Goat cheese is a nutritionally rich product, but it is often associated with a distinctive “goaty” flavor due to volatile compounds such as short-chain fatty acids. Traditional fermentation agents have limited efficacy in enhancing both texture and flavor. In this study, a mixed starter culture composed of the indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains Lactiplantibacillus plantarum SY6 and Latilactobacillus curvatus GC1, both with verified probiotic characteristics, was developed from fresh goat cheese to enhance overall quality.

Gastrointestinal and respiratory infections are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the first months of life in young dairy calves, with an important negative effect on animal welfare and production. Appeasing pheromones act through olfactory pathways to influence stress-related physiological and behavioral responses in mammals and have shown promising results in a variety of domestic animals. A synthetic analog of the bovine-appeasing pheromone (BAP) has been observed to reduce veterinary costs in dairy calves and modulate the clinical expression of respiratory illness, potentially influencing the timing of symptom presentation and immune response in beef calves and young bulls.

Raw milk microbiota is influenced by farming practices, environmental exposure, and seasonal changes. This study investigated how organic and conventional dairy farming practices influence the microbial composition of raw milk over a 1-yr period. Milk and environmental samples were collected quarterly from 7 dairy farms (4 organic and 3 conventional) in Oregon and analyzed using microbiome sequencing. Across all seasons, the microbial community of raw milk was largely similar between organic and conventional farms, with Escherichia-Shigella being the most abundant genus.

Lameness is a highly prevalent and economically important health problem in British dairy cattle. Previous studies have highlighted a delay between lameness onset and farmer detection. This lag, combined with the low sensitivity of clinical diagnosis, limits early intervention, thereby worsening both production and animal welfare outcomes. Notably, the negative effects of lameness can persist even after clinical recovery. Understanding the burden of health issues is essential for informed decision making at the farm level and beyond.

This study examined the effect of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) on enteric GHG emissions, milk production, and the blood metabolic profile of lactating Holstein dairy cows across 2 experiments, one conducted during the summer and the other in fall. Thirty mid lactation multiparous cows, with an average (mean ± SD) of 190 ± 72 DIM and a milk yield of 36.8 ± 7.5 kg/d, were included in the summer experiment. In the fall experiment, cows averaged 158 ± 74 DIM and a milk yield of 36.8 ± 4.6 kg/d. Experiments were structured as longitudinal studies with repeated measurements in a completely randomized design, with an initial 14-d covariate period, a 63-d treatment period, and a 14-d washout period.

The postpartum period is a critical period for mastitis susceptibility in dairy ewes, yet the species-specific effects of mastitis pathogens on milk SCC and differential inflammatory cell counts (DICC) remain largely unknown. Therefore, this study investigates pathogen-specific impacts on microscopic SCC and DICC in milk and colostrum from Lacaune dairy ewes during early lactation. A total of 586 colostrum and milk samples were collected from 50 ewes (100 udder halves) at 6 time points: on the day of parturition and at 1, 3, 7, 15, and 30 d postpartum.

Expanded basic research is needed to discover and develop wider selection of dietary additives that are economically feasible without compromising animal performance or health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of 2 feed additives as methane-mitigating agents in milk production systems. Four multiparous Nordic Red dairy cows were assigned to a 4 × 4 Latin square experiment with four 28-d periods using respiration chambers. The control diet (CON) consisted of grass silage and dietary concentrates mixed at forage-to-concentrate ratio of 65:35 on DM basis.

Behavior is an important indicator of yak heifer welfare and health status, with key behavioral patterns reflecting critical conditions, including fattening, reproduction, and disease. Computer vision-based pose estimation has become an essential technology for livestock behavior monitoring. This study developed a yak heifer pose estimation model named Multistage Feature Attention PVT-based Dynamic Yak Heifer Pose Estimation Model (MFPVT-YakHeifer) based on improved Pyramid Vision Transformer version 2 (PVT v2) and keypoint detection modeling.

Juvenile mortality is a major concern for the dairy cattle industry because of its wide-ranging economic, environmental, and ethical effects. Over the last few years, an increased number of genetic defects associated with juvenile mortality has been identified, creating new opportunities and challenges for their management in selection. The implementation of a routine genomic evaluation may therefore contribute to reducing juvenile mortality. However, no existing method currently includes causal variants and incorporates their additive and dominance effects in a single-step GBLUP (ssGBLUP) model.

Bovine milk is a nutritionally rich fluid containing bioactive proteins that support immune function and growth. Traditional thermal pasteurization (72°C for >15 s) ensures microbial safety but degrades heat-sensitive proteins. High-pressure processing (HPP) offers a nonthermal alternative for microbial reduction, yet its effect on protein structure, particularly under applications of multiple pressure cycles, remains underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of single- and dual-cycle HPP treatments for bacterial inactivation and protein preservation in whole bovine milk and to compare these results with the industry standard—high-temperature, short-time (HTST) processing.

Heat stress is a major environmental challenge affecting dairy cattle, leading to behavioral changes, production losses, and welfare concerns. As heat stress events intensify and become more frequent due to climate change, identifying animals that are able to maintain high production levels during heat stress events, commonly referred to as heat tolerance, is crucial for sustainable dairy production. In this study, we develop a pipeline to quantify the population-wise impact of heat stress on a dairy cattle population and subsequently define individual-based heat tolerance traits.

This observational study evaluated the effects of practical hygiene recommendations on cleanliness and bacterial contamination of equipment used to harvest and feed colostrum on 8 French dairy farms. The study was conducted in 2 phases: before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) the implementation of farm-specific recommendations. During each phase, equipment cleanliness (e.g., robot-compatible buckets, milking buckets, transfer buckets, bottles, nipples, nipple buckets, drenchers, and esophageal tube feeders [ET]) was assessed using ATP luminometry (through direct surface [ATP-S] and rinsing liquid [ATP-L] swabbing, expressed in relative light units [RLU]), visual scoring, and culture-based bacteriological analysis.

The objective of this study was to create a framework for training and selecting machine learning algorithms (MLA) to classify cow health status daily using data from multiple automated health monitoring systems (AHMS), including wearable and nonwearable sensors, combined with nonsensor data of potential value for predicting cow health. The work presented in this manuscript is part of a series of studies aimed at identifying a single candidate algorithm that, upon extensive refinement and further development, could be deployed in a commercial dairy operation to identify cows potentially affected by health disorders for clinical examination.

A common practice in dairy herds is to breed females not selected as replacement heifers to beef bulls. This increases the market value of the surplus calves sold for beef purposes. Some beef breed associations have built selection indices focusing mainly on carcass traits; however, calving ease (CE) is also an important trait, given that crossbreeding with beef bulls can change gestation patterns (e.g., gestation length) or calf conformation (e.g., weight and size), generating a negative effect on the health, and consequently on the production, of the cows.

To accurately predict breeding values, genetic evaluations must define an appropriate model that considers the main factors influencing the traits of interest. The challenge increases in crossbreeding populations, such as those found in Chile, where multiple breeds, including those from different countries, are used. In particular, the country of origin is not currently incorporated into genetic models used in Chile. The objectives of this study were 2-fold: (1) to evaluate different genetic models of increasing complexity to determine if the inclusion of a specific strain classification, strain proportions in crossbred animals, and heterosis effects could enhance genetic evaluations compared with the current model used in Chile; and (2) to determine the presence of heterosis effects among specific dairy genetic strains when crossed with Chilean Friesian cows, focusing on annual milk, fat, and protein production; SCS; and calving interval.

Dairy cows commonly experience health disorders in the early-lactation period. Although Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy offers a noninvasive and cost-effective method for analyzing milk composition, its potential in predicting subsequent early-lactation diseases has yet to be adequately explored. This study aimed to uncover the ability of milk FTIR spectra to predict postpartum diseases in 1,162 Holstein cows from a commercial dairy farm in Cayuga County, NY. We collected proportional milk samples daily on cows in the early-lactation pen and stored milk at 4°C until analysis via FTIR spectroscopy.

Yogurt alleviates alcohol-induced hepatocyte pyroptosis and inflammation via autophagy/P62/Nrf2/ROS/NLRP3 pathway. By Guan et al., page 10489. Excessive alcohol consumption over a period of time can lead to acute alcoholic liver injury (AALI), and pyroptosis plays an important role in this process. Targeting pyroptosis may be a potential intervention for the treatment of AALI. Our study suggests that yogurt, at least in part through its metabolite d-lactate, attenuates liver injury, pyroptosis, and inflammation in mice.

In the title of Table 1, “meta-estimates” should have read “estimates.” The corrected table title appears here.