The Association between Charolais Cows’ Age at First Calving, Parity, Breeding Seasonality, and Calf Growing Performance

Birutė Šlyžienė; Indrė Mečionytė; Vytuolis Žilaitis; Eglė Butkienė; Lina Anskienė; Evaldas Šlyžius; Giedrius Palubinskas

doi:10.3390/ani13182901

Animals (Sep 2023)

The Association between Charolais Cows’ Age at First Calving, Parity, Breeding Seasonality, and Calf Growing Performance

Birutė Šlyžienė,
Indrė Mečionytė,
Vytuolis Žilaitis,
Eglė Butkienė,
Lina Anskienė,
Evaldas Šlyžius,
Giedrius Palubinskas

Affiliations

Birutė Šlyžienė: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Indrė Mečionytė: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Vytuolis Žilaitis: Large Animals Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Eglė Butkienė: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Lina Anskienė: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Evaldas Šlyžius: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Giedrius Palubinskas: Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžes Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13182901
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 18
p. 2901

Abstract

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of cows’ calving ages and newborn calf body weight on the pre-weaning growth rates of calves under the farming conditions of a northeastern European country. The females were purebred Charolais cows that calved between 2019 and 2022. A total of 130 calves (bulls = 76; heifers = 54) were observed during the evaluation. The investigation showed that, based on gender, bulls had a 4.28% higher birth weight than heifers (p p p p p p p p < 0.05).

Published in Animals

ISSN: 2076-2615 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Agriculture: Animal culture: Veterinary medicine; Science: Zoology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals/

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Abstract

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