Adverse effects on reproductive performance and lameness of feeding grazing dairy cows partially on silage indoors

1990 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. C. Phillips

SUMMARYEighty autumn-calving (A) and 82 spring-calving (S) British Friesian cows were divided during the grazing season into two groups: one group received silage overnight indoors and grazed herbage during the day (partial storage feeding, P) and the other was conventionally set-stocked (C). The effects of the four treatments (AC, AP, SC and SP) on reproductive performance and herd health are reported for the 27-week grazing season and the subsequent 25-week housed period in 1985/86 in North Wales. Calving to conception interval was not affected by treatment but, in treatment SP, pregnancy rate to all services was lower and number of barren cows was greater than in the other treatments. Partial storage feeding increased the incidence of under-run heel and laminitis in the early part of the grazing season, and this was reflected in poorer locomotion. Treatment SC resulted in an increased incidence of punctured sole with pus later in the grazing season. Both autumn-calving treatments resulted in a large decrease in lameness and poor locomotion at drying off, but these increased in the autumn before housing. The mean duration of each lameness incident was 1·88 months and, in 40 out of 97 incidents, lameness was preceded by uneven gait. The incidence of lameness and poor locomotion was low for all treatments throughout the housed period. It is concluded that a high standard of buildings and reproductive and herd health management is necessary for partial storage feeding to be practised successfully.

2011 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne Van De Weyer ◽  
Cheryl Waldner

Van De Weyer, L. M. and Waldner, C. L. 2011. Geographic determinants of copper and molybdenum concentrations in serum at the end of the grazing season and associations with reproductive performance in beef cows from western Canada. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 91: 423–431. Serum concentrations of Cu and Mo were measured at the end of the summer grazing season in an observational field study of 783 breeding females from 66 cow-calf herds located in western Canada. The mean Cu concentration was 0.82 ppm (S, 0.30 ppm) and the mean Mo concentration was 0.056 ppm (S, 0.055 ppm). Serum Cu concentration differed across ecoregions (P=0.013). Serum Mo concentrations varied by ecoregion (P =0.002), soil type (P =0.011), soil color (P=0.018), and total precipitation during the growing season (P =0.004). Copper and Mo serum concentrations at the end of the grazing season were not associated with reproductive outcomes. Herd location is an important determinant of the risk of primary and secondary Cu deficiency and can inform the need for trace mineral testing of feed samples as well as supplementation.


1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (24) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
P McInnes ◽  
TJ Grainger ◽  
MD Smith

Data are presented on the recovery and reproductive performance of 2 1/2-year-old maiden Merino ewes after a prolonged period of undernutrition. The 217 sheep had been hand-fed on a submaintenance ration in pen feeding trials at Glenfield, New South Wales. During the seven months of the trials they had lost 6 kg (28 to 22 kg) body weight. They were transported to Condobolin in south-western New South Wales, divided into two treatment groups and run on good quality pastures. One group was joined immediately (May 1959) and again ten months later, and the other group was mated after six months at Condobolin (in October 1959) and again 12 months later. The ewes recovered rapidly. The mean weight of both groups had reached 30 kg within six weeks and 40 kg within six months. In the first year 73 of the 100 May-mated ewes bore lambs, but only 38 of these lambs were weaned. Ewes bearing lambs had a higher body weight at the start of joining and gained more during joining than the barren ewes. At the other three joinings (October 1959, May 1960, October 1960) lambing percentage was from 86-89 and weaning percentage from 62-69-both normal for the district. The proportion of twin lambs (3-6 per cent) was low. Wool weight in 1959 was not affected by time of mating or by pregnancy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 187 (5) ◽  
pp. 191-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Svensson ◽  
Hans Wickström ◽  
Ulf Emanuelson ◽  
Alison M Bard ◽  
Kristen K Reyher ◽  
...  

