Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) can be used to enhance milk production in dairy cattle. This is permitted in several countries but unauthorized in the European Union. Antibodies, which are ...produced endogenously in response to rbST administration, can be detected as a biomarker for indicating rbST (ab)use. For the first time, a fast and easy-to-perform screening assay for anti-rbST antibodies has been developed and applied to raw milk samples. This flow cytometric immunoassay (FCIA) is capable of discriminating between milk from rbST-treated animals and untreated animals. In accordance with literature, 67% of the rbST-treated animals responded positively with antibody production, whereas 94% of the untreated animals did not. The analysis of simulated tank milk samples showed more than 95% of the milk mixtures as truly positive for rbST treatment, indicating that the 33% physiologically non-responding cows will not be a problem when pooled tank milk samples are considered. FCIA biomarker responses in raw milk were specific for rbST and also obtained in pasteurized milk of rbST-treated animals. Using milk as a sample matrix for detection has the advantages of non-invasive sampling, and for tank milk analysis at the farm only one milk sample is needed to screen the whole farm for rbST (ab)use.
Chromium (Cr) has been reported to modulate blood biochemistry in dairy cows. However, there is a discrepancy in the literature regarding the effects of dietary Cr supplementation on various blood ...parameters. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of Cr supplementation in dairy cows on blood glucose, insulin, glucagon, nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA), cortisol, and serum total protein (STP) concentrations. Following relevant literature data extraction, a 3-level meta-analytical random effect model was fitted to the data expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD) of outcome measures of control versus Cr-supplemented cows (i.e., difference in mean between control and treatment group or pooled standard deviation). The SMD can be categorized as having a small effect (0.20), a moderate effect (0.50), and a large effect (0.80). The meta-regression identified the potential sources of heterogeneity, including the body weight of cows, experimental duration/duration of Cr supplementation, blood sampling time (3 wk before parturition until 4 wk after parturition categorized as the transition period, else as the nontransition period), and form of Cr complexes. Blood glucose did not differ significantly between control and Cr-supplemented cows with an estimated SMD of μ = 0.0071 (95% confidence interval CI: −0.212 to 0.226). The effect of Cr supplementation on blood insulin was also nonsignificant with an SMD of μ = 0.0007 (95% CI: −0.191 to 0.193). Cows receiving Cr supplements had significantly higher levels of glucagon than controls (95% CI: 0.116 to 0.489), with an estimated SMD = 0.303. Combined transition and nontransition data suggest Cr supplementation did not affect the concentration of NEFA. However, in transition cows, Cr supplementation significantly decreased blood NEFA levels as compared with controls (95% CI: −0.522 to −0.0039), with estimated SMD = −0.263. The estimated SMD was μ = −0.1983 (95% CI: −0.734 to 0.337) for cortisol and −0.0923 (95% CI: −0.316 to 0.131) for total protein. In summary, Cr supplementation in the transition cows decreased NEFA concentration. Blood glucose, insulin, cortisol, and STP concentrations were unaffected. However, Cr supplementation increased glucagon concentration.
The CellCheck Dry Cow Consult (DCC) was developed by the CellCheck Technical Working Group to enable farmers to engage with their nominated vet to develop farm-specific selective dry cow therapy ...(SDCT) plans, where appropriate. This study evaluated the effect of the DCC on farmer decision-making around dry cow therapy, and the udder health impact of implementing SDCT, in study herds over the 2019 and 2020 dry periods.
The DCC was a 3-h consult, delivered and funded as part of the Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH). Herds that completed a DCC were invited to register for a Dry Cow Review the following year. The combined data set for analysis across both years comprised of 439 herds and 25,357 cows. Available herd size ranged from 25 to 800. The median SCC of cows dried off with teat sealant only was 47,000 cells/ml before drying off in 2019 and 48,000 cells/ml at first milk recording in 2020, and 43,000 cells/ml before drying off in 2020 and 39,000 cells/ml at first milking recording in 2021. Following both the 2019 and 2020 dry periods, cows tended to converge toward a similar median SCC early in the following lactation, irrespective of prior dry cow treatment strategy. The uptake of SDCT was greater in Review herds, with 21% of cows receiving teat sealant only in 2020, compared with 16.3% of cows in herds participating in a Consult for the first time in 2020.
