scholarly journals Influence of Calving Ease on In-Line Milk Urea and Relationship with Other Milk Characteristics in Dairy Cows

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1159
Author(s):  
Mindaugas Televičius ◽  
Ramūnas Antanaitis ◽  
Vida Juozaitienė ◽  
Algimantas Paulauskas ◽  
Dovilė Malašauskienė ◽  
...  

The aim of this research was to identify the relationship of calvin ease and level of in-line milk urea (MU) and other milk components, namely milk yield (MY), electrical conductivity (EC), milk fat (MF), milk protein (MP), milk fat/protein ratio (MF/MP), and somatic cell count (SCC) in dairy cows. The cows for the research were selected following such criteria: cows were tested within the period of up to the first 30 days after calving and had had a range of lactation numbers from two to four. Each selected farm housed more than 500 dairy cows and a total of 4712 calving cases from the eight dairy farms were studied and evaluated. The 4-point scale was used for the evaluation of the calving according to the point value meanings where 1 = easy, unassisted; 2 = easy, assisted; 3 = difficult, assisted; 4 = difficult, requiring veterinary intervention. A total of 4712 calving cases were researched and scored. The chemical properties of milk in all research cows were analyzed during the early phase of lactation (from the onset of calving to 30 days past calving) every day, during each milking. Cows were classified into groups according to the level of urea in milk: Group 1 had MU ≤ 15 mg/dL (12.6% of cows), Group 2 had MU 16–30 mg/dL (62.4% of cows), and Group 3 had MU > 30 mg/dL (25.0% of cows). We found that cows with milk urea levels between 16 and 30 mg/dL had the lowest incidence of dystocia, and also the highest concentration of milk lactose (ML ≥ 4.6%), the lowest mean value of milk electrical conductivity, and the lowest value of milk SCC. Dystocia increased the risk of somatic cell growth in cow’s milk above the herd average (OR = 1.364; 95% CI = 1.184–1.571, p < 0.001), and normal urea in milk reduced this risk (OR = 0.749; 95% CI = 0.642–0.869, p = 0.05). In all groups of cows, according to the level of urea in milk, the productivity of cows without dystocia at calving was higher (2.50–5.51 kg) as well as the milk protein % (0.13–0.21%) and milk lactose % (0.07–0.19%). We concluded that, in all groups of cows, according to the level of urea in milk, the productivity and milk lactose concentration of cows without dystocia at calving was higher, and lower somatic cells count and electrical conductivity values were found in the milk compared with cows diagnosed with dystocia at calving. We can state that dystocia has a negative effect on milk urea concentration and can increase the risk of mastitis.

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Mindaugas Televičius ◽  
Vida Juozaitiene ◽  
Dovilė Malašauskienė ◽  
Ramunas Antanaitis ◽  
Arūnas Rutkauskas ◽  
...  

In this study, cow reticulorumen content pH and temperature together with the activity were registered using smaXtec boluses, specially designed for animal care. Body weight, rumination time, milk fat/protein ratio, milk yield, milk lactose, milk electrical conductivity, milk somatic cell count and consumption of concentrated feed were registered by Lely Astronaut® A3 milking robots. The cows in this study were assigned into two groups according to the milk lactose concentration: group 1—milk lactose < 4.70% (n = 20), group 2—milk lactose ≥ 4.70% (n = 15). The following cows were further classified according to milk fat and protein ratio: F/P < 1.2 (class 1), F/P = 1.2 (class 2) and F/P > 1.2 (class 3). According to our results, we can conclude that inline registered milk lactose concentration can be used to indicate the health status and reproductive success of fresh dairy cows. Cows with an increased lactose concentration (≥4.70%) showed more activity (54.47%) and had less risk of mastitis (determined by lower milk electrical conductivity (EC) and somatic cell counts (SCC)) and metabolic disorders, determined by milk F/P. A higher glucose concentration was also apparent in the cows with higher lactose concentration. Registered lower levels of milk lactose can be used for early identification of metabolic disorders and mastitis (set at milk SCC ≥ 100 thousand/mL). Lactose levels in cows’ milk were positively associated with their reproductive success.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Ramūnas Antanaitis ◽  
Vida Juozaitienė ◽  
Gediminas Urbonavičius ◽  
Dovilė Malašauskienė ◽  
Mindaugas Televičius ◽  
...  

