Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:53:38.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of underfeeding for 6 months during pregnancy and lactation on blood constituents, milk yield and body weight of dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

C. J. Roberts ,
I. M. Reid ,
Sally M. Dew ,
A. J. Stark ,
G. D. Baird ,
R. Collins  and
Denise Mather
C. J. Roberts
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
I. M. Reid
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
Sally M. Dew
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
A. J. Stark
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
G. D. Baird
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
R. Collins
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
Denise Mather
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Berks., RG16 ONN
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Long-term undernutritional stress is often a feature of sheep and beef cattle production, but has only become a major feature of dairy cattle husbandry in the United Kingdom in recent winters when food was short and expensive. An experiment was carried out to study the effects of long-term underfeeding during pregnancy and early lactation on some blood constituents, milk yield and composition and body weight of dairy cattle. Two groups of cattle were fed at 60 and 40% of the estimated requirements for maintenance and pregnancy or lactation for 13 weeks before and 13 weeks after calving, and one group was fed at the maintenance level only for the same period. A control group was fed at 100% of estimated requirements for this period. All groups were subsequently fed at the control level for a further 24 weeks.

The experiment showed that cows undergoing long-term nutritional deprivation were able to maintain concentrations of blood constituents within narrow limits; the concentrations of such constituents as glucose or non-esterifled fatty acid did not reflect energy deficit or surplus. The animals remained clinically healthy during the underfeeding and recovery periods. The results suggest that debility occurring under field conditions in association with reduced food supply may be due to a multiplicity of factors or to severe imbalance of specific nutrients, rather than to energy or protein deficit alone.