At an individual cow level, in both years dry period new infection rate (NIR) was approximately 2.7% higher for cows treated with teat sealant only, than for those treated with both dry cow antibiotic tubes and teat sealant, and 1.2% higher than cows treated with antibiotic only. Regardless of treatment, there was a significant association between increasing parity and the risk of a dry period new infection. Increasing herd size had a statistically significant effect on the risk of dry period new infection rates. At a herd level, there was no statistically significant increase in NIR when SDCT was used compared with herds where blanket dry cow therapy was used.
While not without risk, SDCT can be successfully implemented in Irish herds; however, constant attention to hygiene and management is essential. Though there are challenges to face, facilitating continued farmer education and engagement with professional guidance will be important.
Enteric methane (CH4) emissions of 3 genetic groups (GG) of dairy cows were recorded across the grazing season (early March to late October). The 3 GG were (1) high economic breeding index (EBI) ...Holstein-Friesian (HF) representative of the top 1% of dairy cows in Ireland at the time of the study (elite), (2) national average (NA) EBI, which were representative of the average HF dairy cow in Ireland, and (3) purebred Jersey (JE) cows. Enteric CH4 was recorded using GreenFeed technology. Seasonal variation in CH4 was observed, with the lowest daily CH4 emissions and CH4 expressed per unit of dry matter intake occurring in spring (253 g/d and 15.56 g/kg, respectively), intermediate in summer (303 g/d and 18.26 g/kg, respectively), and greatest in autumn (324 g/d and 19.80 g/kg, respectively). Seasonal variation was also observed in the proportion of gross energy intake converted to CH4 (Ym); in the spring the Ym was lowest at 0.046, increasing to 0.053 and 0.058 in the summer and autumn, respectively. There was no difference in daily CH4 between the elite and NA, whereas JE had lower CH4 emissions compared with the elite. When expressed per unit of milk solids (fat + protein yield; MS), the elite and JE produced 6.8% and 9.7% less CH4 per kilogram of MS, respectively, compared with NA. There was no difference between the GG for CH4 per unit of DMI or the Ym. This research emphasizes the variation in CH4 emissions across the grazing season and among cows of differing genetic merit for CH4 emission intensities but not for CH4 per unit of DMI or the Ym.
Tannins have been extensively studied to decrease nitrogen excretion, however, the effects of tannins on animal production were inconsistent. The objective was to evaluate the effects of a mixture of ...quebracho-chestnut tannin extract (QCTE) supplementation on the production performance, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation patterns, and N partitioning in dairy cows. Sixty multiparous Holstein cows (mean ± standard deviation; average 717 ± 51 kg of body weight, 2.5 ± 0.2 of parity, 47 ± 1.9 kg/d of milk production, 78 ± 3.2 d of days in milk were randomly divided into four groups. Cows in different groups were provided QCTE at doses of 0, 10, 20, and 30 g/d per cow for 56 d. Although QCTE supplementation did not affect dry matter intake (DMI) and total-tract apparent digestibility of nutrients, milk yield and milk protein yield increased linearly (P = 0.01), and a trend for a linear (P = 0.07) increase in milk/DMI were observed with increasing QCTE supplementation. Increasing QCTE supplementation decreased the milk urea-N concentration and somatic cell count linearly (P < 0.05), tended to linearly (P < 0.1) decrease the concentration of blood urea-N and ruminal ammonia nitrogen, linearly (P < 0.05) increased levels of total antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase, and the molar proportions of ruminal propionate. Additionally, total N excretion was not affected by QCTE treatments, but QCTE supplementation linearly (P = 0.04) increased N utilization efficiency and tended to linearly (P = 0.1) decrease urea-N excretion in the urine. In conclusion, feeding QCTE at a dose of 30 g/d per head to cows in early lactation could increase antioxidant enzyme activities, improve production performance, and decrease environmentally labile urinary N excretion under the conditions of the study.
•Quebracho–chestnut tannin extract (QCTE) increased milk yield and milk protein yield.•QCTE did not affect nutrient digestibility but tended to decrease the urinary N excretion.•QCTE alleviated the oxidative stress of early-lactating cows.•The optimal dose of QCTE at 30 g/d per cow is recommended.
