Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXIV, Issue 2
Written by Elena IRIMIA, Ludovic Toma CZISZTER, Daniela-Mihaela GRIGORE, Dinu GAVOJDIAN, Stelian BĂRĂITĂREANU, Livia VIDU
Given the lack of knowledge on the effects of farm size on the rearing practices of calves, the aim of the current study was to evaluate husbandry practices in small (<25 heads), medium (26-100 heads) and large (>100 heads) sized dairy farms from Romania. The current survey was conducted online and/or via telephone interviews in 2020, on a number of 58 dairy farms, representing an overall number of 12.721 dairy cattle. Regarding calving pens, large dairy farms used them in a significantly higher proportion than small farms (75% vs. 30.43%, p≤0.01) or medium farms (75% vs. 40%, p≤0.05), respectively. Only 4.34% of the small farms were using colostrum banks, while these were used by 6.66% medium sized farms and 55% large farms. The use of colostrum banks was significantly lower in small farms compared to medium (p≤0.05) and large (p≤0.001) farms, with differences (p≤0.001) being observed between medium and large farms. Current results highlight the differences in rearing practices of dairy calves, based on farm size.
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