The study objective was to assess the methane (CH4)-mitigating potential (CH4-MP) of an Asparagopsis taxiformis variety (Brominata) and evaluate its effects on cow health and milk food safety when fed at increasing dietary inclusion rates (IR) in dairy cows. This paper reports data on the CH4-MP and production performance. In this study, 48 late-lactation cows (mean DIM = 386) blocked by parity were assigned randomly to receive 1 of 4 freeze-dried and pelletized Brominata IR treatments: 0% (CTL), 0.30% (standard IR [SIR]), 0.45% (SIR1.5), and 0.60% of DM (SIR2.0), with mean bromoform concentrations of 0, 17.4, 26.1, and 34.8 mg/kg of DM, respectively.

Heat processing notably affects the heat-sensitive components of milk; however, comparative information on the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) proteome among different species following homogenization and heat treatment remains limited. This study aimed to characterize alterations in MFGM proteins from Holstein cow, buffalo, camel, and yak milk subjected to homogenization and heat treatment using a label-free liquid chromatography-MS/MS proteomic approach. A total of 855, 636, 605, and 538 MFGM proteins were identified in Holstein cow, buffalo, camel, and yak milk, respectively, with 239 proteins co-expressed across all species.

Methane inhibitors in cattle diets are a promising strategy to reduce enteric methane (CH4) emissions. Bromoform (CHBr3) is effective but not well understood in terms of mechanism, dose response, and side effects such as reduced feed intake. Studies using CHBr3-containing seaweed are inadequate to isolate the effect of CHBr3 from other factors. This study aimed to determine the dose-dependent effects of synthetic CHBr3, delivered via ruminal infusion, on DMI, enteric gas emissions, temporal patterns of gas emissions, and ruminal fermentation in cattle.

Subclinical hypocalcemia (SCH) is prevalent during the periparturient period in dairy cows due to increased calcium (Ca) demand for milk and colostrum synthesis. Transient SCH has been shown to activate a negative feedback loop, thereby improving Ca homeostasis. Here, we investigate the impact of induced SCH during the prepartum period on Ca homeostasis pre- and postpartum, and milk production. Thirty multiparous Holstein cows were enrolled 21 d before the expected due date, in a randomized complete block design, and were assigned to receive either a 6-h continuous intravenous infusion of saline solution (CON) or 5% egtazic acid (EGTA) solution (n = 15/treatment) for a minimum of 3 d and a maximum of 14 d until parturition.

Dairy spoilage caused by psychrotrophic bacteria and their metabolically derived heat-resistant enzymes poses a significant challenge to the global dairy industry. However, conventional detection methods are often hampered by limitations that restrict their application for rapid microbial safety assessment. To tackle this issue, this study presents a quantitative detection approach founded on near-infrared transmission spectroscopy to detect psychrotrophic bacteria in raw milk. Near-infrared spectra of raw milk samples were acquired within the wavelength range of 900 to 1,700 nm using a near-infrared spectrometer.

Early life is a critical phase for dairy calves, influencing their growth, metabolism, and overall health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding either whole milk (WM) or milk replacer (MR) on growth performance, metabolic markers, and hematological parameters from birth until weaning at 60 d of age in Fleckvieh dairy. Eighteen heifer calves were assigned to one of 2 dietary treatments: WM (n = 9; DM basis, 29.1% protein, 27.3% fat, and 37.3% lactose; 5.25 Mcal/kg of DM) or MR (n = 9; DM basis, 22.9% protein, 19.1% fat, and 51.73% lactose; 4.76 Mcal/kg DM; Elvor, Maen Roch, France).

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Fructus Ligustri Lucidi (FLL) supplementation on energy metabolism, immunity, and the rumen microbiome in peripartum cows. Twenty healthy multiparous Holstein dairy cows were enrolled in the trial based on expected calving date, parity, and previous lactation milk yield. They were randomly assigned to either a control diet (Con; n = 10) or the control diet supplemented with 150 g/d per cow of FLL (FLL; n = 10). The trial spanned 6 wk, from 3 wk prepartum to 3 wk postpartum.

Genetic selection for feed efficiency in dairy cattle is a promising strategy to mitigate environmental emissions reduce the environmental footprint of dairy production. In this study, genetic selection for residual feed intake (RFI) using the EcoFeed index developed by STgenetics was evaluated as a tool to improve feed efficiency and reduce GHG emissions. A life cycle assessment approach was used to quantify emissions from feed production, enteric fermentation, and manure management under 3 RFI selection scenarios: baseline (average genomic RFI [gRFI]), a 1-SD improvement in the genomic breeding value for RFI in heifers and cows (gRFIheifer and gRFIcow), and fa 3-SD improvement in gRFIheifer and gRFIcow.

Although diurnal variation in circulating hormones and metabolites is well-characterized in dairy cattle, limited information exists for dairy goats, despite its importance for accurate metabolic assessment in dairy species. This experiment investigated diurnal variation in key metabolites and hormones over a 48-h period in early-lactation Saanen dairy goats under controlled feeding conditions, comparing high- and low-yielding individuals. Twenty-nine multiparous goats (25 ± 4.7 DIM) were classified as high- (HP; n = 15) or low- (LP; n = 14) producers based on average milk yield over the previous 7 d, using fixed thresholds (<3 L/d for LP; > 4 L/d for HP).

Precision dairy farming is rapidly transforming the global dairy sector through the application of data-driven technologies. This review explores current knowledge and emerging ideas across 5 key areas: (1) the economic value of data, highlighting its role in optimizing productivity and profitability; (2) advances in integrating artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, and innovation, showcasing how these elements drive efficiency; (3) the drivers and barriers to technology adoption, data integration, and connectivity, identifying factors that enable or hinder progress; (4) sustainable data stewardship, addressing governance, standardization, and ethical concerns to ensure responsible data use; and (5) cross-sector insights from healthcare that can inform and strengthen dairy practices.

The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae as a major cause of bovine mastitis poses a critical threat to global dairy production, with conventional antibiotics increasingly failing to control infections. To address this crisis, a lytic phage vB_KpnP_ZH4 (ZH4) was isolated from dairy farm sewage and demonstrated to possess potent activity against prevalent MDR K. pneumoniae strains from mastitic cows in Shanghai farms. Morphological characterization revealed that ZH4 belonged to the Podoviridae family, whereas genomic analysis confirmed the absence of virulence, resistance, or lysogeny genes in its 36.2-kb genome.

Prebiotics and probiotics are feed additives that can benefit the host by modulating the gut microbiome, which is crucial in digestion, immunity, and overall animal health. This study aims to evaluate the effects of supplementing prebiotics, probiotics, or synbiotics to preweaning Holstein calves on their future milk yield. This study is a retrospective analysis of milk yield records from dairy cows that were randomized at birth to 1 of 4 twice-daily treatments administered during the preweaning period: (1) control, no additive (CON), (2) prebiotic (PRE; 7 mL of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast culture), (3) probiotic (PRO; Bacillus subtilis and Lactobacillus plantarum, delivering ∼1 billion and 250 million cfu per head per day, respectively), or (4) synbiotic (SYN; combination of both PRE and PRO at the same dosages as the PRE and PRO treatments).

To support the nutritional demands of fetal growth and the onset of milk production, dairy cattle mobilize body tissues; and though this has been established in multiparous animals, the extent of this mobilization is less understood in primigravid dairy cattle. The objectives of this study were to characterize the longissimus dorsi muscle depth (LDD) and extent of LDD and backfat mobilization, as well as to characterize the muscle histological differences in pre- and postpartum primigravid dairy animals with varying muscle reserves as they transition into their first lactation.

Early-life growth and development are crucial for the future performance of replacement heifers. Optimizing growth enhances immediate performance and establishes the foundation for long-term productivity, improving overall efficiency in milk production. This study retrospectively investigated the associations between growth rates during the first 2 mo of life and feeding behavior during the preweaning period, overall growth, and first-lactation performance in Holstein heifers under a high milk allowance.

Rapid and accurate prediction of milk yield plays an important role in the breeding of dairy goats. We improved the Mask R-CNN deep learning model based on Feature Channel Attention, anchor refinement module, and so on, making it more applicable for predicting milk yield in dairy goats. The accuracy, recall, and mIoU of the improved model for udder segmentation of dairy goats reached 92.21% ± 0.02%, 85.39% ± 0.02%, and 76.28% ± 0.01%, respectively. The predicted mean absolute error, mean squared error, and mean absolute percentage error for the milk yield in the test set were 0.149 ± 0.009, 0.042 ± 0.018, and 9.62 ± 0.014, respectively.

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) has emerged as a potential physiological indicator of heat stress (HS), recognized for its substantial upregulation in response to increased temperatures and cellular stress. The accurate measurement of HSP70 is crucial for its application in research and on-farm monitoring. Commercial ELISA kits are widely available and exhibit high sensitivity; however, their limited working ranges require the dilution of high-concentration samples, which can potentially introduce variability.

The microbial, chemical, and sensory quality of bulk tank raw milk affects the shelf life and quality of finished dairy products. Traditionally, raw milk quality is determined using total bacteria count (TBC) and SCC. Here, a longitudinal study was conducted over a 15-mo period with 100 conventional dairy farms enrolled, each sampled 6 times. The farms represented a variety of sizes, milking systems, and other farming practices. Samples were evaluated for 24 different quality parameters, covering both traditional (e.g., TBC, SCC, and chemical composition) and novel measures of quality (e.g., sensory defect evaluation, mesophilic spore counts [MSC], thermophilic spore counts [TSC], psychrotolerant spore counts [PSC], and butyric acid bacteria [BAB]).

Our objective was to investigate sucrose replacement in school lunch chocolate milk with nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, with and without lactose hydrolysis of milk, on adult and child acceptance. In experiment 1, chocolate milk was formulated with nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners (allulose syrup, mixed-sugar syrup, stevia, monk fruit, or sucralose) to the iso-sweet intensity of a current school lunch chocolate milk formulation with 3.69% sucrose (wt/vol). In experiment 2, lactose-hydrolyzed (LH) chocolate milk was formulated with nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners (allulose syrup, mixed-sugar syrup, stevia, monk fruit) to the iso-sweet intensity of 3.69% sucrose (wt/vol).

Udder asymmetry is a clinical sign in dairy goats frequently linked to udder inflammation (mastitis). Therefore, goats identified with udder asymmetry should be examined and specifically checked for (past) mastitis. Ideally, all goats should be routinely monitored for udder asymmetry during milking. However, in many countries, dairy goat herds consist of hundreds to thousands of animals, which makes it practically impossible and too labor intensive to regularly examine all animals. Therefore, new automated solutions, including computer vision models, are highly desirable.

Biotin is a vital coenzyme involved in diverse metabolic pathways and plays a key role in hoof health by supporting keratin synthesis and the protective barrier of the hoof. This study systematically investigated the effects of rumen-protected biotin (RPB) on hepatic metabolic networks, redox homeostasis, and hoof health in lactating dairy cows using an integrated multiomics approach. The RPB supplement consisted of 2.1% biotin (purity ≥99%), 62.9% glucose, and 35% hydrogenated palm oil fatty acids.