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Culling Strategies of Dairy Cows in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (2014-2019)

Magdi Mohamed Waheed, Ahmad Elmoslemany, Abdullah Ali Mohammed Hamati

A total of 48853 ± 1802 lactating Holstein cows were used from 2014 to 2019 to study the culling strategies in a high-producing dairy farm in Saudi Arabia. The culling decision was taken by two expert veterinarians. Ten culling causes (collected from the herd database) were grouped as abortions, age (old age, heifer excess number, fence shy, and under size for age), failure to conceive, general health (general health, congenital abnormalities, eye problems, and persistent bloat), injury/lame, low milk yield, mastitis, poor conformation, reproductive tract abnormalities, and udder conformation. Results revealed the average culling rate per year ranged from 16.07% to 23.68%. The culling proportions depending on number of lactations were 40%, 26%, 18%, and 16% for the first, second, third, and fourth lactation, respectively. The most frequent reason for culling was reproduction (failure to conceive and abortions). Failure to conceive, abortions, general health, injury/lame, and udder conformation were common reasons (6.51-28.59%) for culling across the majority of years. Age, low milk yield, mastitis, poor conformation, and reproductive tract abnormalities were the least likely reasons (1.64-12.11%) for culling. The common reasons for culling during four seasons across all years (4%-34%) were failure to conceive, abortions, udder conformation, general health, and injury/lame. The common reasons for culling across all months (5.10-25.30%) were failure to conceive, abortions, udder conformation, general health, injury/lame, and low milk yield. In conclusion, the common causes for culling cows in the high-producing dairy farm were abortions, failure to conceive, general health, and udder conformation.