Productive life and longevity of dairy cows on the basis of efficiency of milk production

The aim of this study was to define efficient parameters for longevity and lifetime production of dairy cows in relation to yield and fertility. Altogether 4.243 German Holstein cows from 4 farms in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were included. For the years 2000 to 2004 for all cows leaving the herds by culling milk yield per lactation and per test day as well as all veterinary treatments and economic measures since first calving were documented and evaluated with SAS 9.1.3. Most important for the efficiency of a dairy cow is the production per day of living or milking, respectively. Efficient cows should produce at least 15 kg milk per day of life. Therefore a lifetime production of 30,000 kg milk, produced in 3.5 lactations, is necessary. The most efficient cows yielded the highest increase in milk in the beginning of their lactation and showed the best persistency with an only slightly increased time between pregnancies.