Table 4. Survey-weighted proportion for culling reasons for 249 cows on seven California dairies surveyed over a course of a year.
| Culling reason | Seasona | P value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring (N = 60) | Summer (N = 69) | Fall (N = 60) | Winter (N = 60) | Overall (N = 249)b | |||||||
| N | % (SE) | N | % (SE) | N | % (SE) | N | % (SE) | N | % (SE) | ||
| Low milk production | 36 | 45.98% (5.89) | 61 | 86.92% (4.64) | 45 | 77.42% (4.95) | 48 | 83.39% (3.93) | 190 | 75.90% (2.40) | 0.003 |
| Poor reproduction | 36 | 54.03% (6.88) | 31 | 35.61% (5.43) | 26 | 43.52% (6.16) | 24 | 44.87% (5.75) | 117 | 43.85.0% (3.04) | 0.336 |
| Lameness | 5 | 11.60% (5.26) | 7 | 9.49% (2.70) | 5 | 5.38% (1.67) | 5 | 6.10% (2.31) | 22 | 7.69% (1.41) | 0.441 |
| Mastitis | 11 | 12.22% (2.18) | 5 | 8.03% (3.60) | 4 | 5.68% (2.44) | 4 | 6.10% (2.69) | 24 | 7.53% (1.42) | 0.479 |
| Metabolic disease | 0 | – | 2 | 1.92% (0.88) | 3 | 3.05% (1.19) | 0 | – | 5 | 1.35% (0.41) | 0.044 |
| Post-calving reproductive issues | 4 | 13.82% (5.96) | 4 | 6.1% (2.03) | 4 | 8.94% (4.11) | 0 | – | 12 | 6.51% (1.67) | 0.094 |
| Otherc | 5 | 18.06% (6.36) | 8 | 12.93% (3.9) | 8 | 15.59% (4.84) | 11 | 12.25% (2.47) | 32 | 14.41% (2.16) | 0.785 |
Notes:
a
Study year and seasons included summer (July 1–September 30, 2014), fall (October 1–December 31, 2014), winter (January 1–March 31, 2015) and spring (April 1–June 30, 2015).
b
Totals and percents do not add up to 249 or 100%, respectively, due to multiple cull reasons.
c
The category labeled other reasons included the following conditions: unknown illness, gastrointestinal disorder, poor udder confirmation, undiagnosed fever, pneumonia or eye disease.