First lactation production traits of Frieswal cows under field conditions

Abstract

The Frieswal (HFxSahiwal crossbred) cows are important for milk production in India. An investigation
was carried out with farmers of U.S.Nagar district of Uttarakhand on Frieswal cows (Nov. 2010 to Feb.
2016) to study the effect of various non-genetic factors (blocks, herd size, land holding, education level of
farmers, caretakers of herd, marketable milk surplus, season/ year of calving) on first lactation production
traits using least-squares analysis of variance. The overall values for lactation length and 305-days milk
yield based on 220 observations were 11.32±0.65 kg, 342.97±12.14 days, 2434.72±187.12 kg; and of
monthly fat test for 2nd, 5th and 8th month and overall fat test based on 236 observations were 3.447±0.073,
3.735±0.075, 3.908±0.075 and 3.694±0.061 per cent, respectively. These traits were significantly affected
by varying non-genetic factors. Information on this aspect may be useful while implementing field based
animal breeding program of crossbred cattle.