There was a difference in efficiency of utilization of energy of 19% between cows in the most severely underfed groups which maintained lactation and those which were not able to maintain lactation. There was evidence that this difference in efficiency was detectable within a few weeks of the start of the period of reduced nutrition. Animals which were less affected in the early stages of food deprivation were also those which maintained the advantage through the deprivation and recovery periods.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , April 1978 , pp. 383 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1965). The Nutrient Requirements of Farm Livestock. No. 2. Ruminants. London: Agricultural Research Council.Google Scholar
Allden, W. G. (1970). The effects of nutritional deprivation on the subsequent productivity of sheep and cattle. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews 40, 1167–84.Google Scholar
Anon. (1974 a). Report of the Veterinary Investigation Service for March 1974. Veterinary Record 94, 567.Google Scholar
Anon. (1974 b). Leading Article, Veterinary Record 95, 177.Google Scholar
Baird, G. D., Heitzman, R. J. & Hibbitt, K. G. (1972). Effects of starvation on intermediary metabolism in the lactating cow. A comparison with metabolic changes occurring during bovine ketosis. Biochemical Journal 128, 1311–18.Google Scholar
Baird, G. D., Hibbitt, K. G., Hunter, G. D., Lund, P., Stubbs, M. & Krebs, H. A. (1968). Biochemical aspects of bovine ketosis. Biochemical Journal 107, 683–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broster, W. H. (1971). The effect on milk yield of the cow of the level of feeding before calving. Dairy Science Abstracts 33, 253–70.Google Scholar
Broster, W. H. (1972). Effect on milk yield of the cow of the level of feeding during lactation. Dairy Science Abstracts 34, 265–88.Google Scholar
Burton, J. H., Anderson, M. & Reid, J. T. (1974). Some biological aspects of partial starvation. The effect of weight loss and regrowth on body composition in sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 32, 515–27.Google Scholar
Coggins, C. R. E. & Field, A. C. (1976). Diurnal variation in the chemical composition of plasma from lactating beef cows on three dietary energy intakes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 86, 595–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornelius, C. E. (1970). In Clinical Biochemistry of Domestic Animals, 2nd edition, vol. 1 (ed. Kaneko, J. J. and Cornelius, C. E.), pp. 161–230. New York and London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Downie, J. G. & Gelman, A. L. (1976). The relationship between changes in bodyweight plasma glucose and fertility in beef cows. Veterinary Record 99, 210–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Economides, S. J., Miller, T. B., Topps, J. H., Gelman, A. L. & Keith, D. G. (1973). A preliminary study of the milk production, bodyweight changes and some blood characteristics of underfed beef cows. British Veterinary Journal 129, 63–71.Google Scholar
Eggstein, M. & Kuhlmann, E. (1974). In Methods of Enzymatic Analysis 2nd English edition, vol. 4 (ed Bergemeyer, H. U.) pp. 1825–31. New York and London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. J., Donnelly, P. E., Hutton, J. E. & Duganzich, D. M. (1975). Relationships between levels of feeding and certain blood metabolites in dairy cows in mid-lactation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84, 29–37.Google Scholar
Flatlandsmo, K. (1971). Free glycerol in the plasma of cows. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 12, 489–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartmann, P. E. & Lascelles, A. K. (1965). Variations in the concentration of lipids and some other constituents in the blood plasma of cows at various stages of lactation. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 18, 114–23.Google Scholar
McClure, T. J. (1977 a). Effects of food intake and composition on the concentration of glucose in the blood of lactating cattle. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 28, 333–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClure, T. J. (1977 b). Effect of feed quality and stage of lactation on the concentration of glucose in the blood of lactating cattle. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 28, 341–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manston, R., Russell, A. M., Dew, S. M. & Payne, J. M. (1975). The influence of dietary protein upon blood composition in dairy cows. Veterinary Record 96, 497–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1975). Energy Allowances and Feeding Systems for Ruminants. Technical Bulletin 33, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Moe, P. W., Tyrrell, H. F. & Flatt, W. P. (1971). Energetics of body tissue mobilisation. Journal of Dairy Science 54, 548–53.Google Scholar
Parker, B. N. J. (1977). Plasma glucose and nonesterifled fatty acids in relation to dietary energy intake in the dairy cow. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Production Diseases in Farm Animals. Wageningen: Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation.Google Scholar
Parker, B. N. J. & Hebert, N. (1976). Monitoring changes of condition in dairy cows. Veterinary Annual 16, 13–18.Google Scholar
Patterson, D. S. P. (1963). Some observations on the estimations of non-esterified fatty acid concentrations in cow and sheep plasma. Research in Veterinary Science 4, 230–7.Google Scholar
Payne, J. M., Dew, S. M., Manston, R. & Faulks, M. (1970). The use of a metabolic profile test in dairy herds. Veterinary Record 87, 150–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Payne, J. M., Rowlands, G. J., Manston, R. & Dew, S. M. (1973). A statistical appraisal of the results of metabolic profile tests on 75 dairy herds. British Veterinary Journal 129, 370–81.Google Scholar
Peherson, B. (1971). Studies of the blood lipid pattern in healthy dairy cows. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 12, 230–42.Google Scholar
Radloff, H. D., Schultz, L. H. & Hoekstra, W. G. (1966). Relationships of plasma free fatty acids to other blood components in ruminants under various physiological conditions. Journal of Dairy Science 49, 179–82.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. J., Dew, S. M., Baird, G. D. & Reid, I. M. (1977). Energy status and body weight in underfed dairy cows. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 36, 73A.Google ScholarPubMed
Rowlands, G. J., Little, W., Manston, R. & Dew, S. M. (1974). The effect of season on the composition of the blood of lactating and non-lactating cows as revealed from repeated metabolic profile tests on 24 dairy herds. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 83, 27–35.Google Scholar
Rowlands, G. J., Manston, R., Pocock, R. M. & Dew, S. M. (1975). Relationships between stage of lactation and pregnancy and blood composition in a herd of dairy cows, and the influences of seasonal changes in management on these relationships. Journal of Dairy Research 42, 349–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, A. J. F., Doney, J. M. & Reid, R. L. (1967). The use of biochemical parameters in controlling nutritional state in pregnant ewes, and the effect of under-nourishment during pregnancy on lamb birth-weight. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 68, 351–8.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, W. C. (1960). Measurement of hepatic blood flow in the unanaesthetised dog by a modified bromosulphthalein method. Journal of Applied Physiology 15, 473–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steel, R. G. D. & Torrie, J. H. (1960). Principles and Procedures of Statistics: with Special Reference to the Biological Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Williamson, D. H. & Mellanby, J. (1974). In methods of Enzymatic Analysis, 2nd English edition, vol. 4 (ed. Bergemeyer, H. U.), pp. 1836–9. New York and London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Woodman, D. D. & Price, C. P. (1972). Estimation of serum total lipids. Clinica Chimica Acta 38, 39–43.Google Scholar