Milk somatic cell count (SCC) is the gold standard in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis, and is also an important parameter in quality programmes of dairy cooperatives. As routine SCC analysis is usually restricted to central laboratories, much effort has been invested in the search for alternative biomarkers of mastitis and milk quality, including the presence in the milk of the acute phase pr...

Variances and covariances were estimated for birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WW), yearling gain (YG), yearling weight (YW), yearling height (YH), relative growth from birth to weaning (RGW) and weaning to yearling (RGY), and mature weight (MW). Field records on 572,446 Polled Hereford cattle were analyzed. Because multiple dam weights were collected on a cow the MW used in the analysis was ...

We investigated the effects of bortezomib (PS-341) and immunomodulatory thalidomide analogs (immunomodulatory compounds; CC-4047, CC-6032, and CC-5013, or lenalidomide) on osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation in vitro using human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) to commit to osteoprogenitor cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from healthy donors, respectively. First,...

An experiment was conducted to study the utilization of soymilk as milk replacer for raising calves. Nine crossbred calves were selected and divided into three groups on the basis of their body weight and genotype. The calves of group A were reared by cow milk, group B reared by strained soymilk and group C reared by unstrained soymilk. It was found that, total body weight gain of group A, B an...

INTRODUCTION Reproductive efficiency of the dairy herd is important for the economic success of the dairy operation. One of the most important reproductive technologies of the dairy industry is artificial insemination (AI). Artificial insemination reduces the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among cattle and increases the use of genetically superior sires to improve performance of the...

Although a number of common reproductive disorders in livestock involve bacterial infection, very little is known about their normal vaginal microbiota. Therefore, we sought to determine the species composition of sheep and cattle vaginal microbiota. Twenty Rambouillet ewes and twenty crossbred cows varying in age and reproductive status were sampled by ectocervicovaginal lavage. We amplified a...

The tendency to fight is a well-known behavior in Valdostana cattle, and non-cruel traditional contests are organized yearly by farmers to identify the most dominant cow. Cow battles consist of elimination matches that have important economic implications for both tourism and farmers. The aims of this study are 1) to validate a scoring system to express fighting ability, and 2) to carry out a g...

Six year-round, all-forage, three-paddock systems for beef cow-calf production were used to produce five calf crops during a 6-yr period. Forages grazed by cows during spring, summer, and early fall consisted of one paddock of 1) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.)-ladino clover (Trifolium repens L.) or 2) Kentucky blue-grass (Poa pratensis L.)-white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Each of ...

Mature weight, maturation rate and lifetime maternal performance, through a maximum of seven calving seasons, were analyzed for 182 cows of Angus (A) and Milking Shorthorn (S) breeds and the two reciprocal crossbred groups. Mature weight and rate of maturation were estimated for the three-parameter growth curve described by Brody. Estimates derived for mature weight (kilograms), both unadjusted...