Block vs. Loose Salt Consumption by Dairy Cattle

Dairy Cattle by Exploiting Progeny Testing

We have exploited “progeny testing” to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying the genetic variation of milk production in a selected dairy cattle population. A total of 1,518 sires, with progeny tests based on the milking performances of > 150,000 daughtersjointly, was genotyped for 159 autosomal microsatellites bracketing 1645 centimorgan or approximately two thirds of the bovine genome....

Ruminant Nutrition: Dairy Cattle

A total of 45 lactating Holstein cows averaging 617 kg of BW were allotted at wk 20 of lactation to 9 groups of 5 cows blocked for similar DIM to determine the effects of feeding different concentrations of flax hulls (FH) on DMI, milk production, milk composition, and digestion. Cows within each block were assigned to one of the 5 isoenergetic TMR containing 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20% FH. The experim...

Neosporosis in dairy cattle.

Inbreeding in Dairy Cattle

Inbreeding is defined as half of the genetic relationship between an animal’s parents. For example, the offspring from a mating of animals A and B, which have the same father, will have 12.5 percent inbreeding, because the genetic relationship between A and B is 25 percent. Statistical methods to select the best sires of each generation have been developed, making it feasible to achieve any pos...

Ruminant Nutrition: Dairy Cattle

Replacing dietary starch with sugar and sodium-propionate has been reported to improve performance in ruminant animals. This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of replacing different sources of energy with barley grain in dairy calves′ starter on weaning, dry matter intake, average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency, skeletal growth, and fecal score. A total of 21 male calves (42 ...