• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.322-332
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• 2023

Objective: We determined the impact of maintaining pasture-based dairy cows and calves together over 100 days on cow milk production, cow and calf behavior, and calf liveweight and carcass quality. Methods: Six Holstein-Friesian cows and their male calves were monitored for 106±8.6 days. Cows were temporarily separated twice a day for milking with calves remaining in the paddock. Cow and calf behaviors were recorded via scan sampling at 6 different timepoints, for the first 7 days and twice a week thereafter. Calves were weighed weekly and immediately processed for meat quality and rumen development analysis at 106±8.6 days. Daily cow milk yields were collected from enrollment until 109±8.6 days (3 days post-weaning). Results: The average daily gain of calves was 1.4±0.73 kg/d, with an average carcass dressing percentage of 59%. Calves had the greatest frequency of observed close proximity to cow and suckling in the first two weeks and decreased with experiment duration. During separation for milking, cow vocalizations and attempts to return to their calf decreased over time. Reticulorumen weight was on target for calf age, but as a proportion of total stomach weight was lower than industry averages of calves the same age due to the larger abomasum. Cows produced an average of 12±7.6 kg of milk yield per day over the 3-days before the calves were weaned and increased to mean of 31±8.3 kg/d the 3 days after weaning, indicating a consumption of close to 20 kg per calf per day. Conclusion: The impact of a pasture-based cow-calf rearing system on cow and calf behavior and the potential for high levels of calf liveweight gain when provided ad-libitum milk and feed were determined. Further research is required to determine the practicality of replicating such systems with large herds and impact on reared calves post-weaning.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.184-187
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• 2002

This study was designed to examine the response of feeding early weaning diets without and with amino acids supplemented cottonseed meal on growth performance and digestibility of early weaned cow calves. Fifteen 14-21 days old cross bred cow calves were randomly allotted to three experimental diets. Diet A comprised of milk replacer and concentrate feed whereas two isocaloric and iso-nitrogenous early weaning diets viz., B and C were prepared without and with lysine and methionine supplemented cottonseed meal, respectively. These early weaning diets were used as substitute of milk replacer for calves. Calves were placed in individual cages and fed twice daily for a period of 60 days. Daily feed intake, feed refused and weekly weight gain was recorded. Two digestibility trials I and II were performed at 5th and 9th week of the experiment, respectively. During the digestibility trial I, calves were fed on ad libitum basis whereas in trial II, calves were fed at 90% of their voluntary DMI. Feed, orts and feces samples were collected, weighed daily, composited, subsampled and analysed for DM and CP. Results indicated that weight gain of calves was (p<0.05) higher on diets A (0.63 kg/d/calf) and C (0.64 kg/d/calf) compared to calves on diet B (0.57 kg/d/calf). Significantly (p<0.05) less daily DMI was observed on diet A (1.48 kg) compared to early weaning diets B (1.70 kg) and C (1.72 kg). The feed efficiency was (p<0.05) better on diet A (2.33) compared to diets B (2.95) and C (2.65). The economic efficiency was noticed to be better on diets B and C compared to diet A. In trial I, digestibility of DM and CP of diet A was (p<0.05) higher than diets B and C. Whereas in trial II, digestibility of DM and CP of diet A was (p<0.05) less than diets B and C. It was concluded that early weaning diet based on lysine and methionine supplemented cottonseed meal produced better weight gain and feed efficiency compared to non-supplemented cottonseed meal based diet.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.110-119
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• 1994

Measurements of hehage intake and milk yield were made on high yielding dairy cows, which were strip-grazed on Loliurn perenne sward at three levels of herbage allowance in three experimental periods. The contents of nitrogen, chrome and ash in the faeces slightly decreased with the progress of growth period of experimental sward, and the decrease of herbage allowance. There were small difference in herbage digestibility among periods or the levels of herbage allowance with falling from 82.7% to 79.1% from period 1 to period 3 and from 81.6% to79.9% from high to low level of herbage allowance. Daily herbage intake was 15.8 and 15.9 kg OMIcow at the high and medium levels of hecbage aljowance, but reduced significantly to 14.6 kg OM/cow at the low level. Herbage intakes in three periods were shown a slight decrease. Daily milk yield in terms of 4% FCM significantly decreased from 23.6 to 20.6 kg/cow from period 1 to period 3. Milk yield at the high and medium levels of herbage allowance were 23.5 and 22.2 kg/cow at the low level of herbage allowance. The highly significant (P<0.01) correlations between the level of herbage allowance and herbage intake (r=0.88), or milk yield (r=0.81) were obtained.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.523-527
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• 1995

Two on farm feeding trials were conducted at the Pabna milkshed area during July to October 1993, to evaluate the response of feeding urea molassesed straw (UMS) on milk production of Pabna milking cows and its economics. A feeding trial of 60 days with 50 Pabna milking cows showed that the cows fed UMS as a replacer of dry straw increased daily milk yield by 1.37 litre. Moreover, it reduced the daily requirement of concentrate by 1.0 kg/head. In the second trial, a herd of 52 animals including 14 milking cows were fed UMS in place of traditionally used dry straw. Introduction of UMS increased the milk production by 1.0 litre/cow/day and saved concentrate by 1.5 kg/cow daily. Urea molassesed straw can safely and economically be fed to lactating cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.587-591
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• 2014

