Associations between dairy farm performance indicators and culling rates under policy-driven herd size constraints.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

This article aimed to study cross-sectional associations between the performance of dairy farms and their corresponding culling proportions under the herd size constraint as imposed in 2018 by the new phosphate regulation in the Netherlands.

Methods

To this end, production data from 10,540 Dutch dairy farms were analyzed to capture the inflow and outflow of both primiparous and multiparous cows. Farm performance was measured by 10 indicators structured in four areas of longevity, production, reproduction, and udder health. Farm culling proportions were represented by the overall culling (OC) and the number of culled primiparous cows in relation to (i) the total number of producing cows (PC), (ii) the number of producing primiparous cows (PPC), and (iii) the numb

SUBMITTER: Kulkarni PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10076624 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature