Effect of suckling during early lactation and changeover to machine milking on plasma oxytocin and cortisol levels and milking characteristics in Holstein cows

1995 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Tančin ◽  
L'Ubomír Harcek ◽  
Ján Brouček ◽  
Michal Uhrinčať ◽  
Štefan Mihina

SUMMARYPlasma concentrations of oxytocin and cortisol, and milk yield and flow rates, were compared in three primiparous cows and two cows in their second lactation during suckling and subsequent machine milking. After calving, cows suckled their calves for 3–4 weeks and then the experiment was carried out over 4 d. Blood samples were taken prior to, during and after suckling or evening machine milking (EMM) on day 1 of the experiment (the last day of suckling), day 2 (first EMM) and day 4 (third EMM). After weaning and rehousing, cows were machine milked twice daily. During the first EMM, average milk yield and flow rate in the second minute of milking were significantly lower (P < 0·05) than corresponding values for the other 2 d. Plasma oxytocin concentrations were lower during the first than during the third EMM (P < 0·001) and suckling (P < 0·001), and more oxytocin was released during the third EMM than during suckling (P < 0·01). Cortisol concentrations were higher during and after the first EMM than during the third EMM. Thus in cows sucked for several weeks after calving and then separated from their calves and rehoused we found a transient decrease in oxytocin release, milk yield and flow rates during the first machine milking.

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-55
Author(s):  
Francesco Maria Tangorra ◽  
Stefania Leonardi ◽  
Valerio Bronzo ◽  
Nicola Rota ◽  
Paolo Moroni

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of pre-milking mechanical teat stimulation on milk yield and milking performance of dairy buffaloes in early lactation. For this purpose, twenty-two healthy Italian Mediterranean buffaloes in their first to third lactation and in early lactation (<120 days in milk) were subjected to two treatments of teat stimulation: i) washing of the teats with water for about 5 s and attaching of the milking unit within 60 s, without any pre-milking massage (farm milking routine); ii) fast pulsation (FP), achieved by increasing pulsation rate to 120 pulsations per min during the first 60 s after application of teat cups. Each treatment lasted for 10 days and the following parameters were measured: milk yield (kg/milking), milk yield at 2 min after unit attachment (kg), time between milking unit attachment and its automatic removal (min), peak milk flow rate (kg/min), and milking time to reach peak flow rate (min). The average milk flow rate (kg/min) was calculated by dividing milk yield by the actual milking time. Milk yield was not affected by mechanical pre-stimulation and during the first 2 min of milking 20.2% and 19.6% of total milk yield were milked respectively when treatments 1 and 2 were applied. The time elapsed from attachment of the milking cluster until its automatic removal was less than 8 min both for buffaloes subjected to FP, and for buffaloes subjected just to washing of the teats before attaching the milking unit. FP stimulation did not show an enhancing effect on peak and average milk flow rates and on milking time to reach peak flow rate.


1994 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert M. Bruckmaier ◽  
Chantal Ritter ◽  
Dieter Schams ◽  
Jürg W. Blum

SummaryForty-four goats were milked and milk flow recorded without or with 1 min manual prestimulation in early, mid and late lactation. Ultrasound measurements of cross sections of the whole mammary gland were performed in a water bath. In additional experiments with 15 goats, milk flow was recorded and frequent blood samples were taken for the determination of oxytocin and prolactin concentrations. Milk yield increased from the first to the third lactation and decreased markedly during the course of lactation. Average and peak milk flow rates were closely related to the actual milk yield. The ultrasound cisternal area was 27·4±1·5% of the entire udder half cross section. Milking characteristics were scarcely different without or with prestimulation, although oxytocin was released within 30 s after the start of prestimulation, whereas oxytocin concentrations without prestimulation increased only after the start of milking. Concentrations of prolactin were higher during July and August than in April, and increased similarly with or without prestimulation during milking. In contrast to dairy cows, prestimulation and an opportune release of oxytocin during milking does not significantly influence the course of milk flow in goats, and this is probably because large amounts of cisternal milk allow milk ejection to be induced only after the start of milking without causing bimodal or otherwise reduced milk flow.


