• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.422-430
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• 2014

Pasture-based automatic milking systems (AMS) require cow traffic to enable cows to be milked. The interval between milkings can be manipulated by strategically allocating pasture. The current experiment investigated the effect of replacing an allocation of grazed pasture with grazed soybean (Glycine max) with the hypothesis that incorporating soybean would increase voluntary cow traffic and milk production. One hundred and eighty mixed age, primiparous and multiparous Holstein-Friesian/Illawarra cows were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (n = 90/group) with a $2{\times}2$ Latin square design. Each group was either offered treatments of kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum Hoach ex Chiov.) pasture (pasture) or soybean from 0900 h to 1500 h during the experimental period which consisted of 2 periods of 3 days following 5 days of training and adaptation in each period with groups crossing over treatments after the first period. The number of cows trafficking to each treatment was similar together with milk yield (mean ${\approx}18$ L/cow/d) in this experiment. For the cows that arrived at soybean or pasture there were significant differences in their behaviour and consequently the number of cows exiting each treatment paddock. There was greater cow traffic (more cows and sooner) exiting pasture allocations. Cows that arrived at soybean stayed on the allocation for 25% more time and ate more forage (8.5 kg/cow/d/allocation) relative to pasture (4.7 kg/cow/d/allocation). Pasture cows predominantly replaced eating time with rumination. These findings suggest that replacing pasture with alternative grazeable forages provides no additional incentive to increase voluntary cow traffic to an allocation of feed in AMS. This work highlights the opportunity to increase forage intakes in AMS through the incorporation of alternative forages.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2016

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in dark conditions. It plays a major role in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin synthesis is known to be suppressed by environmental light. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is a major indicator of physiological alterations due to stressful stimuli. It also displays a circadian rhythm, like melatonin. The highest levels are encountered during early morning and the lowest levels are observed at around midnight. In the present study, the effects of milking time on the melatonin and cortisol concentrations of raw milk and milk powder at the summer and winter solstices were examined. The melatonin concentration in milk increased significantly if cows were milked in the dark at night (p<0.05). The melatonin concentration in milk powder showed the same pattern with respect to the milking time (p<0.05). However, no significant difference in the cortisol concentration was observed between day- and night-time milk. Although the time of day did not affect the level of milk cortisol, seasonal factors affected the release of cortisol in milk (p<0.05). In conclusion, night-time milk is rich in endogenous melatonin. In this respect, it has potential applications for the development of melatonin rich-dairy products, which serve as natural sources of melatonin.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.18 no.sup
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• pp.21-28
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• 2012

Since the temperature during summer is higher than the temperature which is suitable for milking cows, high temperature stress have severely affected dairy farmers due to decreased milk production. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of rainwater sprinkling system for reducing heat stress in milking cows during intense heat time. Treatment conditions were divided into 2 types ; No rainwater sprinkling (T1) and Rainwater sprinkling (T2). Temperature in the milking cow shed, feed intake, milk yield, respiration rate and rectal temperature were measured to investigate the effect of hot environment on the physiological, productive responses in milkig cows. The results obtained are summarized as follows : The daily milk yields were 24.5 and 27.4 kg per head in T1 and T2 during experimental period. The respiration rate was significantly higher in T1 than those of T2. The rectal temperature in T1 ($40.6^{\circ}C$) was higher than those of T2 ($39.8^{\circ}C$). It was suggested that rainwater sprinkling system installed in the dairy cow shed was effective means to reduce heat stress of milking cow.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1247-1247
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• 2001

Constituents of animal biofluids such as milk, blood and urine contain information specifically related to metabolic and health status of the ruminant animals. Some changes in composition of biofluids can be attributed to disease response of the animals. Mastitis is a major problem for the global dairy industry and causes substantial economic losses from decreasing milk production and reducing milk quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential of NIRS combined with multivariate analysis for cow's mastitis diagnosis based on NIR spectra of milk, blood and urine. A total of 112 bulk milk, urine and blood samples from 4 Holstein cows were analyzed. The milk samples were collected from morning milking. The urine samples were collected before morning milking and stored at -35$^{\circ}C$ until spectral analysis. The blood samples were collected before morning milking using a catheter inserted into the carotid vein. Heparin was added to blood samples to prevent coagulation. All milk samples were analyzed for somatic cell count (SCC). The SCC content in milk was used as indicator of mastitis and as quantitative parameter for respective urine and blood samples collected at same time. NIR spectra of blood and milk samples were obtained by InfraAlyzer 500 spectrophotometer, using a transflectance mode. NIR spectra of urine samples were obtained by NIR System 6500 spectrophotometer, using 1 mm sample thickness. All samples were divided into calibration set and test set. Class variable was assigned for each sample as follow: healthy (class 1) and mastitic (class 2), based on milk SCC content. SIMCA was implemented to create models of the respective classes based on NIR spectra of milk, blood or urine. For the calibration set of samples, SIMCA models (model for samples from healthy cows and model for samples from mastitic cows), correctly classified from 97.33 to 98.67% of milk samples, from 97.33 to 98.61% of urine samples and from 96.00 to 94.67% of blood samples. From samples in the test set, the percent of correctly classified samples varied from 70.27 to 89.19, depending mainly on spectral data pretreatment. The best results for all data sets were obtained when first derivative spectral data pretreatment was used. The incorrect classified samples were 5 from milk samples,5 and 4 from urine and blood samples, respectively. The analysis of changes in the loading of first PC factor for group of samples from healthy cows and group of samples from mastitic cows showed, that separation between classes was indirect and based on influence of mastitis on the milk, blood and urine components. Results from the present investigation showed that the changes that occur when a cow gets mastitis influence her milk, urine and blood spectra in a specific way. SIMCA allowed extraction of available spectral information from the milk, urine and blood spectra connected with mastitis. The obtained results could be used for development of a new method for mastitis detection.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.687-693
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• 2015

