Milk production and lactation curves of Bianca Val Padana and Italian Friesian dairy cows in relation to the management system

Figures & data

Table 1 Main parameters of the herds involved in the study.

Herd	Location	Altitude	Total N	Breed composition	Average milk	Housing	Feeding
(m asl)	of heads	BVP	IF	production, kg	type	type
1	Plain	-	68	39	29	5354	Free stall	Total mixed ration
2	Plain	-	52	13	39	6278	Tie stall	Traditional
3	Hill	529	32	13	19	6241	Tie stall	Traditional
4	Hill	557	93	21	72	9125	Free stall	Total mixed ration
5	Hill	600	67	2	65	7957	Tie stall	Traditional
6	Hill	758	44	26	18	5249	Tie stall	Traditional
7	Hill	758	46	21	25	5103	Tie stall	Traditional

asl, above sea level; BVP, Bianca Val Padana; IF, Italian Friesian.

Table 2 Structure of the experimental data.

Breed		BVP		IF		Total
Type of housing-feeding		TS-TF	FS-TMR	TS-TF	FS-TMR
Cows	N	44	59	285	83	471
TD controls	N	869	905	1461	5253	8488
TD controls in
Herd 1	N	-	588	-	543	1131
sHerd 2	N	206	-	1087	-	1293
Herd 3	N	189	-	560	-	749
Herd 4	N	-	281	-	918	1199
Herd 5	N	16	-	2301	-	2317
Herd 6	N	478	-	515	-	993
Herd 7	N	16	-	790	-	806
TD controls/season of calving
December to February	N	188	273	1754	450	2665
March to May	N	146	220	1096	267	1729
June to August	N	211	100	1038	316	1665
September to November	N	363	276	1362	428	2429
TD controls/lactation number
1	N	173	131	1270	247	1821
2	N	179	184	1372	288	2023
≥3	N	556	554	2608	926	4644

BVP, Bianca Val Padana; IF, Italian Friesian; TS, tie stall group; TF, traditional feeding group; FS, free stall group; TMR, total mixed ration group; TD, test day.

Table 3 Analysis of variance of milk production and quality (F values). Among the factors contained in the model, only the main factors and breed*housing-feeding type interaction are reported.

	Main factors
								Interaction
Variable	Breed	Housing-feeding type	Test day	Herd	Season of calving	Lactation number	DIM	B^* HFT	RSE	R^2
df	1	1	560	5	3	2	30	1	7435
Milk, kg/d	999.5^***	200.9^***	4.3^***	197.6^***	7.2^***	56.2^***	52.9^***	12.2^***	4.34	0.775
Fat, %	33.3^***	15.5^***	2.2^***	13.1^***	ns	ns	10.3^***	ns	0.58	0.342
Protein, %	749.5^***	7.5^**	2.1^***	ns	7.3^***	23.5^***	65.0^***	43.7^***	0.26	0.608
Lactose, %	18.4^***	22.0^***	2.0^***	17.3^***	3.5^*	162.5^***	7.5^***	12.4^***	0.23	0.353
Fat, kg/d	822.7^***	200.5^***	4.0^***	135.8^***	5.0^**	44.6^***	31.3^***	28.7^***	0.18	0.708
Protein, kg/d	712.3^***	246.5^***	4.6^***	231.6^***	6.9^***	51.0^***	31.7^***	18.5^***	0.13	0.756
Lactose, kg/d	910.8^***	212.8^***	4.3^***	185.2^***	6.2^***	32.4^***	57.0^***	19.0^***	0.21	0.769
SCS	6.03^**	84.8^***	1.7^***	34.1^***	2.9^*	51.8^***	7.9^***	12.9^***	1.68	0.399

DIM, days in milk; RSE, residual standard error; B, breed; HFT, housing-feeding type; df, degree of freedom; SCS, somatic cell score.

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01;

*** P<0.001;

ns, not significant.

Table 4 Least squares means (±SE) of milk production, fat, protein, lactose production and content, and somatic count stall as affected by some of the main factors in the model (breed, type of housing, season of calving, lactation number).