1997 ◽  
Vol 129 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-242
Author(s):  
U. BAR-PELED ◽  
E. MALTZ ◽  
H. TAGARI ◽  
A.-R. LEHRER ◽  
B. ROBINZON ◽  
...  

Groups of nine or ten cows were assigned, after calving, to treatments in which they were (i) machine milked three times daily (M3), (ii) machine milked six times daily (M6) or (iii) suckled three times daily in addition to being machine milked three times daily (S). Treatments were administered during the first 6 weeks postpartum. On one day, at weeks 1 and 6 postpartum, blood samples were collected from all cows at 30-min intervals between 06.00 and 13.00 h and these were analysed for plasma osmolality and plasma concentrations of Na+, K+ and Cl−. Milk yield was significantly higher in suckled cows than in cows milked six times daily, but significantly lower in cows milked three times daily. In cows milked six times daily, and to a greater extent in suckled cows, there was a reduction in plasma osmolality and monovalent ion concentrations (Na+, K+ and Cl−), which could increase the susceptibility of the cows to water intoxication. Moreover, suckling or milking the cows six times daily was associated with increased fluctuations in plasma osmolality and plasma Cl− concentrations. The decrease in plasma osmolality and ion concentration and the increased variation in plasma osmolality and Cl− were probably related to increased water intake and may be indicative of a severe challenge to homoeostasis regulation.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Musa Bah ◽  
Muhammad Afzal Rashid ◽  
Khalid Javed ◽  
Talat Naseer Pasha ◽  
Muhammad Qamer Shahid

Water buffaloes wallow in water to combat heat stress during summer. With the decreasing reservoirs for wallowing, the farmers use sprinklers to cool the buffaloes in Pakistan. These sprinklers use a large quantity of groundwater, which is becoming scarce. The objective of the current study was to determine the effect of different sprinkler flow rates on the physiological, behavioral, and production responses of Nili Ravi buffaloes during summer. Eighteen buffaloes were randomly subjected to three sprinkler flow rate treatments in a double replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design. The flow rates were 0.8, 1.25, and 2.0 L/min. During the study, the average afternoon temperature humidity index was 84.6. The 1.25 and 2.0 L/min groups had significantly lower rectal temperature and respiratory rates than the 0.8 L/min group. Water intake was significantly higher in the 0.8 L/min group. Daily milk yield was higher in the 1.25 and 2.0 L/min groups than in the 0.8 L/min group. These results suggested that the sprinkler flow rates > 0.8 L/min effectively cooled the buffaloes. The sprinkler flow rate of 1.25 L/min appeared to be more efficient, as it used 37.5% less water compared to the 2.0 L/min.


Author(s):  
Masahiro Ishida ◽  
Daisaku Sakaguchi ◽  
Hironobu Ueki

An optimization of the inlet ring groove arrangement has been pursued in the present study for obtaining better impeller characteristics and a wider operation range at both small and large flow rates in a high specific speed type centrifugal impeller with inducer. The effects of the shape parameters with respect to the inlet ring groove on the impeller characteristic and the flow incidence were analyzed mainly based on numerical simulations, but also compared to the experimental results. At small flow rates, a significant improvement in the impeller characteristic is achieved due to reduction in the excessive-positive flow incidence by optimizing both location and width of the rear groove near the inducer tip throat. On the other hand, the impeller characteristic is improved at large flow rates by implementing the corner radius at the rear groove edge and by placing another front ring groove in the suction pipe. As a result, by the optimized configuration of the front and rear ring grooves, the unstable flow range of the test impeller can be reduced by about 50% without deterioration of the impeller characteristic even at the 125% flow rate.


2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Ferneborg ◽  
Måns Thulin ◽  
Sigrid Agenäs ◽  
Kerstin Svennersten-Sjaunja ◽  
Peter Krawczel ◽  
...  

AbstractThis research communication describes how different detachment levels (0.48, 0.3 and 0.06 kg milk/min) at the quarter-level affect milk flow profiles and overall milking efficiency in automatic milking systems. We hypothesized a higher detachment level would result in greater mean flow rates without affecting the volume of harvested milk per cow during 24 h compared to lower detachment levels. The data suggest milk flow decreased to a rate below the overmilking limit within the 6-s delay time required for termination in all treatments, but the duration of overmilking was shorter for the greatest detachment level compared to the other treatments. We conclude that setting a detachment level at a greater milk flow rate reduces the duration of overmilking without affecting the amount of milk harvested when applied to cows in mid-lactation during quarter-level milking. We also suggest that the steepness of the decline phase of the milk flow curve might have a larger effect than the actual detachment level on the duration of overmilking.


