We investigated whether different rearing conditions affected the physical development, ease of integration into the dairy herd and performance of primiparous dairy cows and the results are reported in this Research Communication. The three rearing conditions investigated were whole-day cow-calf contact for 9 weeks (WDC), half-day contact for nine weeks (HDC) and no mother-contact (NC) with nipple-bucket-feeding (max. 2 × 3 l/d) and group-housing from the 8th day onward. After permanent separation from the dams (WDC and HDC), all calves had been nipple-bucket-fed and gradually weaned from week 10 to 13 of life and kept together as calves and heifers. Measures of physical development were trunk girth, height at withers and body weight. Lying behavior during the first 48 h after introduction to the dairy herd after first calving was used as an indicator of ease of integration. Performance measures were age at calving, lactation duration, milk yield and culling rates during the first lactation. No differences between WDC and HDC could be detected. Moreover, no treatment-effects on physical development or performance could be found. All treatments showed reduced lying for the first 24 h after introduction to the dairy herd. Afterward NC-heifers lay less than WDC, with HDC-heifers ranging in between. We conclude that under the conditions investigated higher weights two weeks after weaning in WDC- and HDC-calves did not carry through to the first lactation and did not lead to earlier maturity and higher performance, but that integration into the herd may be alleviated when calves have early experience of the herd and associated conditions.

中文翻译：

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全天、半天或不与母牛接触的初产奶牛的身体发育、融入奶牛群的容易程度和表现

我们调查了不同的饲养条件是否会影响初产奶牛的身体发育、融入奶牛群的难易程度和生产性能，并将结果报告在本研究通讯中。所研究的三种饲养条件是 9 周全天接触牛犊 (WDC)、9 周半天接触 (HDC) 和无母牛接触 (NC) 并采用乳头桶喂养（最大 2 × 3 l/d) 和从第 8 天开始的集体住宿。在与大坝（WDC 和 HDC）永久分离后，所有小牛都采用乳头桶饲喂，并从生命的第 10 周到第 13 周逐渐断奶，并作为小牛和小母牛一起饲养。身体发育的衡量标准是躯干周长、肩高和体重。在第一次产犊后引入奶牛群后的前 48 小时内的躺卧行为被用作易于整合的指标。性能指标是产犊年龄、泌乳持续时间、产奶量和第一次泌乳期间的淘汰率。无法检测到 WDC 和 HDC 之间的差异。此外，没有发现治疗对身体发育或表现的影响。在引入奶牛群后的前 24 小时，所有处理均显示减少了躺卧。之后 NC 小母牛的产蛋量少于 WDC，HDC 小母牛介于两者之间。我们得出结论，在 WDC 和 HDC 犊牛断奶两周后研究更高体重的条件下，不会持续到第一次泌乳，也不会导致更早的成熟和更高的性能，