Subclinical mastitis reduces milk yield and elicits undesirable changes in milk composition, but the mechanisms resulting in reduced milk production in affected mammary glands are incompletely understood. This study investigated the effects of sterile inflammation on mammary gland metabolism by assessing changes in milk and venous blood composition. Mid-lactation primiparous Holstein cows (n = 4) had udder halves randomly allocated to treatments; quarters of 1 udder half were infused with 2 billion cfu of formalin fixed Staphylococcus aureus (FX-STAPH) and quarters of the opposite udder half infused with saline (SAL).

Innovation around cheese is constant in attempts to meet ever-increasing consumer demands. Retail packaging provides a canvas to communicate to consumers added value from innovations or inherent properties of cheese. Packaging itself may also be the subject of cheese-related innovation. This systematic review of literature organizes research over the past 10 years related to cheese packaging innovation that consumers experience in the marketplace and during consumption of cheese products. The review discusses shipping, displaying cheese at grocery stores, the value of branding, purchasing preferences by demographics, health and nutrition claims, opportunities to highlight protein in cheese, marketing to children, issues of obesity and cheese, diet cheeses, allergens and non-dairy or vegan cheese, opening cheese packaging, cutting of cheese, cooking with cheese, eating cheese, the growing trend of snacking and convenience, and flavor preferences.

Understanding the extent to which genetics × environment plays a role in shaping individual strategies to environmental challenges is of considerable interest for future selection of more resilient animals. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to evaluate the metabolic responses to a nutritional challenge of goats divergently selected for functional longevity based on plasma metabolites and the repeatability of these responses across 2 experimental farms and years. We carried out 6 different experimental trials from years 2018 to 2022 (4 trials on site Bourges (2018–21) and 2 trials (2021–22) on site Grignon) in which 267 first kidding goats, daughters of Alpine bucks divergently selected for functional longevity, longevity plus (n = 137), and longevity minus (n = 130), were exposed to a 2-d nutritional challenge in early lactation.

Maternal heat stress during late pregnancy can lead to intrauterine hyperthermia and affect fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis development and function. Herein, we investigated the effects of chronic environmental heat stress exposure of Holstein cows in the last 2 mo of gestation on their offspring's adrenal gland histomorphology and transcriptome. Cows in their last 54 ± 5 d of gestation were either heat-stressed (i.e., housed under the shade of a free stall barn) or provided heat-stress abatement via active cooling (i.e., via water soakers and fans) during a subtropical summer (Temperature-Humidity Index >68).

While there is generally no consensus about how nutrients determine milk synthesis in the mammary gland, it is likely that the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) plays a role as a key integrator of nutritional and mitogenic signals that can influence a multitude of catabolic and anabolic pathways. The objectives of this study were to evaluate acute changes (<24 h) in translational signaling, in addition to chronic changes (14 d) in mammary gland structure and composition, in response to a severe feed restriction.

Adding milk replacer powder (MRP) to whole milk during the entire preweaning period can increase growth but raises concern because of low starter feed intake and slumps in average daily gain (ADG) at weaning and postweaning. In the current study, effects of adding MRP to pasteurized whole milk (PWM) during d 10–41 or d 10–59 of age were investigated in comparison with PWM. Calves [24 females and 21 males; 39.8 ± 1.85 kg body weight (BW)] were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) conventional protocol, 5 L/d PWM from d 3–56, and 2.5 L/d from d 57–59 of age (CONV; TS intake = 31.9 kg), 2) short duration of adding MRP to PWM protocol, 5 L/d PWM from d 3–9, 5 L/d PWM + MRP (18% TS) from d 10–41, 5 L/d PWM from d 42–56, and 2.5 L/d PWM from d 57–59 (SD; TS intake = 42.3 kg), 3) long duration of adding MRP to PWM protocol, 5 L/d PWM from d 3–9, 5 L/d PWM + MRP from d 10–56, 2.5 L/d PWM + MRP form d 57–59 (LD; TS intake = 47.7 kg).

Minimizing pollution from the dairy sector is paramount; one potential cause of such pollution is excess nitrogen. Nitrogen pollution contributes to a deterioration in water quality as well as an increase in both eutrophication and greenhouse gases. It is therefore essential to minimize the loss of nitrogen from the sector, including excretion from the cow. Breeding programs are one potential strategy to improve the efficiency with which nitrogen is used by dairy cows but relies on routine access to individual cow information on how efficiently each cows uses the nitrogen it ingests.

The main aim of the current study was to find biomarkers of health in calves transported at different ages. The selected blood parameters were total cholesterol, insulin and IGF-1 and the longitudinal study investigated whether or not these concentrations were different between calves that were transported from the dairy farm to the veal farm at 14 d or 28 d of age. Relationships between these blood variables and health characteristics of veal calves were investigated. In a 34-wk study period, a total of 683 calves originating from 13 Dutch dairy farms were transported at an age of 14 or 28 d to 8 Dutch veal farms.

The present study was conducted to assess the individual or combined effects of feeding dietary fat (whole-cracked rapeseed), nitrate, and 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) on protein profile, mineral composition, B vitamins, and nitrate residues in milk from dairy cows. Forty-eight Danish Holstein cows used in an 8 × 8 incomplete Latin square design were fed 8 factorially arranged diets ((30 or 63 g crude fat/kg DM) × (0 or 10 g nitrate/kg DM) × (0 or 80 mg 3-NOP/kg DM)) over 6 periods of 21 d each. In each period, milk samples were collected from individual cows during the third week by pooling milk obtained from 4 consecutive milkings, and analyzed for protein profile including protein modifications, mineral composition, riboflavin, cobalamin, and presence of nitrate residues.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) content in milk may have been underestimated due to the neglect of the esterified SCFAs content and the lack of an accurate detection method, especially for C1:0, C2:0, and C3:0 SCFAs. In this study, an accurate gas chromatography-mass spectrometry profiling method was established for 10 SCFAs. A 2-step esterification, including alkaline saponification (60°C for 30 min) and acid-catalyzed esterification (80°C for 150 min) in water/isopropyl/hexane (1:2:1, volume ratio), was found to be the most suitable for the quantification of esterified and nonesterified SCFAs analysis.

Determining the optimal insemination moment for individual cows is complex, particularly when considering the impact of pregnancy on milk production. The effect of pregnancy on the absolute milk yield has already been reported in several studies. Currently, there is limited quantitative knowledge about the association between days post conception (DPC) and lactation persistency, based on a lactation curve model, and, specifically, how persistency changes during pregnancy and relates to the days in milk at conception (DIMc).

There is an increasing consumer desire for pasture-derived dairy products, as outdoor pasture-based feeding systems are perceived as a natural environment for animals. Despite this, the number of grazing animals globally has declined as a result of the higher milk yields achieved by indoor, total mixed ration feeding systems, in addition to the changing climatic conditions and lower grazing knowledge and infrastructure. This has led to the development of pasture-fed standards, stipulating the necessity of pasture and its minimum requirements as the primary feed source for products advertising such claims, with various requirements depending on region for which it was produced.

The objective was to assess differences in productive and reproductive performance, and survival associated with vaginal discharge characteristics and fever in postpartum dairy cows located in Western and Southern states of the U.S.A. This retrospective cohort study included data from 3 experiments conducted in 9 dairies. Vaginal discharge was evaluated twice within 12 DIM and scored on a 5-point scale. The highest score observed for each cow was used for group assignment (VD group) as follows: VD 1 and 2 (VD 1/2; n = 1,174) = clear mucus/lochia with or without flecks of pus; VD 3 (n = 1,802) = mucopurulent with < 50% pus; VD 4 (n = 1,643) = mucopurulent with ≥50% of pus or non-fetid reddish/brownish mucous, n = 1,643; VD 5 = fetid, watery, and reddish/brownish, n = 1,800.

In the Results and Discussion section of this article, 2 values were inverted. The 2 corrected numbers are marked in boldface below.

Invited review: “Probiotic” approaches to improving dairy production: reassessing “magic foo-foo dust”. By El Jeni et al., page 1832. Cattle depend on the native microbial population to degrade feedstuffs. Adjusting the microbial population of the gut using direct-fed microbials (DFM) in place of antibiotics can improve animal performance. Feeding some DFM improves dairy cow performance, but microbial and host factors that affect cow–microbe interactions remain unknown. In addition to having direct effects on dietary energy and nitrogen harvest, DFM feeding affects the immune system and hormones and can directly affect host genetic expression.

Over the past several months, a group of graduate students and I have been reading and actively discussing our thoughts on the recently published book Scientific Papers Made Easy (West and Turnbull, 2023). Early in the publication, the authors describe science as a chain made up of 3 links. The first can be labeled “identifying a problem that needs to be solved,” the second, “conducting the research,” and the third, “communication.” The authors further suggest that the primary mode of communication is conducted through peer-review publication.