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

The aim of this study was to evaluate milk production and lactation curve parameters of Bianca Val Padana (BVP) and Italian Friesian (IF) cattle reared in the same herds in relation to different housing-feeding systems. Therefore, 8488 test-day records of 103 BVP and 367 IF cows from 7 herds were used; 2 herds had free stalls and total mixed ration feeding (FS-TMR group) and 5 had tie stalls and traditional feeding (TS-TF group). Data for milk production (kg), fat, protein, lactose production (kg) and content (%), and somatic cell score (SCS) were submitted to analysis by ANOVA, using a model with breed, housing-feeding type, test day, herd within housing-feeding type, season of calving, lactation number, class of days in milk, and two- and threeway interactions as fixed factors. A mixed model according to Wood’s equation in linear form was also performed. Interactions between breed and type of housing-feeding were always significant (P<0.05), except for milk fat percentage and SCS. Daily milk, fat, protein and lactose productions were lower in TS-TF compared to FS-TMR, but the reduction was significantly higher (P<0.05) in IF than in BVP. Protein percentage showed an opposite trend in the two breeds depending on the type of housing-feeding. The lactation curves were continuously decreasing for BVP in FS-TMR housing-feeding type. In TS-TF rearing conditions, BVP showed an earlier week at peak and a lower peak production than IF. In conclusion, BVP seems to be better adapted to TS-TF rearing conditions than IF.