Ovulation timing and conception risk after automated activity monitoring in lactating dairy cows

Automated measurement of lying behavior for monitoring the comfort and welfare of lactating dairy cows

Behavioral monitoring may be useful to assess the welfare, state of health and comfort of farm animals. Lying behavior is often used as an indication of well-being in cattle and for evaluating the stall quality. The use of electronic data loggers to automate behavioral recording has become increasingly common. We tested the use of the Pedometer Plus tag (S.A.E. Afikim, Israel) for measuring the...

Fat-Feeding Practices for Lactating Dairy Cows

Supplementing cows with fat can have several beneficial effects. It usually increases the energy density of the diet as starch or fiber is replaced with fatty acids. If milk production is increased, then feed efficiency may be improved. Less heat may be produced in the rumen during digestion of fat-supplemented diets as fatty acids are not digested in the rumen. Less heat produced during digest...

Effectiveness of administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone at Days 11, 14 or 15 after anticipated ovulation for increasing fertility of lactating dairy cows and non-lactating heifers.

One strategy for improving fertility in cattle is mid-cycle administration of GnRH to increase progesterone secretion and delay luteolysis. This strategy might be especially useful during hot weather because heat stress increases uterine prostaglandin release and reduces development of the elongating embryo. A series of experiments was conducted to test the efficacy of GnRH for increasing ferti...

Comparative cervical cytology and conception rate in postpartum dairy cows

During the early postpartum period, multiple bacterial species invade the uterus of cows. Phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear cells is a primary mechanism involved in the elimination of bacteria and improvement of conception rate. Therefore, a relationship could exist between endometrial cytology and conception rate of postpartum dairy cows. In this study 50 postpartum healthy Holstein Frisian da...

Acetate and palmitate kinetics in lactating dairy cows.