Mastitis is the most complex and costly disease of dairy cows occurring throughout the world. In Ethiopia, the disease is not well investigated. A cross-sectional study to elucidate its magnitude, distribution, and associated risk factors in lactating dairy cows in Southern Ethiopia was carried out from February 2001 to March 2002 in a total of 974 milking cows using California Mastitis Test an...

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...

An epidemiological and molecular investigation of a cutaneous suppurative infection with Staphylococcus aureus in a dairy farmer, occurring concurrently with an outbreak of clinical mastitis in his herd, was carried out. A common aetiology for the diseases in the farmer and his cows was established by combining clinical evidence with a molecular genomic analysis of the bacterial isolates using ...

Four crossbred (75% Holstein Friesian) lactating dairy cows, with an average live weight of 418±5 kg and 36±10 d in milk were randomly assigned according to a 2×2 factorial arrangement in a 4×4 Latin square design to evaluate the effects of cassava hay (CH) and rice bran oil (RBO) on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation, milk yield, and milk composition. Factor A was non-su...

Heat stress has negative effects on pregnancy rates of lactating dairy cattle. There are genetic differences in tolerance to heat stress; Bos taurus indicus (B. t. indicus) cattle and embryos are more thermotolerant than Bos taurus taurus (B. t. taurus). In the present study, the effects of sire and sire breed on conception and embryonic/fetal loss rates of lactating Holstein cows during the Br...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the changing profiles of plasma metabolic hormones during the ovarian cycles of beef and dairy cattle. We used 16 non-pregnant, non-lactating Japanese Black beef cattle (6 heifers and 10 cows; parity=2.3 +/- 0.8) and 12 multiparous Holstein dairy cows (parity=3.0 +/- 0.3). Blood samples for hormonal analysis (growth hormone, GH; insulin-like growt...

Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) represents one of the most important metabolic subclinical disordersof high producing dairy cows, having serious impact in both animal health and herd profitability. The aim ofthis study was to confirm the presence of SARA in Greek dairy herds and record its prevalence and riskfactors. Ruminal fluid samples, via rumenocentesis, were obtained from a total of 153 ...

The primary objective was to compare reported antimicrobial usage between conventional and organic dairy farms. A secondary objective was to contrast selected management characteristics of conventional and organic dairy herds. A questionnaire was administered on site to selected dairy farmers located in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin. Organic herds (n = 32) were smaller and produc...

The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyse the results of milk samples obtained from South African dairy herds during the period 1996 to April 2007 in order to identify possible trends in isolates of microorganisms and their pathogenicity under field conditions. Milk samples were obtained from 7 of the 9 provinces in South Africa where there are low numbers of dairy cows. Although the...

Immune function in cows is closely associated with their physical and hormonal conditions. In order to clarify the relationship between the body condition score (BCS) of lactating dairy cows and the immune response to progesterone (P(4)) in vitro, we examined whether lower BCS in dairy cows affects the responsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to P(4) added in to culture medi...