Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33805738›Full record

ReviewAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2021

Keeping Dairy Cows for Longer: A Critical Literature Review on Dairy Cow Longevity in High Milk-Producing Countries.

Gabriel M Dallago, Kevin M Wade, Roger I Cue, J T McClure, René Lacroix, Doris Pellerin, Elsa Vasseur

Erratum issuedAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 53 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  6. How Dairy Cows Are Culled from Freestall-Housed Dairy Herds in Wisconsin.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Gabriel M DallagoDepartment of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-5725-0815
Kevin M WadeDepartment of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-0755-5917
Roger I CueDepartment of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada.
J T McClureDepartment of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada.
René LacroixLactanet, Valacta, 555 Boul des Anciens-Combattants, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3R4, Canada.
Doris PellerinDépartement des Sciences Animales, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada.
Elsa VasseurDepartment of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada.

Funding

Novalait, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Valacta (now Lactanet), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) as part of Industrial Research Chair in the Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle IRCPJ 492639 - 15
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic performance of the farms, reduce the environmental footprint of the milk industry, and overall help in justifying a sustainable use of animals for food production. However, there is little published on the current status of cow longevity and we hypothesized that a reason may be a lack of standardization and an over narrow focus of the longevity measure itself. The objectives of this critical literature review were: (1) to review metrics used to measure dairy cow longevity; (2) to describe the status of longevity in high milk-producing countries. Current metrics are limited to either the length of time the animal remains in the herd or if it is alive at a given time. To overcome such a limitation, dairy cow longevity should be defined as an animal having an early age at first calving and a long productive life spent in profitable milk production. Combining age at first calving, length of productive life, and margin over all costs would provide a more comprehensive evaluation of longevity by covering both early life conditions and the length of time the animal remains in the herd once it starts to contribute to the farm revenues, as well as the overall animal health and quality of life. This review confirms that dairy cow longevity has decreased in most high milk-producing countries over time and its relationship with milk yield is not straight forward. Increasing cow longevity by reducing involuntary culling would cut health costs, increase cow lifetime profitability, improve animal welfare, and could contribute towards a more sustainable dairy industry while optimizing dairy farmers' efficiency in the overall use of resources available.

Indexed as

animal welfarecattle husbandrycow longevityproductive lifespanprofitabilitysustainability

Identifiers

PMID33805738
PMCPMC7999272

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.