EFFECT OF PRE-CALVING BCS ON POSTPARTUM BCS AND BODY WEIGHT CHANGE OF SAHIWAL CATTLE

A total of 18 Sahiwal cattle of 1st to 4th parity were selected for the study and distributed into three different groups based on their pre calving body condition score (BCS) (before 15 days of expected date of calving) namely G1 (2.50 - 3.00), G2 (3.25 - 3.75) and G3 (4.00 and above) with six animals in each group. There was decrease in BCS after calving in all the BCS groups. In G1 group BCS loss started from calving and continued up to 60th day and was found to be significant (p<0.05) at 45 days. After that BCS increased non-significantly and reached to 2.45 +/- 0.041 at 90th day postpartum. Significant (p<0.05) loss of BCS in G2 group, started from 1st fortnight of calving and continued up to 60th days post-partum then BCS remains constant up to 90th days, In G3 group significant (p<0.05) loss of BCS started from 1st fortnight of calving and continued up to 45th day post-partum then remains same up to 60th day. Thereafter, it increases non-significantly from 60th day to 90th day. The highest loss of BCS was observed in animals of G2 group during entire study period. There was significant loss (p<0.05) in the BCS between different three groups up to 90th day post-partum. There was significant loss in the body weight (BW) among the groups (p<0.05) from calving day to 90 days post-partum.