In this study we hypothesized that the lameness of early lactation dairy cows would have an impact on inline biomarkers, such as rumination time (RT), milk fat (%), milk protein (%), milk fat/protein ratio (F/P), milk lactose (L, %), milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, body weight (BW), temperature of reticulorumen content (TRR), pH of reticulorumen content (pH), and walking activity (activity). All 30 lame cows (LCs) used in this experiment had a score of 3–4, identified according to the standard procedure of Sprecher et al.. The 30 healthy cows (HC) showed a lameness score of one. RT, milk fat, MY, milk protein, F/P, L, milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, and BW were registered using Lely Astronaut® A3 milking robots each time the cow was being milked. The TRR, cow activity, and pH of the contents of each cow’s reticulorumen were registered using specific smaXtec boluses. The study lasted a total of 28 days. Days “−14” to “−1” denote the days of the experimental period before the onset of clinical signs of lameness (day “0”), and days “1” to “13” indicate the period after the start of treatment. We found that from the ninth day before the diagnosis of laminitis until the end of our study, LCs had higher milk electrical conductivity in all udder quarters, and higher milk fat to protein ratios. On the 3rd day before the onset of clinical signs of the disease until the day of diagnosis, the milk fat of the LC group was reduced. The activity of the LCs decreased sharply from the second day to the first day after treatment. RT in the HC group tended to decrease during the experiment. pH in LCs also increased on the day of the appearance of clinical signs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 265 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Adediran ◽  
P. Nish ◽  
D. J. Donaghy ◽  
D. A. Ratkowsky ◽  
A. E. O. Malau-Aduli

The objective of this study was to provide an update on milk production performance, heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations among production traits that are valuable for management, breeding and selection decisions in pasture-based dairy systems. The study utilised a total of 106 990 lactation records of Holstein–Friesian (FF), Jersey (JJ) and their crossbreds (HF) from 428 Tasmanian dairy herds collected between 2000 and 2005. The data were analysed using the least-squares approach with a general linear model and restricted maximum likelihood approach with a linear animal model. Results indicated highly significant (P < 0.01) effects of breed, herd size, cow’s parity, season and year of calving on milk, protein and fat yields. Average milk and protein yields per cow per lactation were highest in the FF breed (5212 L and 171 kg, respectively) and lowest in the JJ breed (3713 L and 143 kg, respectively). FF cows also produced 13.5 kg more milk fat than JJ and HF cows. Furthermore, milk, fat and protein yields were highest for cows calving during spring and lowest for autumn-calving cows. It was also evident that cows in very large herds (>1110 cows/herd) out-produced those in smaller herds. Heritability was highest for milk yield and lowest for somatic cell count ranging from 0.28 to 0.41. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between milk, fat and protein yields ranged from 0.41 to 0.85, and 0.66 to 0.92, respectively. However, genetic and phenotypic correlations between the log of somatic cell count and the production traits ranged from 0.03 to 0.09 and –0.03 to –0.05. We conclude that breed, herd size, parity, season and year of calving were among the main factors correlated with the productivity of dairy cows in Tasmania and adjustments for these factors would be mandatory for any unbiased comparison of lactation performance within and between pasture-based dairy production systems. The practical application of this information would be valuable to dairy farmers for decisions related to breeding, selection and management of their herds.