Using 378,086 lactation records on dairy cattle, environmental factors influencing acetone and ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate acid contents in raw milk which are used as ketosis diagnosis indicator traits were analyzed in this experiment. Significance testing was conducted on farm, lactation stage, parity, milking time and month of age by traits. The results of this experiment indicated that there was a highly significant (p < 0.01) difference in all factors and lactation stage was the most significant factor. Linear regression coefficients of month of age on daily milk yields and acetone and ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate acid contents were all positive, while their quadratic linear regression coefficients were negative. Least square means for milk yield at second lactation stage (36~65 days) was 19.06kg which was higher than that of late lactation stage by 6.51kg. Least square means for acetone and ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate acid contents at the first lactation stage (5~35 days) were highest (0.1929mM/L and 0.0742mM/L, respectively), and there was a trend that they decreased as the milking progressed, but increased slightly at the late stage of milking. However, least square means for acetone and ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate acid contents at the first parity were 0.1414mM/L and 0.0522mM/L, respectively, which were higher than the average milk yield after the second parity. Least square means for acetone and ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate acid contents of PM milk yield (0.1372mM/L and 0.0534mM/L, respectively) were higher than those of AM milk yield collectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.957-962
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• 2002

In July, three trials were conducted to evaluate the best sponge type and optimum PMSG dose to be administered to sheep under the Jordanian Badia (arid) conditions. In trial 1, three flocks (n=77, n=18 and n=47 for flocks 1, 2 and 3, respectively) were administered with 40 mg fluorogestone acetate (FGA) intravaginal sponges for 12 days before receiving 600 IU of PMSG at the time of sponge removal. In trial 2, 95 ewes were assigned to 4 groups to receive 300 (n=25), 450 (n=27), 600 (n=22) or 750 (n=21) IU of PMSG following a 12 d FGA 40 mg sponge insertion period. In trial 3, 60 ewes were assigned to 3 groups (n=20) to receive either FGA 30 mg, FGA 40 mg or medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) 60 mg intravaginal sponges all followed by an administration of 600 IU of PMSG at sponge removal. In all trials, rams were isolated 1 day before sponge insertion and were allowed back with the ewes at sponge removal. Estrual responses and lambing data were collected. The effects of treatment, milking status and face color on estrual responses and lambing data were examined. In trial 1, greater first cycle conception rate (p<0.05), twinning rate (p<0.01) and the number of lambs born/served ewe (p<0.01) were observed in flock 2 compared with flocks 1 and 3. Neither face color nor milking status had any influence on the measured parameters (p>0.05). Despite low lambing rate in trial 2, ewes receiving 600 IU of PMSG had greater (p<0.05) number of lambs born/served ewe compared with ewes receiving 450 IU of PMSG. Regardless of PMSG dose, intervals to detected estrus occurred 10 h earlier (p<0.01) in dry than lactating ewes. Similar to trial 2, lambing rate was depressed in trial 3. The expression of estrus was advanced (p<0.05) in ewes receiving MAP 60 mg sponges compared with those receiving FGA 30 and FGA 40 mg sponges (42$\pm$3.1, 49$\pm$3.1 and 49$\pm$3.1 h post sponge removal in ewes receiving MAP 60 mg, FGA 30 mg and FGA 40 mg sponges, respectively). Other parameters were not influenced (p>0.05) by sponge type, milking status and face color. Data show that a 600 IU dose of PMSG tends to give the best lambing results. In addition, results indicate that the use 60 mg MAP sponges for estrus synchronization may be more appropriate under the Jordanian Badia conditions during late seasonal anestrus.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2011