Milk quality indicators are one of the main components of the breeding value of dairy cattle. The experience of many countries demonstrates that the Holsteinization of local cattle breeds is ...accompanied by an increase in the volume of milk produced while reducing its quality characteristics in particular to its cheese suitability. Solving this problem only by means of traditional breeding is difficult but it is possible to facilitate this task with application of modern molecular genetic methods and marker-oriented selection. The objective of the research was to assess the genetic potential of dairy performance of cattle with different genotypes by the kappa-casein gene (CSN3). The study was conducted on 104 purebred Russian black-and- white cows selected from the herds of the Yakovlevskoye APC and Raslovskoye APC. It was determined that the desired CSN3
BB
genotype was most common in 61 % of animals. As part of the study, the comparison of the experimental animals' own milk productivity with the productivity of their ancestors was carried out which made it possible to assess their genetic potential. The analysis showed that in the Yakovlevskoye APC, the protein content in milk in carriers of the CSN3
AA
genotype was significantly less than in carriers of the CSN3
AB
(P < 0.05) and CSN
BB
(P < 0.001) genotypes. There were no statistically significant differences in other productivity indicators, although the carriers of the CSN
AB
genotype (100.9%) differed in the greatest realization of the genetic potential in terms of the mass fraction of fat in milk, and cows with the CSN
BB
genotype (106.7 and 103.9 % respectively) in milk yield and protein content in milk. In the Raslovskoye APC, the greatest realization of the genetic potential in milk yield (119.5 %) was distinguished by carriers of the CSN
AA
genotype and the greater potential of fat and protein in milk were shown by animals with the CSN
BB
genotype (112.3 % and 103.7 %, respectively). Thus, the polymorphism of bovine kappa-casein gene has a significant impact both on the protein content in milk and on the realization of the genetic potential for this indicator of productivity. The obtained research results are important for breeding work with Russian black-and-white cattle aimed at improving the cheese suitability of milk.
An analyze of the teats of cows from four farms with milking parlor was carried out to see the environment impact on mastitis The major causes of the mastitis were the low preoccupation for the ...maintenance of the normal function of the milking machine, the lack to keep the waiting time in a standing position, after the milking, the lack of instruction of the milking personnel.
In the field of smart agriculture health monitoring of livestock is an important field of research. Maintaining the good health of cows is very much essential for the steady growth of milk ...production. Unfortunately, in a large dairy cow farm, day-to-day monitoring of the health status of individual cows is a complex and time-consuming activity. This paper proposed LiveCare, an IoT-based framework that automatically monitors the health of cows in a large cow farm. It tracks the cow's behavioral changes on a daily basis. This paper also proposed the Cow Disease Prediction (CDP) algorithm, which is an unsupervised multi-class classifier that serves as the LiveCare framework's central component. The CDP algorithm can predict several cow diseases by analyzing the cows' behavioral changes. In this framework, we have also tabulated a few common cow diseases, their measurable symptoms, and the various sensors used to record them. We compared the efficiency of the proposed CDP algorithm to that of other machine learning algorithms.
There were done measurements of mammary gland (body and teats) and there were calculated some indices and correlation coefficients. The results show that the phenotypic correlations for milk quantity ...and udder shape, udder length and for milking speed and distance between posterior teats and distance between anterior and posterior teats, were positives. For milk quantity and udder depth and for milking speed and mammary index the phenotypic correlations were negatives. Genotypic correlations were generally negatives for milk quantity and udder characteristics, excepting the udder width correlation which was positive. The milking speed was negatively correlated with udder shape and positively with mammary index. Environmental correlations of milk quantity with udder characteristics were all positive. Environmental correlations of milking speed with udder shape and distance between posterior teats were positives and negative for distance between anterior and posterior teats and mammary index.
Our research sets out to quantify the way in which the nutritional value of the food ratios influences the milk production in Fleckvieh cows which were imported in Agriland ranch in the summer of ...2008, from Germany. The different types of fodder existent at the ranch and their supply in the animals’ ratios according to the season has been taking into consideration when calculating the nutritional value which has been afterwards compared with the expected values. The main objective was estimating the potential production and then comparing it with the real one obtained in the ranch, under the specific conditions of shelter and feeding. The health of the animals has also been observed. The evolution of the real graphic of lactation is very different from the potential one, in the sense that in the first two or three months of lactation the production decreases, and its peak is somewhere between the fourth month and the fifth month. This proves a feeding which is not proper, because it is not differentiated by production. The ratios should be made proper and this is done relatively easy by including phosphates into the ratio. The energy level can be corrected by individually administering the concentrated fodder which has to be correlated with the milk production.