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-401
Author(s):  
P.H. Robinson

The amount of milk Canadian dairy farmers produce is limited to a production quota expressed in milk fat. Because milk economic value is primarily based on fat and protein, it can be advantageous to decrease the milk fat to protein ratio. Monensin sodium has been suggested to reduce milk fat proportion and outputs, but not milk protein. Publications using lactating dairy cows were utilized to assess predictability of production responses to monensin feeding based upon their base production characteristics and diet composition. Predicted animal output changes due to monensin had poor fits with low r2 (0.31–0.44) and unevenly distributed residuals. Further assessment revealed that cow characteristics, and diets, were not independent of monensin feeding level. Thus, the 43 comparisons were clustered into levels of 10–12, 14–18, or 20–24 mg kg−1 of diet dry matter (DM). Milk fat yield reductions due to monensin differed (P < 0.05; 10–12 and 14–18 mg kg−1 DM), or tended to differ (P = 0.057; 20–24 mg kg−1 DM), from zero (i.e., no change). Monensin addition to total mixed rations of lactating dairy cows negatively impacted milk fat yield to a greater extent than milk protein.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 643
Author(s):  
Omar Vargas Villalobos ◽  
Oscar Cambronero Castro ◽  
Jorge Alberto Elizondo Salazar

Supplementing dairy cows with low in protein diets with specific amino acids is a promising strategy to counteract the potential negative effect of metabolizable protein deficiency on productivity. The objective of this study was to quantify the productive performance of lactating dairy cows and their milk quality when they are offered two diets with different crude protein (CP) concentration and when they are supplemented with methionine hydroxy analog (HMTBA). This study was carried out in a commercial dairy farm located in Alfaro Ruiz-Alajuela, Costa Rica, during the first semester of 2014. Twenty multiparous Holstein cows under a grazing system were grouped according to days in lactation and calving number. Two diets with different concentrations of CP (high 16.6% and 15.8% standard), with or without inclusion of HMTBA (25 g/TM) were studied in a 2x2 factorial arrangement. No significant effects (P>0.05) on milk production, 4% fat corrected milk, milk fat, milk protein, lactose, total solids or milk urea nitrogen (MUN) were found when including HMTBA. Feeding cows with high CP concentration significantly increased (P<0.05) MUN concentration from 18.33 to 20.70 mg/dl. Supplementing HMTBA to grazing cows did not have a significant response (P>0.05) regarding the different variables, and no financial return was found due to the fact that neither total milk production nor total solids were increased.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 842
Author(s):  
Ramūnas Antanaitis ◽  
Vida Juozaitienė ◽  
Dovilė Malašauskienė ◽  
Mindaugas Televičius ◽  
Mingaudas Urbutis ◽  
...  

The aim of our study was to determine how the ease of calving of cows may influence changes in lactose concentration and other milk components and whether these two factors correlate with each other. To achieve this, we compared data of calving ease scores and average percentage of in-line registered milk lactose and other milk components. A total of 4723 dairy cows from nine dairy farms were studied. The cows were from the second to the fourth lactation. All cows were classified according to the calving ease: group 1 (score 1)—no problems; group 2 (score 2)—slight problems; group 3 (score 3)—needed assistance; group 4 (score 4)—considerable force or extreme difficulty. Based on the data from the milking robots, during complete lactation we recorded milk indicators: milk yield MY (kg/day), milk fat (MF), milk protein (MP), lactose (ML), milk fat/lactose ratio (MF/ML), milk protein/lactose ratio (MP/ML), milk urea (MU), and milk electrical conductivity (EC) of all quarters of the udder. According to the results, we found that cows that had no calving difficulties, also had higher milk lactose concentration. ML > 4.7% was found in 58.8% of cows without calving problems. Cows with more severe calving problems had higher risk of mastitis (SCC and EC). Our data indicates that more productive cows have more calving problems compared to less productive ones.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1840
Author(s):  
Ramūnas Antanaitis ◽  
Vida Juozaitienė ◽  
Vesta Jonike ◽  
Vytenis Čukauskas ◽  
Danguolė Urbšienė ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between temperament and milk performance in cows at different stages of lactation, describing their productivity, metabolic status and resistance to mastitis. This study showed that with increasing lactation, cows’ temperament indicators decreased (p < 0.001) and they became calmer. The highest temperament score on a five-point scale was found in cows between 45 and 100 days of lactation. In the group of pregnant cows, we found more cows (p = 0.005) with a temperament score of 1–2 compared with non-pregnant cows A normal temperament was usually detected in cows with lactose levels in milk of 4.60% or more and when the somatic cell count (SCC) values in cow milk were <100,000/mL and 100,000–200,000/mL, with a milk fat-to-protein ratio of 1.2. A larger number of more sensitive and highly aggressive cows was detected at a low milk urea level. In contrast to a positive phenotypic correlation (p < 0.05), this study showed a negative genetic correlation between the temperament of cows and milk yield (p < 0.001). Positive genetic correlations between temperament scores and milk somatic cells (p < 0.001) and milk fat-to-protein ratio (p < 0.05) were found to indicate a lower genetic predisposition in cows with a calmer temperament to subclinical mastitis and ketosis. On the other hand, the heritability of temperament (h2 = 0.044–0.100) showed that only a small part of the phenotypic changes in this indicator is associated with genetic factors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruairi P McDonnell ◽  
Martin vH Staines

