Inheritance of economic traits was studied in Nili-Ravi dairy buffaloes through analysis of data comprising 5037 records of daughters of 79 sires. Data were collected from three large-sized state dairy farms. Heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of some indicator traits on important production and reproduction traits were worked out. Based upon analysis of records for first lactati...

Abstract Fall-calving Herford-SimAngus heifers were individually fed either 100% (control; CON, n = 10) or 70% (nutrient restricted; NR, 12) of NASEM metabolizable energy and protein requirements from d 160 gestation to calving. Postpartum cows until 149 lactation, then tall fescue hay pasture as a single group through parity 2. Second cow performance calf size measured at birth, 30, 60 post-ca...

An Excel (v 7.0) spreadsheet was created to simplify balancing winter diets (energy and protein), estimating feed needs and evaluating the impact of winter feeding programs on annual cow cost and calf break-even price by using inputs readily found on the farm (e.g., forage test results, accounting and production records). The spreadsheet operates on the substitution method and requires the foll...

Spring calving Angus and Angus x Hereford multiparous cows were utilized to determine the effects of intramammary treatment with penicillin G procaine (200,000 IU) and novobiocin (400 mg) at the time of weaning on udder health and calf growth after the subsequent calving. Cows were stratified by age and breed and assigned randomly to receive intramammary treatment (n = 99) at weaning or as untr...

Induction of twinning by ipsilateral nonsurgical transfer of two frozen-thawed Japanese Black bovine embryos to each of 20 Holstein and 26 Japanese Black cows, that had been kept under a stable in private farm conditions, was examined. The cows were monitored every 20 days from Day 2.5 to Day 65 of gestation for pregnancy and fetus survival (estrus is Day 0). Seventy-five per cent ( 1.5 of 20),...

This study compared the accuracy of several models for obtaining genetic evaluations of calving difficulty. The models were univariate threshold animal (TAM), threshold sire-maternal grandsire (TSM), linear animal (LAM), and linear sire-maternal grandsire (LSM) models and bivariate threshold-linear animal (TLAM), threshold-linear sire-maternal grandsire (TLSM), linear-linear animal (LLAM), and ...

Beef cattle production requires reproductive efficiency. However, measures of reproductive traits are not usually collected; consequently, correlated traits that could be used as indicators would be useful. We examined associations between measures of reproductive and productive efficiency that could be used as selection indicators. Data from 194 dams of the genetic groups Angus x Nelore, Carac...

In a national survey of US dairy producers, only 2.7 +/- 0.5% of Holstein dairy operations reported achieving recommended target ranges of age < or = 24 months and body weight (BW) > or = 550 kg at first calving. Allowing for wider target ranges, still only 14.6 +/- 1.3% of Holstein dairy operations reported achieving age < or = 25 months and BW > or = 544.3 kg at first calving. Ages of individ...