Automatic milking systems (AMS) rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm) for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the ability to manipulate voluntary cow traffic and milking frequency on AMS farms through breed selection is unknown. This study investigated the effect of breed (Holstein Friesian versus Illawarra) on voluntary cow traffic as determined by gate passes at the Camden AMS research farm dairy facility. Daily data on days in milk, milk yield, gate passes and milking frequency for 158 Holstein Friesian cows and 24 Illawarra cows were collated by month for the 2007 and 2008 years. Illawarra cows had 9% more gate passes/day than Holstein cows over the duration of the study; however, the milking frequency and milk yield of both breeds were similar. Gate passes were greatest for both breeds in early lactation and in the winter (June to August) and summer (December to February) seasons. These findings highlight an opportunity to translate increased voluntary cow movement associated with breed selection into increased milking frequencies, milk production and overall pasture-based AMS performance.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.591-600
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate relationships among cow daily milk yield, calf body weight at birth and 3 month of age and calf preweaning daily gain. Cow daily milk yield(DMILK) of 90 days after postpartum measured by weigh-suckle-weight method, calf birth weight(BW), calf body weight at 3 month of age(WT3), and calf preweaning daily gain from birth to 3 month of age(PDG) were collected from June to November on 2002 and April to November on 2003. All traits studied were considered as cow traits and analysed by WOMBAT packages to obtain A-I REML(average information restricted maximum likelihood) estimates. Heritability estimate of daily milk yield uncorrected for cow-calf separation time(DMILK) was 0.39, which was not differ from 0.36 of heritability estimate corrected on the basis of 24 hour cow-calf separation time(CMILK). Heritability estimates for maternal genetic effects of BW, WT3 and PDG were respectively 0.28, 0.17 and 0.18. Genetic correlations between DMILK and maternal effect of BW, WT3 and PDG were respectively 0.59, 0.79 and 0.68. High genetic correlation coefficients of DMILK with WT3 and PDG indicate that selections for maternal breeding value for WT3 or PDG may be effective to enhance the cow’s milk production ability in Hanwoo.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2018

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tuberculin test and associated various environmental factors on the quantity and quality of milk production of daily cows. The change of milk quantity followed to tuberculin test was investigated on 109 daily farms in south Gyeonggi, and the change of milk quality was also studied on 48 daily farms. The result of this study showed that the quantity and quality of milk production was decreased after tuberculin test (P<0.05). The amount of loss of the milk production due to tuberculin test was, however, only 0.92 L per cow. In terms of milk quality, the level of total protein was statistically significantly decreased. This study also showed that the milk quality was further decreased when the cows were restraint after veterinarians arrived compared to the case that cows were stayed restraint before the veterinarians visited the farm. In addition, milk quality and quantity were lowered worse when relative humidity of the location of tuberculin test was lower than 50% or higher than 70%, or when the milk production of a farm is higher than its quarter. This study showed that stress on daily cows and the farmers induces the decrease of milk yield and milk quality, and these losses can be minimized by regulating various environmental factors to the direction to maximize productivity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.293-298
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• 1990

Pathogen infections or mastitis inflammations usually develop differently on each udder of lactating cow. Although healthy udders will be attacked by the mastitis pathogens or the pathogens from blood in a long term, they would not be always inflamed. Somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk, which is utilized as an index of mastitis diagnosis, and the relation among SCC and milk constituents will have to be examined on each udder individually. Twelve cows of a Holstein cow herd in Nasu Research Station, which were suffering clinical or non-clinical mastitis, were selected, and SCC and milk constituents on each udder milk were measured. The effects of mastitis infection on udder milk components were relatively small except lactose content on udder milks of non-clinical mastitis (SCC< $10.0{\times}10^5$ per ml milk). On udder milks of clinical mastitis, however, high negative correlations were recognized between SCC and milk components. On different sampling days, high contents of fat and protein corresponded to that of total solids.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.580-585
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to determine cow characteristics and farm management factors during the dry period associated with early postparturient intramammary infection (IMI) and subsequent clinical mastitis (CM). Data were collected three times: before drying off (P1), during the dry period (P2), and 5 to 14 days after calving (P3), using questionnaires and farm investigation. Milk samples were aseptically collected for bacterial identification at P1 and P3. Factors associated with IMI and CM were analyzed using multiple logistic regression models. The final model showed that IMI in early postpartum was significantly associated with full insertion of dry cow antibiotic, dry cows in barns with a combination of tie and free stalls, body condition score (BCS) in dry period and after calving, and milk yield before drying off. For IMI cows, factors significantly associated with clinical expression of mastitis were having daily barn cleaning, teat disinfected with alcohol before administration of dry cow therapy, BCS before drying off, milk yield before drying off, and days in milk at drying off. In conclusion, both cow and farm management factors are associated with the IMI rate and subsequent expression of clinical signs of mastitis in early postpartum cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 1995

An experiment was conducted at Pabna milkshed area under Bathan condition during November, 1992 to February 1993 with 16 milking cows fed legume forage with straw supplementation (treated group) and 8 milking cows fed legume forage only (control group). From the study, the results revealed that supplementation of straw with leguminous diet increases the total dry matter intake (DMI) of 11.83 kg/d/cow for the treated group and 11.53 kg/d/cow for the control group. The average daily legume forage intake was $37.39{\pm}8.67kg/d/cow$ and $49.62{\pm}10.57kg/d/cow$ for the treated and control group respectively and the difference was significant (p < 0.05). The results also exhibited that due to the supplementation of straw, the legume forage intake reduced by 12 kg/d/cow. The forage dry matter intake (DMI) kg/d/cow for the treated and control groups were $6.18{\pm}1.44kg$ and $8.38{\pm}1.95kg$ respectively. The milk production was $8.64{\pm}1.15litre/day$ for the treated group which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the control group ($7.74{\pm}1.24litre/day$). The average initial body weight of the supplemented and control groups were $338.06{\pm}39.32kg$ and $329.87{\pm}48.03kg$ respectively. Whereas, the final body weight of supplemented group was $344.33{\pm}35.90kg$ and control group was $330.35{\pm}37.28kg$. It may be concluded that straw supplementation with legumes diet could save legume forage for further use as well as increase milk production.