This research paper describes the effect of partially replacing wheat with maize grain and canola meal on milk production and body condition changes in early lactation Holstein-Friesian dairy cows consuming a grass silage-based diet over an 83-d period. Two groups of 39 cows were stratified for age, parity, historical milk yield and days in milk (DIM), and offered one of two treatment diets. The first treatment (CON) reflected a typical diet used by Western Australian dairy producers in summer and comprised (kg DM/cow per d); 8 kg of annual ryegrass silage, 6 kg of crushed wheat (provided once daily in a mixed ration), 3·6 kg of crushed lupins (provided in the milking parlour in two daily portions) and ad libitum lucerne haylage. The second treatment diet (COMP) was identical except the 6 kg of crushed wheat was replaced by 6 kg of a more complex concentrate mix (27% crushed wheat, 34% maize grain and 37% canola meal). Lucerne haylage was provided independently in the paddock to all cows, and no pasture was available throughout the experiment. The COMP group had a greater mean overall daily intake (22·5vs20·4 kg DM/cow) and a higher energy corrected milk (ECM) yield (29·2vs27·1 kg/cow;P= 0·047) than the CON cows. The difference in overall intake was caused by a higher daily intake of lucerne haylage in COMP cows (4·5vs2·3 kg DM/cow). The CON group had a higher concentration of milk fat (42·1vs39·3 g/kg;P= 0·029) than COMP cows. Milk protein yield was greater in COMP cows (P< 0·021); however, milk fat yield was unaffected by treatment. It is concluded that partially replacing wheat with canola meal and maize grain in a grass silage-based diet increases voluntary DMI of conserved forage and consequently yields of ECM and milk protein.


1996 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Garnsworthy

AbstractTwenty-eight Holstein/Friesian dairy cows were divided into four groups of seven. From weeks 4 to 15 of lactation they were given a basal diet consisting of 8 kg hay, 2 kg sugar-beet feed and 2 kg grass nuts, together with a concentrate allowance of 8 kg/day. Concentrates for group A were based on cereals and soya (control). Concentrate B contained 60 g protected fat supplement per kg; concentrate C contained 100 g lactose per kg; concentrate D contained 60 g fat supplement and 100 g lactose per kg. Milk yields were 24·6, 27·7, 25·6 and 26·5 kg/day and milk protein concentrations were 32·3, 30·7, 32·7 and 31·9 g/kg for groups A, B, C and D respectively. The effect of fat supplementation on milk yield and protein concentration was significant (P < 0·05) but the effect of lactose was not significant. Milk fat concentration was not significantly affected by treatment. It is concluded that lactose can partially alleviate the depression in milk protein concentration often observed when cows are given protected fat.


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