Differential response of dairy cows to supplementary light during increasing or decreasing daylength

1998 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. C. Phillips ◽  
C. A. Lomas ◽  
T. M. Arab

AbstractTwo experiments were conducted to compare the response oflactating cows to supplementary light in their lying area during increasing and decreasing natural daylength. During decreasing daylength, supplementary light in the lying area increased the time cows spent lying down and considerably reduced calculated food intake, milk production, live weight and body condition, so that lights were installed in the feeding area for the last half of the experiment, which partially restored intake and live weight. Plasma cortisol concentrations and milk somatic cell counts were increased by supplementary light in decreasing daylength before, but not after, lights were installed in the feeding passage, suggesting that cows may have been stressed by the difficulties encountered during feeding in the dark. During increasing daylength supplementary light did not affect lying time, had less effect on food intake and no effect on milk production or live weight. There was a small reduction in plasma corticosteroid by the end of the experiment with supplementary light. It is concluded that providing supplementary light only in the lying area of dairy cows will have adverse effects on their production and welfare in decreasing, but not increasing daylength

2018 ◽  
Vol 101 (8) ◽  
pp. 7638-7649 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.G. Martins ◽  
P. Oliveira ◽  
B.M. Oliveira ◽  
D. Mendonça ◽  
J. Niza-Ribeiro

1991 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Persaud ◽  
G. Simm ◽  
W. G. Hlll

ABSTRACTRecords on milk yield, fat plus protein yield, food intake, food efficiency, calving live weight and mean live weight, up to 26 and 38 weeks of lactation, were obtained from dairy cows, fed ad libitum, in the Edinburgh School of Agriculture's Langhill herd. The data were divided into first and later lactations and restricted maximum likelihood analyses carried out on heifer, cow and pooled data, fitting an animal model, with repeat lactations as an additional random effect. Univariate analyses were done after canonical transformation of heifer data and approximate canonical transformation of cow and pooled data. Heritability estimates for food efficiency and food intake, from pooled data, were 0·13 (s.e. 0·09) and 0·37 (s.e. 0·11) for 26-week and 0·13 (s.e. 0·12) and 0·52 (s.e. 0·14) for 38-week lactation periods, respectively. Over the same periods, estimates for milk yield were 0·20 (s.e. 0·08) and 0·20 (s.e. 0·11), respectively. Estimates from the analyses of cow and heifer data separately were higher, as were their standard errors. Genetic correlations between milk production traits and efficiency, from the pooled data analysis, ranged from 0·44 to 0·61 and those between milk production traits and food intake from 0·32 to 0·74. Genetic correlations between live-weight traits and efficiency ranged from −0·81 to −;0·99, and those between food intake and live-weight traits from 0·28 to 0·46. The results indicate that when selection is on yield, the correlated responses in efficiency may be smaller under ad libitum feeding, compared with published values where cows were given food according to yield. Including live weight in the selection criterion may give higher responses in efficiency compared with selection on yield alone. In MOET nucleus schemes it may be worthwhile to include food intake or efficiency directly in the selection criteria.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2006 ◽  
pp. 86-86
Author(s):  
G Wellwood ◽  
J K Margerison

Mastitis is a complex disease causing inflammation of the udder, which has been estimated to cost the dairy farmer between £40-£117/cow per year (Stott et al., 2002). Economic loss occurs as a result of discarded milk, reduced milk yield and milk quality, increased vet costs and an increase in replacement costs. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of breed on the incidence of mastitis and somatic cell counts and milk production capabilities of Holstein Friesian, Brown Swiss and Brown Swiss crossbred cows.


animal ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 1344-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Masoero ◽  
A. Gallo ◽  
M. Moschini ◽  
G. Piva ◽  
D. Diaz

1989 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. P. Mullan ◽  
I. H. Williams

ABSTRACTThe level of body reserves in first-litter sows was manipulated by giving gilts one of three levels (high (H), medium (M) or low (L)) of food from selection (44 kg live weight) to parturition. The aim of this experiment was either to maintain or to mobilize these reserves during lactation (31·4 days) by feeding sows to appetite (high (H)) or 2·0 kg/day (low (L)).When the level of body reserves was increased prior to farrowing (171 kg live weight, 32 mm backfat) sows had a lower voluntary food intake during lactation than those animals that farrowed with a low level of body reserves (126 kg live weight, 20 mm backfat) (H-H v. L-H, 3·4 v. 4·9 kg/day; P < 0·001). Both groups had a normal return to oestrous activity after weaning (mean interval between weaning and mating of 14 days) but the heavier animals mobilized more of their body reserves (H-H −30·7 kg live weight, -4·3 mm backfat; L-H -3·6 kg live weight +0·9 mm backfat; P < 0·001). When food intake during lactation was restricted to 2·0 kg/day the interval between weaning and mating was increased by 50% regardless of the level of body reserves present at farrowing. For the same animals, there were insufficient body reserves to support milk production at the same level as for those animals given food t o appetite.


