Consequences of weaning and separation for feed intake and milking characteristics of dairy cows in a cow-calf contact system

In cow-calf contact (CCC) systems breaking the maternal bond may induce stress for the cow, thereby affecting feed intake, milk yield, milk flow rate, and milk electrical conductivity. This study aimed to determine the consequences of weaning and separation strategies in CCC systems for feed intake and milking characteristics of the cow. In 2 experiments, Swedish Holstein and Swedish Red cows either had (experiment 1) whole-day CCC (CCC1, n = 12) for 8.5 ± 1.2 wk (mean ± SD) followed by 12 h of daytime CCC for 8 wk, before abrupt weaning and separation at 16.4 ± 1.2 wk, or (experiment 2) whole-day CCC for 16 ± 1.0 wk; thereafter half of the calves were weaned via nose flaps for 2 wk (NF, n = 10) before physical separation and half via nose flaps for 1 wk and fence-line contact for 1 wk (NFFL, n = 9). Cows were compared with conventionally managed cows (CONV1 or CONV2 in experiment 1 or 2) separated from their calves within 12 h postpartum. In experiment 1, the study period included the week before and after the system switch from whole-day to daytime CCC, and the week before and after separation. In experiment 2, the study period included the week before the start of weaning, during weaning, and 1 week after separation. All cows were milked in the same automatic milking unit. In experiment 1, feed intake of CCC1 cows at separation tended to be lower than CONV1 cows. In experiment 2, roughage intake of NF, NFFL, and CONV2 cows did not differ, but the concentrate intake of NF cows was lower than that of CONV2 cows. In experiment 1, the system switch did not affect milking characteristics. However, after separation, machine milk yield and milk electrical conductivity of CCC1 cows increased, remaining lower than CONV1 cows. In experiment 2, machine milk yield of NF and NFFL cows increased when calves were fitted with nose flaps, but remained lower than CONV2 cows. In the week after separation, milk yield of NFFL cows was similar to that of CONV2 cows, and the NF cows remained lower. In the week before weaning, milk flow rates of NF cows were lower than those of CONV2 cows, and the NFFL cows did not differ. Before weaning, milk electrical conductivity of NF and NFFL cows was lower than that of CONV2 cows, but not thereafter. In conclusion, machine milk yield of CCC cows remained lower either until the week of separation, for NFFL cows, or until 3 or 11 wk after weaning and separation for CCC1 and NF cows of experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Cow-calf contact reduced milk electrical conductivity, and milk and peak milk flow rates increased the week after separation of cow and calf. Not for experiment 2, but for experiment 1, cow roughage and concentrate intake decreased at separation and recovered within a week, indicating that abrupt separation exerted a greater impact on the cow than separation after nose flap weaning or fence-line contact. Future studies should compare both weaning strategies within the same experimental setup, also focusing on the consequences for calves.