-26 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2018.21.04.135-137 Calving difficulty is one of important economic traits in beef production. In the Slovak Republic calving difficulty in beef cattle is recorded on the regular basis, however, these data have not been used so far in decision making. The aim of this study was to get the first insight into the data. Data on 288 346 calvings in 5 major Slovak populations (Charolais, Limousine, Slovak Simmental, Pinzgau, Beef Simmental) during the period 1990-2017 were exploited. The primary analyses showed that there exist differences in the incidence of the difficult calvings according to the breed of the dam. The lowest rate of assisted calvings was observed in Limousine breed. Lower incidence was observed when calvings of crossbred matings were considered. Only slight associations of difficult calvings with sex of calves, parity and season of calvings were observed. Slightly higher rates of assisted calvings were observed in the group of heifers and births of males. Keywords: beef cattle, calving ease, dystocia, reproduction References Atashi, H., Abdolmohammadi, A., Dadpasand, M., Asaadi, A. (2012) Prevalence, risk factors and consequent effect of dystocia in Holstein dairy cows in Iran. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science, 25 (4), 447-451. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2011.11303 Carnier, P., Albera, A., Dal Zotto, R., Groen, A. F., Bona, M., Bittante, G. (2000) Genetic parameters for direct and maternal calving ability over parities in Piedmontese cattle. Journal of Animal Science, 78 (10), 2532-2539. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.2527/2000.78102532x De Amicis, I., Veronesi, M.C., Robbe, D., Gloria, A., Carluccio, A. (2018) Prevalence, causes, resolution and consequences of bovine dystocia in Italy. Theriogenology, 107, 104-108. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2017.11.001 Eriksson, S., Nasholm, A., Johansson, K., Philipsson, J. (2004) Genetic parameters for calving difficulty, stillbirth, and birth weight for Hereford and Charolais at first and later parities. Journal of Animal Science, 82 (2), 375-383. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ansci/82.2.375 Fuerst, C., Egger-Danner, C. (2003) Multivariate genetic evaluation for calving ease and stillbirth in Austria and Germany. [Online] Interbull bulletin, 31, 47 - 51. Available at: http://agtr.ilri.cgiar.org/documents/Library/docs/Interbull/bulletin31_files/docs/Fuerst.pdf [Accessed 5 March 2018] Jamrozik, J., Miller, S.P. (2014) Genetic evaluation of calving ease in Canadian Simmentals using birth weight and gestation length as correlated traits. Livestock Science, 162, 42-49. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2014.01.027 Juozaitiene, V., Juozaitis, A., Kardisauskas, A., Zymantiene, J., Zilaitis, V., Antanaitis, R., Ruzauskas, M. (2017) Relationship between dystocia and the lactation number, stillbirth and mastitis prevalence in dairy cows. Acta Veterinaria. Brno 86, 345-352. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.2754/avb201786040345 Lopez De Maturana, E., Ugarte, E., Komen, J., Van Arendonk, J. (2007) Consequences of selection for yield traits on calving ease performance. Journal of Dairy Science, 90 (5), p. 2497-2505. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2006-415 McHugh, N., Cromie, A. R., Evans, R. D., Berry, D. P. (2014) Validation of national genetic evaluations for maternal beef cattle traits using Irish field data. Journal of Animal Science, 92, 1423-1432. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.2527/jas.2013-6658 Mekonnen, M., Moges, N. (2016) A Review on Dystocia in Cows. European Journal of Biological Sciences, 8 (3), 91-100. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5829/idosi.ejbs.2016.91.100 Motus, K., Emanuelson, U. (2017) Risk factors for on-farm mortality in beef suckler cows under extensive keeping management. Research in Veterinary Science, 113, 5-12. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2017.08.007 Phocas, F., Laloe, D. (2004) Genetic parameters for birth and weaning traits in French specialized beef cattle breeds. Journal of Dairy Science, 89 (2-3), 121-128. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livprodsci.2004.02.007 Steinbock, L., A. Nasholm, B. Berglund, K. Johansson, And J. Philipsson. (2003) Genetic effects on stillbirth and calving difficulty in Swedish Holsteins at first and second calving. Journal of Dairy Science, 86 (6), 2228-2235. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(03)73813-2 Uematsu, M., Sasaki, Y., Kitahara, G., Sameshima, H., Osawa, T. (2013) Risk factors for stillbirth and dystocia in Japanese Black cattle. The Veterinary Journal, 198 (1), 212-216. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.07.016

Highlights

Calving difficulty is considered very important reproduction trait
The data on beef cattle performance recording are collected by the Breeding Services of the SR, s.e, and provided to the Institute of Animal Production Nitra on regular basis
The recording of the calving difficulty in the Slovak Republic is based on the four-point scale with 1 referring to easy calving and 4 referring to caesarian section, and with additional category 0 referring to unobserved calving

Summary

Introduction

Calving difficulty is considered very important reproduction trait. It affects the economics of the breeding directly through costs for the labor and veterinarian assistance and indirectly through the consequent production and fertility of the cow and calf (López de Maturana et al, 2007, Atashi et al, 2012). According to De Amicis et al (2018) incidence of difficult calvings is more frequent in dairy cattle. In the beef cattle authors reported 6.6% and 6.2% of difficult calvings in Charolais and Hereford primiparous cows (Eriksson et al, 2004), 3.7% of difficult calvings in Canadian Simmental (Jamrozik and Miller, 2014). Some authors Mõtus et al (2017), Juozaitiene et al (2017) even reported increased incidence of difficult calvings after the second one

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