BackgroundCommunication skills to promote changes in management routines are especially important in veterinary herd health management (VHHM). Motivational interviewing (MI) is a communication methodology shown to be effective in stimulating client behaviour change. This study aimed to evaluate a 6-month MI-training programme for veterinarians.MethodsThirty-eight cattle veterinarians gathered in groups of four to eight at six workshops separated by 3–4 weeks, during which they read literature and practised their skills. MI skills were evaluated before and after training using audio recordings of role-play conversations with professional actors. Recordings were coded using the MI Treatment Integrity Code (MITI) V.4.2.1. The effect of training was evaluated by 16 regression models. Participants filled in questionnaires about their experiences.ResultsAll participants improved their MI skills after training in at least one parameter and significant improvements were found in all but 3 of the 16 statistically evaluated MITI variables. The mean (25th–75th percentiles) ratings of the veterinarians’ perceived relevance of MI skills in their work was 4.9 (4.0–6.0) and of their satisfaction with the programme was 5.1 (5.0–6.0) on a 6-point Likert scale.ConclusionsResults show that MI training was perceived to be useful and relevant and successfully improved veterinarians’ communication skills in VHHM.


1973 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary F. Lyon ◽  
Susan G. Hawker

SUMMARYLifetime reproductive performance was studied in 50 sib-pairs of female mice, one member of each pair chromosomally XX and the other XO. Twenty-five pairs were irradiated with 25 rad X-rays at 10 days of age and 25 were unirradiated. In both the irradiated and control series the XO mice had a significantly shorter reproductive life than the XX ones, but unirradiated XO bred longer than irradiated XX. The median age of unirradiated XO at birth of last litter was 280 days and they had 6·5 ± 0·80 litters, whereas for XX the figures were 420days and 12·6 ± 0·74. The mean litter-size of XO mice was only about 55% and their lifetime productivity 34% of that of their XX sibs. Similarly, the lifetime productivity of irradiated XX females was only 31% of that of unirradiated XX. Histological studies showed that in the unirradiated XO mice reproduction ended through shortage of oocytes, and the resulting secondary ovarian changes were similar to those in irradiated mice. Thus, the differences between human and mouse XO types are to some extent reconciled. Both become sterile through death of oocytes, in humans before puberty and in mice after. This difference may be connected with different times from oogenesis to puberty in the two species.


2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL B. ROBERTS

In his autobiography describing his geology of 1831 Darwin wrote, “on my return to Shropshire I coloured a map of parts around Shrewsbury.” There are four extant maps in the Cambridge University Library, which fit this description. Two, at a scale of ⅞ inch to 1 mile, are of Anglesey and Llanymynech and are hand-drawn copies of Evan's map of North Wales, and are without geological annotation. The other two of Shrewsbury and Kinnerley have a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile and are copied from Baugh's Map of Shropshire (1808). These contain orange shading to the west of Shrewsbury indicating New Red Sandstone, but make no allowance for drift. The Shrewsbury map includes some attempted stratigraphic boundaries and marks four sites; A, B, C and D. These maps demonstrate Darwin's grasp of geology before his Welsh tour with Sedgwick in August 1831. They show his realisation of the need of a topographic base map, an acquaintance of the conventions of geological mapping in shading and the marking of boundaries. These maps form an early part of Darwin's considerable geological activity in the summer of 1831.


1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (01) ◽  
pp. 035-040 ◽  
Author(s):  
A M H P van den Besselaar ◽  
R M Bertina