2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
L. Panicke ◽  
J. Weingärtner ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
T. Król

Abstract. Title of the paper: Relationship between lysosomal blood activity and milk content» of urea and protein in different phases of milk production in dairy cows Relationship of lysosomal enzyme activities in blood and supply of energy and protein in dairy cattle were investigated. Closed correlation coefficients were calculated for lysosomal enzyme activity and content of protein and urea in milk. Especially a high or a low content of protein in the food ration affects the lysosomal enzyme activities considerably. A different lysosomal response to equal food supply was gained after deviding the cow stock into different groups regarding performance at a different lactation status. Growth, breed, age, capacity of food intake and milk performance might be influencing factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
DAIANE S. DOS SANTOS ◽  
VANDERLEI KLAUCK ◽  
CARINE F. SOUZA ◽  
MATHEUS D. BALDISSERA ◽  
CLEITON THEISEN ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. O'Callaghan ◽  
J.M. Lozano ◽  
J. Fahey ◽  
V. Gath ◽  
S. Snijders ◽  
...  

AbstractThe reduced fertility that is becoming more evident in high yielding dairy cows may be related to many factors including changes in milk production, food intake and fluctuations in body condition. Metabolic and production markers have been studied as a way of predicting success to a particular artificial insemination. Successful conception to a particular service was not associated with milk production, body condition or plasma concentrations of several indicators of metabolic state around the time if insemination. This highlights the importance of time of information collection in fertility management programmes. Increased food intake may reduce systemic progesterone concentrations. This is more evident in sheep than cattle, but a positive relationship between systemic progesterone early post mating and establishment of pregnancy in cattle has been reported. However, progesterone concentrations in the ovarian vein and endometrium are not strongly correlated with systemic progesterone. Thus, the significance of modest changes in systemic progesterone in affecting oocyte and embryo development must be questioned. Blood urea concentrations can be altered by diet, and reduced pregnancy rates have been reported in cows with high urea concentrations. However, in other recent studies, no difference was reported in serum urea in cows that conceived and those that failed to conceive. Pregnancy rate was equally high in heifers when in-vitro produced embryos were transferred to heifers on high and low urea diets. When embryos were produced in sheep on high and low dietary urea, the effects on embryo development appear to occur early in the developmental process, suggesting a substantial effect on the development of the oocyte. The developmental capacity of oocytes and quality of embryos is reduced in cattle maintained on extremely high dietary intakes. Oocyte developmental capacity is reduced in cows of higher genetic merit and embryo quality can be substantially reduced in the early postpartum period. Collectively, these results suggest that high dietary intake or high metabolic load is deleterious to normal oocyte development and establishment of pregnancy. This highlights the importance of further studies on the effect of dietary intake on metabolic state and follicle, oocyte and embryo development. In a practical context, these results highlight the importance of nutritional management and avoiding changes in the amount or type of diet around the time of mating in high-production dairy cows.


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Wolff ◽  
Mark Stevenson ◽  
Ulf Emanuelson ◽  
Agneta Egenvall ◽  
Ann Lindberg

2009 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Wellnitz ◽  
Marcus G Doherr ◽  
Marta Woloszyn ◽  
Rupert M Bruckmaier

Determination of somatic cell count (SCC) is used worldwide in dairy practice to describe the hygienic status of the milk and the udder health of cows. When SCC is tested on a quarter level to detect single quarters with high SCC levels of cows for practical reasons, mostly foremilk samples after prestimulation (i.e. cleaning of the udder) are used. However, SCC is usually different in different milk fractions. Therefore, the goal of this study was the investigation of the use of foremilk samples for the estimation of total quarter SCC. A total of 378 milkings in 19 dairy cows were performed with a special milking device to drain quarter milk separately. Foremilk samples were taken after udder stimulation and before cluster attachment. SCC was measured in foremilk samples and in total quarter milk. Total quarter milk SCC could not be predicted precisely from foremilk SCC measurements. At relatively high foremilk SCC levels (>300×103 cells/ml) foremilk SCC were higher than total quarter milk. At around (50–300)×103 cells/ml foremilk and total quarter SCC did not differ considerably. Most interestingly, if foremilk SCC was lower than 50×103 cells/ml the total quarter SCC was higher than foremilk SCC. In addition, individual cows showed dramatic variations in foremilk SCC that were not very well related to total quarter milk SCC. In conclusion, foremilk samples are useful to detect high quarter milk SCC to recognize possibly infected quarters, only if precise cell counts are not required. However, foremilk samples can be deceptive if very low cell numbers are to be detected.


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