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. 2025 Jul 29;15(15):2232.
doi: 10.3390/ani15152232.

Longevity and Culling Reasons in Dairy Herds in Southern Brazil

Rodrigo de Almeida  1 , Sidneia de Paula  1 , Marianna Marinho Marquetti  1 , Milaine Poczynek  1 , Delma Fabíola Ferreira da Silva  1 , Rodrigo Barros Navarro  2 , Altair Antonio Valloto  3 , José Augusto Horst  3 , Victor Breno Pedrosa  4
Affiliations

Longevity and Culling Reasons in Dairy Herds in Southern Brazil

Rodrigo de Almeida et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate cow longevity and identify the main culling reasons in dairy herds in Southern Brazil. Two data sets from 26 predominantly confined Holstein herds were analyzed over a 10-year period (2007-2016). The first included 11,150 cows that were culled, died, or sold, and the second comprised 636,739 cows for demographic analysis. The average annual culling rate was 24.2%, mainly due to reproductive disorders (34.0%), mastitis/high somatic cell count (20.4%), and feet and leg problems (17.9%). Involuntary causes represented 89.5% of all culling. The death rate averaged 3.8%, with the most frequent causes being unknown (27.3%), other reasons (25.6%), tick fever (10.2%), and accidents/injuries (10.0%). Larger herds had higher culling rates than smaller ones (26.2% vs. 22.8%; p = 0.04), as did higher-producing herds compared to lower-producing ones (25.7% vs. 22.0%; p = 0.02). Cows with ≥5 calvings were culled more often (p < 0.01) than those in earlier lactations. Culling was lowest (p < 0.02) in spring and highest (p < 0.01) during early (0-60 d) and late (>420 d) lactation. Herds with a higher proportion of older cows had slightly lower milk yields (p < 0.01), indicating longevity does not always enhance productivity.

Keywords: dairy cattle; herd life; herd turnover rate; replacement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Victor Breno Pedrosa is currently employed by the company Neogen Corporation, but at the time this data set was built he was an Assistant Professor at Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Paraná State, Brazil. The results generated by this article will not bring any benefits to his company. His contributions to the research are: formal analysis, methodology, software, validation, visualization, and writing. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage distribution of culling in commercial dairy herds in Arapoti, Paraná, Brazil, based on records collected from 2007 to 2016.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of main culling reasons according to stage of lactation in Arapoti herds from 2007 to 2016.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of main culling reasons according to parity order in dairy herds located in Arapoti, Paraná, Brazil, from 2007 to 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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