Lameness in dairy cows includes many disease conditions, and a systematic approach is required to diagnose the predominant causes and identify the important risk factors. Lameness prevalence can be quantified using locomotion scoring systems. Entire herds can be scored quite easily as they walk access lanes. If lameness prevalence exceeds 15% of the herd, it is important to differentiate the ca...

A study was conducted to determine whether bacterial direct-fed microbials (DFM) could be used to minimize the risk of acidosis in feedlot cattle receiving high concentrate diets. Six ruminally cannulated steers, previously adapted to a high concentrate diet, were used in a double 3 x 3 Latin square to study the effects of DFM on feed intake, ruminal pH, and ruminal and blood characteristics. S...

Lactic acidosis is a major welfare issue affecting animal health and production systems such as dairy and feedlot beef. We used two bioassays to identify bioactive plants of Australia with the potential to prevent acidosis in ruminants. In the first bioassay, a potentially acidotic environment was induced by adding glucose to rumen fluid and pH and gas production were used to estimate the effec...

It has been known for decades that microbial fermentation within the rumen is critical to postnatal rumen epithelial growth and maturation in ruminants, but the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. In this study, we determined the effect of rumen fluid, which should contain all products from rumen fermentation, on growth of rumen epithelial cells in vitro. Addition of 10% rumen fluid from c...