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For the optimal optimization of feed ration, it is crucial to assess the quality of the forage feed to dairy cows. To have a good production of milk and meat on a cattle farm, the farmers must collaborate with the nutrition and feed control laboratories in order to formulate in a timely manner feed that is nutritionally sound Non-destructive procedures provide benefits such as high sensitivity and minimal sample preparation. The portable instruments of near infrared spectroscopy can be utilized in "on line" and" modes, removing the need for lengthy response times and allowing for fast intervention in the prevention and/or correction of disorders. When determining the feed ratio for dairy cows, one of the physical parameters that are considered is nitrogen, and implicitly the protein level, which can also be readily measured using the Dumas analysis method. The paper presents the analysis of the protein content of various vegetable substrates with that are fed to dairy cows, results obtained by applying both destructive and nondestructive techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring the quality of raw cow milk is essential to maintain food safety and human health. To guarantee the quality and safety of milk, easy-to-use non-destructive analysis methods are available. Non-destructive methods have made progress, being useful for obtaining quantitative and qualitative data, destroying the sample, and offering several advantages, such as high sensitivity, adequate response time, and minimal sample preparation. Conventional methods are laborious, destructive, toxic, and time-consuming, require fully equipped laboratories and skilled personnel, extensive sample preparation, and are not suitable for real-time continuous monitoring of milk quality. The rapid development of non-destructive methods for the evaluation of milk quality consists of applications based on imaging, near-infrared spectroscopy, conductivity, biosensors, and ultrasound. This paper presents different non-destructive methods applied to determine the physicochemical parameters of raw milk (fats, proteins, lactose, casein, dry matter, acidity, density), the number of somatic cells, and the microbiological load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zeolites are compounds of either natural or synthetic origin and have been employed successfully in a number of industries, including veterinary medicine and animal husbandry. Clinoptilolite is the form of naturally occurring zeolite that has undergone the most scientific study out of the 140 various varieties and is also used the most as a component in animal feed. Natural clay minerals and zeolites are administered with encouraging results due to their detoxifying, antioxidant, hemostatic, anti-diarrheal, and immunostimulant properties. In this paper, the characteristics and possible applications of clinoptilolite as an animal feed additive in order to prevent and/or treat particular diseases in dairy cows will be discussed. Natural and manufactured zeolites have been used as feed additives in cow nutrition, primarily to reduce the absorption of mycotoxins through the gastrointestinal tract, improve general health status, and increase overall animal performance. Clinoptilolite is marketed as a feed additive that helps maintain and improve the fertility, well-being, and productivity of cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defined as a severe welfare problem, lameness in cattle is associated with impaired locomotion and lesions of the hind limb, affecting fertility, milk yield, and considerable economic losses. This study aims to determine the prevalence of lameness and to establish risk factors involved in herd lameness in cattle within a farm in the northeastern part of Romania. A total of 370 animals were scored for lameness as well as for other information on individual cows (parity, body condition score, milk yield, days in milk). Additional information like nutrition, resting, cow comfort, social confrontation, and density were also collected. Thus, herd lameness prevalence ranged between 0 to 72%, with a mean of 22%. Higher milk production was associated with lower chances of being lame. Compared to first parity, multiparous cows had higher odds of being lame, which was also correlated with a low body condition score (<2.5). Overgrown claws, injured hocks, slippery floors, hygiene and care were also correlated with this condition, emphasizing the importance of housing conditions and welfare. Therefore, actions like improving management practices in order to improve cow welfare as well as detection and proper treatment of this disorder promptly are essential for dairy herds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mastitis is one of the most important diseases with a multifactorial aetiology that causes high economic losses in dairy industry, having a direct negative impact on the profitability of the farm and animal welfare. Fungal mastitis is widespread in dairy cows, and in recent years, fungal agents have been frequently reported as being responsible for mastitis. The aim of this study is to identify the species of fungi in various milk samples collected from cows diagnosed with clinical mastitis, in order to monitor the number of somatic cells. A total number of 30 samples of milk collected from cows diagnosed with mastitis were studied to determine if the disease was caused by the presence of fungal species or other etiological agents. In the analysed milk samples, a number of species of fungi belonging to the genera: Fusarium, Penicillium, Cladosporium and Aspergillus were identified. The presence of fungal contamination in the environment is almost ubiquitous, thereby strategies to prevent fungal mastitis in dairy farms, have become the main goal for most farmers, in order to increase the quality of raw milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defined as the mammary glands/udder inflammation, mastitis caused by various infectious etiological agents, is still considered a debilitating condition in dairy cows, influencing both animal welfare and the dairy industry through decreased production performance and increased culling rates. The consumption of raw milk or other milk products is related to the microbiological quality of raw milk. The main disadvantages in applying laboratory microbiological culture are related to logistical limitations and the expense of shipping samples, as well as the time required for analysis to receive interpretations, which can range from three to five days. The aim of this study is to validate the Soleris System as a rapid alternative method to the plate-count method in order to assess the microbiological quality of raw milk. Thus, this study establishes the reliability of this alternative method for determining the total viable count in raw milk in samples from cows. In conclusion, raw milk evaluation using the Soleris System