Quantifying inter-group variability in lactation curve shape and magnitude with the MilkBot(®) lactation model.

ABSTRACT: Genetic selection programs have driven development of most lactation models, to estimate the magnitude of animals' productive capacity from sampled milk production data. There has been less attention to management and research applications, where it may also be important to quantify the shape of lactation curves, and predict future daily milk production for incomplete lactations since residuals between predicted and actual daily production can be used to quantify the response to an intervention. A model may decrease the confounding effects of lactation stage, parity, breed, and possibly other factors depending on how the model is constructed and used, thus increasing the power of statistical analyses. Models with a mechanistic derivation may allow direct inference about biology from fitted

SUBMITTER: Ehrlich JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3628751 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature