Describing the body condition score change between successive calvings: a novel strategy generalizable to diverse cohorts.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the derivation of a mathematical model that adequately describes the intercalving body condition score (BCS) profile in dairy cows and is robust and applicable to different animal cohorts. The data used to generate the function were 75,352 daily BCS records across 3,209 lactations in 1,172 cows from a research herd in New Zealand. Mean daily BCS (scale 1 to 10) across all data were plotted and 4 distinct phases were observed. The functional form used to describe the pattern and quantify its features comprised the sum of the 4 phase functions created from intercepts, rates of change, approximate timing of phase transition points, and the sharpness of..