Table 1.
Composition of the herds and characteristics of the farms involved in the study 1
| Farm | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FA | FB | FC | FD | ||
| Breed | IS | IS | IH | IH | |
| Herd size | N | 330 | 283 | 347 | 427 |
| Dairy animals | N | 180 | 139 | 185 | 231 |
| First calving | N | 63 | 29 | 55 | 79 |
| Lactating cows | N | 153 | 121 | 173 | 217 |
| Cows > 70 | N | 122 | 105 | 159 | 195 |
| Cows sampled | N | 27 | 33 | 36 | 39 |
| % | 46 | 43 | 35 | 34 | |
| DIM | Mean | 126.7 | 141.4 | 151 | 145.8 |
| sd | 33 | 33.8 | 33.1 | 28.5 | |
| Housing | Type | Free Stall | Free Stall | Free Stall | Free Stall |
| Bedding | Type | Concrete | Straw | Concrete | Concrete |
| Milking | Type | Parlour | Parlour | Parlour | Parlour |
IH Italian Holstein, IS Italian Simmental, N number, FA to FD farm A to farm D, sd standard deviation