The BOVINOSE project (www.bovinose.eu) aims to develop an “electronic nose” to detect estrus in a dairy cow, and thus to determine the optimal timing of artificial insemination. The physical principle is based on detection of sex pheromones that are secreted by the cow, exclusively during estrus. These pheromones are the natural olfactory signal for the bull that the cow is in heat. This techno...

Bovine abortion is an important cause of economic loss to the cattle livestock industry. In California this may as much as $700 for each cow that has aborted (Thurmond & Picanso, 1990). Kossaibati & Esslemont (1997) estimated the average cost of calf mortality in English dairy herds was £310 per calf death at 1995 prices; for culling an additional cow following illness, such as abortion, it was...

Ming-Yang Kao and Michael L. Littman Department of Computer Science Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0129 fkao, [email protected] Abstract We extend the classic on-line search problem known as the cow-path problem to the case in which goal locations are selected according to one of a set of possible known probability distributions. We present a polynomial-time linear-programming algorithm ...

“Gradual dryoff” is the practice of skipping some milkings before cessation of milking a cow at the end of lactation. I was taught in agricultural and vet school classes that this was to be avoided; abrupt dryoff no skipped milkings is physiologically superior for the cow. Nevertheless, like most dairy veterinarians, I experienced clients using gradual dryoff sometimes. When I was a resident at...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding sulfuric acid to sugarcane tops silage on rumen bacteria and whole rumen microorganisms (WRM) and compare the digestibility of sugarcane tops treated with different amount of urea, molasses and sulfuric acid between Holstein cow and Khouzestan buffalo. Regardless of the type of the treatment, potential of gas production (B) by cow WRM ...

The primary objective of this research was to determine if, with appropriate methodology, unbiased estimates of days dry (DD) effects on subsequent lactation milk yield can be obtained from field data, particularly when DD is correlated with cow effects. Another objective was to ascertain relevant sampling properties of designed trials for estimation of DD effects. Simulated records were used t...

Agricultural waste cow dung was used as feedstock for the production of a high value-added chemical levulinic acid (LA) in dilute acid aqueous solutions. A high LA yield of 338.9 g/kg was obtained from the pretreated cow dung, which was much higher than that obtained from the crude cow dung (135 g/kg), mainly attributed to the breakage of the lignin fraction in the lignocellulose structure of t...

This simulation study was to evaluate low cost feeding strategies in response to higher cost of commercial concentrates to maintain current milk sales from dual purpose cattle herds in the humid lowlands of western Venezuela. Data were from farm surveys in 1987 and 1988. Baseline net margins from milk and beef per cow per year were $132 and $99 for two farm cases with average dally milk of 10 a...