The transition from gestation to lactation is marked by significant physiological changes for the individual cow such that disease incidence is highest in early lactation. Around the time of calving, cows rely on mobilisation of body energy reserves to fill the energy deficit created by an increase in nutrient demands at a time of restricted feed intake. It is well established that monitoring o...

This animal simulation model, named e-Cow, represents a single dairy cow at grazing. The model integrates algorithms from three previously published models: a model that predicts herbage dry matter (DM) intake by grazing dairy cows, a mammary gland model that predicts potential milk yield and a body lipid model that predicts genetically driven live weight (LW) and body condition score (BCS). Bo...

The objective of this experiment was to compare metabolic and milk production parameters in dairy cows supplemented and nonsupplemented with rumen-protected choline (RPC) during the transition period. Twenty-three nonlactating, multiparous, pregnant Holstein cows were ranked by BW and BCS 21 d before expected date of calving and immediately were assigned to receive (n = 12) or not receive (cont...

An adult Holstein Friesian cross-bred cow was brought to Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital with the history of anorexia and fever. Peripheral blood smear stained by Leishman revealed large sized (About 60 mm) extracellular parasites. Haematological examination revealed anisocytosis and hypochromasia. Based on the morphology of the parasite which had long and pointed posterior end, sub...

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma is a rare human vascular neoplasm. In veterinary medicine this tumor type was only recognized in the dog. Here we describe an unusual case arising in the urinary bladder of a Holstein-Friesian adult cow. Histologically the tumor presented a nodular proliferation of spindle cells, forming angular slits, often containing extravasated erythrocytes. Peripherically, w...

The dairy farming systems of Western Europe are based on a simple feeding system composed of grazed and preserved grass, maize silage and concentrates in variable proportions. There is, nevertheless, a great diversity of feeding strategies between dairy farms. Over 5 years, we studied the direct and delayed effects of four feeding strategies on the lactation and reproduction performances of Hol...

The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic relationship between body condition score (BCS) and reproduction traits for first-parity Canadian Ayrshire and Holstein cows. Body condition scores were collected by field staff several times over the lactation in herds from Québec, and reproduction records (including both fertility and calving traits) were extracted from the official d...

This study was designed to determine the culling rates of 23 Holstein dairy herds (with an average size of180 cows per herd) in Neyshabur area in northeastern Iran over a period of three years from 2001 to 2003.The average annual culling rate was 13.1%, (98.5% involuntary and 1.5% voluntary). Of the total disposals(1612 cows), 53.48% were culled by the end of five years of age. Poor fertility w...

A total of 648 purebred Holstein and 319 backcross Holstein × Jersey dairy cattle were compared for production, reproduction, health, linear type, and growth traits. Animals were born between 2003 and 2009 and were housed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Integrated Dairy Facility. All animals had Holstein dams; lactating dams were mated to unproven Holstein sires to produce purebred (cont...

The traits particularly important for milk production include milk yield, protein percentage, fat percentage, and the somatic cell score. Alpha-lactalbumin (α-LA) is an important whey protein of cow milk, and is also present in the milk of many other mammalian species. In this study, we analyzed the genetic polymorphisms of the α-LA gene and their relationship to milk production traits (milk yi...