SummaryFour thromboplastin reagents were tested by 18 laboratories in Europe, North-America, and Australasia, according to a detailed protocol. One thromboplastin was the International Reference Preparation for ox brain thromboplastin combined with adsorbed bovine plasma (coded OBT/79), and the second was a certified reference material for rabbit brain thromboplastin, plain (coded CRM 149R). The other two thromboplastin reagents were another rabbit plain brain thromboplastin (RP) with a lower ISI than CRM 149R and a rabbit brain thromboplastin combined with adsorbed bovine plasma (RC). Calibration of the latter two reagents was performed according to methods recommended by the World Health Organization (W. H. O.).The purpose of this study was to answer the following questions: 1) Is the calibration of the RC reagent more precise against the bovine/combined (OBT/79) than against the rabbit/plain reagent (CRM 149R)? 2) Is the precision of calibration influenced by the magnitude of the International Sensitivity Index (ISI)?The lowest inter-laboratory variation of ISI was observed in the calibration of the rabbit/plain reagent (RP) against the other rabbit/plain reagent (CRM 149R) (CV 1.6%). The highest interlaboratory variation was obtained in the calibration of rabbit/plain (RP) against bovine/combined (OBT/79) (CV 5.1%). In the calibration of the rabbit/combined (RC) reagent, there was no difference in precision between OBT/79 (CV 4.3%) and CRM 149R (CV 4.2%). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the precision of the ISI of RC obtained with CRM 149R (ISI = 1.343) and the rabbit/plain (RP) reagent with ISI = 1.14. In conclusion, the calibration of RC could be performed with similar precision with either OBT/79 or CRM 149R, or RP.The mean ISI values calculated with OBT/79 and CRM 149R were practically identical, indicating that there is no bias in the ISI of these reference preparations and that these reference preparations have been stable since their original calibration studies in 1979 and 1987, respectively.International Normalized Ratio (INR) equivalents were calculated for a lyophilized control plasma derived from patients treated with oral anticoagulants. There were small but significant differences in the mean INR equivalents between the bovine and rabbit thromboplastins. There were no differences in the interlaboratory variation of the INR equivalents, when the four thromboplastins were compared.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 1073-1114 ◽  

SummaryIn collaborative experiments in 199 laboratories, nine commercial thromboplastins, four thromboplastins held by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBS & C), London and the British Comparative Thromboplastin were tested on fresh normal and coumarin plasmas, and on three series of freeze-dried plasmas. One of these was made from coumarin plasmas and the other two were prepared from normal plasmas; in each series, one plasma was normal and the other two represented different degrees of coumarin defect.Each thromboplastin was calibrated against NIBS&C rabbit brain 70/178, from the slope of the line joining the origin to the point of intersection of the mean ratios of coumarin/normal prothrombin times when the ratios obtained with the two thromboplastins on the same fresh plasmas were plotted against each other. From previous evidence, the slopes were calculated which would have been obtained against the NIBS&C “research standard” thromboplastin 67/40, and termed the “calibration constant” of each thromboplastin. Values obtained from the freeze-dried coumarin plasmas gave generally similar results to those from fresh plasmas for all thromboplastins, whereas values from the artificial plasmas agreed with those from fresh plasmas only when similar thromboplastins were being compared.Taking into account the slopes of the calibration lines and the variation between laboratories, precision in obtaining a patient’s prothrombin time was similar for all thromboplastins.


1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (04) ◽  
pp. 739-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Delaini ◽  
Elisabetta Dejana ◽  
Ine Reyers ◽  
Elisa Vicenzi ◽  
Germana De Bellis Vitti ◽  
...  

SummaryWe have investigated the relevance of some laboratory tests of platelet function in predicting conditions of thrombotic tendency. For this purpose, we studied platelet survival, platelet aggregation in response to different stimuli, TxB2 and 6-keto-PGFlα production in serum of rats bearing a nephrotic syndrome induced by adriamycin. These animals show a heavy predisposition to the development of both arterial and venous thrombosis. The mean survival time was normal in nephrotic rats in comparison to controls. As to aggregation tests, a lower aggregating response was found in ADR-treated rats using ADP or collagen as stimulating agents. With arachidonic acid (AA) we observed similar aggregating responses at lower A A concentrations, whereas at higher AA concentrations a significantly lower response was found in nephrotic rats, despite their higher TxB2 production. Also TxB2 and 6-keto-PGFlα levels in serum of nephrotic rats were significantly higher than in controls. No consistent differences were found in PGI2-activity generated by vessels of control or nephrotic rats.These data show that platelet function may appear normal or even impaired in rats with a markedly increased thrombotic tendency. On the other hand, the significance of high TxB2 levels in connection with mechanisms leading to thrombus formation remains a controversial issue.


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