Milk, kg/d	Fat, kg/d	Protein, kg/d	Lactose production, kg/d	Fat, %	Protein, %	Lactose, %	SCS
Breed
Bianca Val Padana	14.75±0.20^a	0.506±0.008^a	0.504±0.006^a	0.715±0.010^a	3.37±0.02^a	3.51±0.01^b	4.81±0.01^b	3.26±0.08^b
Italian Friesian	20.88±0.14^b	0.737±0.006^b	0.657±0.004^b	1.005±0.007^b	3.52±0.02^b	3.20±0.01^a	4.77±0.01^a	3.08±0.06^a
Type of housing-feeding
TS-TF	15.68±0.16^a	0.532±0.007^a	0.510±0.005^a	0.751±0.008^a	3.37±0.02^a	3.38±0.01^b	4.75±0.01^a	3.71±0.06^b
FS-TMR	19.95±0.25^b	0.710±0.010^b	0.650±0.007^b	0.969±0.012^b	3.53±0.03^b	3.33±0.01^a	4.83±0.01^b	2.63±0.10^a
Season of calving
December to February	18.02±0.20^bc	0.631±0.008^bc	0.590±0.006^b	0.867±0.010^bc	3.49±0.03	3.39±0.01^b	4.78±0.01^a	3.10±0.07^a
March to May	18.34±0.21^c	0.638±0.009^c	0.592±0.006^b	0.887±0.010^c	3.35±0.03	3.33±0.01^a	4.76±0.01^a	3.34±0.08^b
June to August	17.22±0.21^a	0.600±0.009^a	0.563±0.006^a	0.835±0.010^a	3.43±0.03	3.35±0.01^a	4.81±0.01^b	3.11±0.08^a
September to November	17.67±0.19^ab	0.616±0.008^ab	0.575±0.006^a	0.852±0.009^ab	3.44±0.03	3.34±0.01^a	4.79±0.01^a	3.13±0.07^a
Lactation number
1	16.46±0.23^a	0.569±0.010^a	0.540±0.007^a	0.806±0.011^a	3.42±0.03	3.38±0.01^b	4.88±0.01^c	2.70±0.09^a
2	18.15±0.20^b	0.638±0.008^b	0.594±0.006^b	0.878±0.010^b	3.49±0.03	3.38±0.01^b	4.80±0.01^b	3.24±0.08^b
≥3	18.84±0.14^c	0.657±0.006^c	0.607±0.004^c	0.896±0.007^c	3.45±0.02	3.31±0.01^a	4.69±0.01^a	3.57±0.05^c

SCS, somatic cell score; TS, tie stall group; TF, traditional feeding group; FS, free stall group; TMR, total mixed ration group.

a,b,c P<0.05.

Table 5 Least squares means of milk production, fat, protein, lactose production and content, and somatic count stall as affected by breed and type of housing-feeding.

Breed		Bianca Val Padana		Italian Friesian
Type of housing-feeding		TS-TF	FS-TMR	TS-TF	FS-TMR
Milk	kg/d	12.94±0.24^a	16.57±0.32^b	18.43±0.15^c	23.33±0.24^d
Fat	kg/d	0.437±0.010^a	0.574±0.013^b	0.627±0.006^c	0.846±0.010^d
Protein	kg/d	0.445±0.007^a	0.562±0.010^b	0.575±0.004^b	0.739±0.007^c
Lactose	kg/d	0.626±0.012^a	0.805±0.016^b	0.876±0.007^c	1.134±0.012^d
Fat	%	3.31±0.03^a	3.44±0.04^b	3.43±0.02^b	3.62±0.03^c
Protein	%	3.57±0.01^c	3.45±0.02^b	3.19±0.01^a	3.21±0.01^a
Lactose	%	4.79±0.01^b	4.83±0.02^b	4.71±0.01^a	4.82±0.01^b
SCS	3.67±0.09^c	2.85±0.12^b	3.74±0.06^c	2.41±0.10^a

TS, tie stall group; TF, traditional feeding group; FS, free stall group; TMR, total mixed ration group; SCS, somatic cell score.

a,b,c P<0.05.

Figure 1 Lactation curves for milk production (kg/d).

Table 6 Wood equation parameters for milk production as affected by breed and housing-feeding type.

Breed	Housing-feeding type	A, kg	B	C	Persistency	Week at peak	Peak production, kg
Bianca Val Padana	TS-TF	13.61^a	0.0348	-0.00152	6.71	3.27	14.66
FS-TMR	16.39^b	-0.1539	-0.00040	6.62	-	-
Italian Friesian	TS-TF	20.91^c	0.0401	-0.00107	7.12	5.37	23.23
FS-TMR	23.32^d	0.0111	-0.00059	7.52	2.67	23.82

TS, tie stall group; TF, traditional feeding group; FS, free stall group; TMR, total mixed ration group.

a,b,c,d P<0.05.