demonstrates its promise as a valid tool for accurate testing in the dairy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global COVID-19 outbreak has a major effect on food safety management and assurance of food safety in all retailers and manufacturers. The industry understood that COVID-19 outbreak has created and continues to create audit restrictions, which already have severe impact on the certification status of certain sites. As a result, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) released numerous statements focusing on business continuity, while Certification Programme Owner (CPO) and Certification Body’s (CB) would have to comply with requirements of the national regulations applicable to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, as part of the ongoing support for food businesses facing certification obstacles / inconvenients, GFSI made available the harmonized risk assessment, although till now there are no scientific evidence that the virus is transmitted by food in the context of last months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometritis is one of the most prevalent uterine infection in dairy cattle that affects reproductive performance by decreasing fertility and leading to high economic losses. The objectives of this study were to assess the risk factors for clinical endometritis and its subsequent effects on reproductive performance in Holstein Friesian cows. The study was conducted in two dairy farms from Belgium, where 682 animals were enrolled, during two years of study. All data were processed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 17. The Pearson correlation revealed positive correlations between endometrits and postpartum disorders like dystocia, placental retention, milk fever, metritis and ovarian pathologies (persistent corpus luteum) (p<0.01). As expected, a moderate positive correlation was found between endometritis and voluntary waiting period (p<0.05). Regarding the analyzed reproductive indices, endometritis was positively correlated with reproduction period, service period, calving interval and inseminations number/pregnancy (p<0.01). A negative correlation was found between endometritis and pregnancy rate (p<0.05) as well as other weak correlations between this pathology and other parameters taken under study. We conclude that the risk factors for clinical endometritis in cattle are mainly caused by postpartum disorders with detrimental effects on reproductive performance, as the affected cows take longer to become pregnant by extending calving to conception intervals and increasing the risk for culling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repeat breeding syndrome could be described as a cow's failure to conceive after three or more than three inseminations in the absence of any clinically relevant abnormality. In order to determine the incidence of repeat breeding, a retrospective study which included data from 682 Holstein Friesian cows within two dairy herds across Belgium were collected during two consecutive years. Thus, the repeat breeding overall incidence in dairy cattle was 18.1% (124 cows). The highest incidence of repeat breeding syndrome was recorded during spring season (5.6%, n=38) the lowest incidence being during winter season (2.9%, n=20). Regarding postpartum disorders, our study revealed that in cows with endometritis, metritis, milk fever and retained fetal membranes, the incidence of repeat breeding was higher than in cows that became pregnant within first three artificial inseminations (were considered to have normal fertility). According to parity number, the highest incidence of repeat breeding syndrome was recorded during 1st (3.9% n = 27) and 5th (4.1%, n = 28) parities, the lowest incidence being recorded during 6th (1.9%, n = 13) and 7th (0.29%, n = 2). Also, in cows with repeat breeding, the reproductive indices were negatively modified, triggering thus a poor reproductive performance. In conclusion, our results show that repeat breeding syndrome involves a various number of factors, such as postpartum disorders as well as extrinsic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of CSN2 (coding beta-casein), CSN3 (coding kappa-casein and LGB (coding beta-lactoglobulin) genes polymorphisms on milk production traits in a Montbèliarde herd from a Romanian dairy farm. In order to achieve the objective, 34 cows with first lactation finished were sampled. Milk samples were analyzed for fat, lactose and total solids by infrared absorption methodology. Genetic variants of milk proteins were identified by using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis containing dithiothreitol and urea. For testing the state of genetic equilibrium in this population, according to Hardy-Weinberg theory, we used chi-square test (χ2). The highest observed frequencies were for beta-casein A2 allele (β-CN*A2), K-CN*B, respectively β-LG*B. Cows with β-CN A2A2, K-CN AB and β-GB AA genotypes produced a significantly higher milk yield. Beta-casein genotype A1A2 positive effect may be used in order to obtain higher fat, protein and casein content in milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was carried out within a dairy farm from North Eastern of Romania, on an experimental group (group E, n = 43) and control group (group C, n = 50 cows) from Romanian Black Spotted Breed (Friesian origin). The aim of study was to establish the efficiency of hormonal treatments applied to dairy cattle (group E) for estrus synchronization, consisting in: GnRH analogue (2.5ml Receptal) on day 0 (day of beginning treatment) and the insertion of an intravaginal device with progesterone (PRID Delta) for 7 days, prostaglandin F2a (2 ml Estrumate) on day 6 and artificial insemination at estrus detected. The treatments applied to the experimental group were performed between November 2017 and July 2018, the mean calving to treatment interval for experimental group being 49 days. The obtained results were represented by 90.7% inseminated cows from group E (n = 39); the treatment to first service interval (mean ± standard deviation) was 22.77 ± 3.95 days; treatment to conception interval (mean ± standard deviation) was 44 ± 7.99 days. We found in group E compared with group C the mean calving to first service interval with 18.53 days lower (79.6 ± 4.2 days vs. 98.13 ± 7.12 days); mean value of calving to conception interval with 43.03 day lower (98.9 ± 8.2 days vs. 141.16 ± 9.72 days) and the conception rate at first service with 8.8% higher (30.8% vs. 22.0%). In conclusion, the hormonal treatment protocol in dairy cattle estrus synchronization consisting a GnRH analogue (Receptal 2.5ml) in day 0, intravaginal progesterone device (PRID) for 7 days and PGF2a on day 6, can improve calving to first service interval, calving to conception interval and conception rate at first service being recommend it like a good alternative for improving reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]