This study was conducted to verify the applicability of robot milking system through acquisition and analysis of model teat's position information using scanning range finder (SRF). Model teats, same size and shape as real teats, were designed to analyze the properties according to the material, distance error and angle error of the sensor. In addition, 2-dimensional distance information of each teats was obtained at same time with 4 teat models and the result were as follows. 1. In the case of the fingers on the experiment for selection of materials for teat model, the distance error was from 4.3 mm to 1.3 mm, average was 2.8 mm as a minimum record. In the case of rubber material, average distance error was 4.3 mm. So, this material was considered to be a most suitable model. 2. The distance error was maximum at 100 mm distance. The more distance increased, the less error increased up to 300 mm. Then the error increased after 300 mm and decreased again. 3. The maximum angle error of 10.1 mm was measured at $170^{\circ}$, in case of $70^{\circ}$ the error was 0.2 mm as a minimum value. There was no specific tendency to error of angle. 4. In the 2-dimensional location error for 4 teat models, distance error was 3.8 mm as minimum and 7.2 mm as maximum. The angle error was $1.2^{\circ}$ as maximum. All of errors were included within the accuracy of sensor, the robot milking system was considered to be applicable to measure the distance of teats due to the measuring velocity of SRF and the hole size of teat-cup.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 1997

The present study analysed the various productive and reproductive characteristics of 1/2 Pabna Milking Cows (PMC)-1/2 Sahiwal (S) and 1/4 PMC-3/4 S collected from the Pabna milkshed area at Baghabarighat, Sirajgonj, Bangladesh. The studied traits were birth weight (BWT), age at puberty (AP), number of services per conception (NSC), post partum heat period (PPHP), gestation period (GP), daily milk yield (DMY), lactational production (LP), lactation length (LL), fat percentage and solids-not-fat percentage (SNFP). Five individual Sahiwal sires were used for the upgrading of Pabna Milking Cows. The used data covered from 1987 to 1994. Least-squares analysis of variance showed that genetic group had a significant effect on BWT (P < 0.05), AP (p < 0.01), DMY (p < 0.01), LP (p < 0.001), LL (p < 0.05), FP (p < 0.05) and SNFP (p < 0.01). Genetic group had non-significant effect on NSC, GP and PPHP. The effect of sire was significant on BWT (p < 0.01), NSC (p < 0.01), LP (p < 0.05) and LL (p < 0.05). The AP, NSC, DMY, LP, LL and SNFP were higher in 1/2 PMC-1/2S cows; BWT and PPHP were higher in 1/4 PMC-3/4S but GP and FP were almost same in both genetic groups. From this study it may be concluded that production and use of 1/2 PMC-1/2S would seem more profitable for commercial milk production in the Bangladesh Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Limited (BMPCUL) area and at the same time emphasis should be given on rigorous sire selection.

• 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.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.445-456
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• 2009

Colostrum samples were collected from 36 dairy farms in Gyeonggi-do and one dairy farm in the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) for testing. Colostrum samples were analyzed for phisycochemicals (specific gravity, pH, titratable acidity), general components (fat, protein, lactose, total solid, solid non-fat (SNF)), fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, microflora, somatic cells, and Ig (Immunoglobulin). The first colostrum revealed the following data: fat contents were $6.16{\pm}2.39%$, proteins were $14.78{\pm}4.30%$, lactose $2.57{\pm}0.77%$, total solid $24.28{\pm}4.36%$, and SNF $18.12{\pm}4.08%$, whereas the 2nd (or $12^{th}$) colostrum revealed $5.56{\pm}1.76%$ fat, $3.46{\pm}0.41%$ proteins, $4.19{\pm}0.43%$ lactose, $13.90{\pm}1.76%$ total solid, and $8.34{\pm}0.81%$ SNF. Also, the first colostrum revealed the contents of major amino acids as 0.89% aspartic acid, 0.71% threonine, 0.86% serine, 1.75% glutamic acid, 0.64% valine, 0.95% leucine, 0.83% lysine, and 0.95% proline, and those in the 10th colostrum were 0.25% aspartic acid, 0.15% threonine, 0.19% serine, 0.59% glutamic acid, 0.19% valine, 0.35% leucine, 0.31% lysine, and 0.34% proine. Major amino acid contents rapidly decreased as milking times increased. In the first colostrum, the following mineral contents were observed: there were 2,168 ppm in Ca, 1,959 ppm in P, 914 ppm in K, 761 ppm in Na, 287 ppm in Mg, 1.7 ppm in Fe, 14.3 ppm in Zn, and 1.0 ppm in Cu; while in the 10th colostrum, the following ppm contents were 1,389 in Ca, 1,323 in P, 838 in K, 427 in Na, 131 in Mg, 1.0 in Fe, 4.7 in Zn, and 1.3 in Cu. The mineral contents in a colostrum rapidly decreased as milking times increased.