1971 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Castle ◽  
R. Henderson

SUMMARYRecords of milking rate, milk yield and milk composition were collected over 12 yr from 123 Ayrshire heifers in their first lactation in one herd. Three direct measures of milking rate, i.e. peak flow rate, machine rate and overall rate were closely correlated and each was also correlated with total lactation yield of milk. Milking rate accounted for only a very small part of the variation in fat and total solids percentages. The mean yield of milk per milking in early lactation was a better predictor of total lactation yield than was milking rate but, among animals giving the same early lactation yield of milk, the faster milkers gave higher lactation yields than the slower milkers.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-X. Chen ◽  
X. Gan ◽  
J. M. Owen

A superposed radial outflow of air is used to cool two disks that are rotating at equal and opposite speeds at rotational Reynolds numbers up to 1.2 × 106. One disk, which is heated up to 100°C, is instrumented with thermocouples and fluxmeters; the other disk, which is unheated, is made from transparent polycarbonate to allow the measurement of velocity using an LDA system. Measured Nusselt numbers and velocities are compared with computations made using an axisymmetric elliptic solver with a low-Reynolds-number k–ε turbulence model. Over the range of flow rates and rotational speeds tested, agreement between the computations and measurements is mainly good. As suggested by the Reynolds analogy, the Nusselt numbers for contrarotating disks increase strongly with rotational speed and weakly with flow rate; they are lower than the values obtained under equivalent conditions in a rotor–stator system.


2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shehadeh H Kaskous ◽  
Daniel Weiss ◽  
Yassin Massri ◽  
Al-Moutassem B Al-Daker ◽  
Ab-Dallah Nouh ◽  
...  

Oxytocin (OT) release and lactation performance in primiparous Syrian Shami cows were evaluated in response to two different machine milking regimes. Six cows were milked in the presence of the calves (PC) and subsequently suckled, whereas six cows were exclusively machine milked without the presence of their calves (WC) until day 91 post partum. Milk yield and milk constituents were determined weekly. The degree of udder evacuation was determined by the succeeding removal of residual milk. PC released OT during the milking process, whereas in WC no OT release was detected throughout the milking process. Consequently, the residual milk fraction was much lower in PC than in WC (11% v. 58%, P<0·05) and daily milk yield until day 91 post partum was higher in PC than in WC (12·6±0·3 v. 7·1±0·4 kg, P<0·05). In conclusion, Syrian Shami cattle are not suitable to be exclusively machine milked without the presence of their calves.


1966 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Thiel ◽  
P. A. Clough ◽  
D. R. Westgarth ◽  
D. N. Akam

SummaryThe milk flowing during a single pulsation cycle was collected in a circle of contiguous cups which rotated in a chamber at 1 rev/pulsation cycle just below the end of the teatcup liner. The mean flow rate during the time taken for each collecting cup to pass under the milk stream was calculated and the flow-rate curve for the milkflow period of the pulsation cycle plotted. Flow rates were measured at 130, 97, 65, 32 and 16 c/min, and also after the pulsator had been stopped with the liner open for 0·5 min (0 pulsation).It was concluded from the series of flow-rate curves at the different pulsation rates that flow rate from the teat increased in about 0·05 sec to a steady value which continued for 0·5 sec or so, and then declined over a period of about 1·5 sec to a new constant value approximately equal to that shown after milk had flowed continuously from the teat for 0·5 min.These results suggest that once the pressure difference across the streak canal during milking forces the teat sphincter open a considerable time elapses before the muscle control system responds, and that a further much longer period elapses before the full closing force of the sphincter is exerted. Thus, it would appear that at pulsation rates of about 50 c/min and above, the streak canal is closed by pressure exerted on the teat by the closing liner, the sphincter muscle playing no active part because its response rate is slow compared with the pulsation rate. At lower pulsation rates the flow rate declines during each cycle because the sphincter muscle has time to exert a closing force to a greater or lesser extent depending on the duration of the milkflow period.


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