Persistency of lactation is the ability of a cow to continue producing milk at a high level after the peak of her lactation. Differences in persistency, if not properly accounted for, reduce accuracy of genetic evaluation when incomplete records are used. Persistency has also direct economic value. Reduction of feed, health and reproductive costs are the major factors which favour more persiste...

Abstract Background Sheep milk is a nutritional and health-promoting food source for humans. The DEATH superfamily conserved protein family, some of its members are closely related to lactation. Systematic studies the important further understanding functions in mammary gland during lactation; however, there currently lacking. Results Herein, 74 were identified sheep, phylogenetic analyses indi...

A 6 week old girl with transient congenital hypothyroidism is described. The hypothyroidism was associated with multiple applications of povidone iodine during pregnancy and lactation. This case illustrates the potential hazard of using topical solutions containing iodine during pregnancy and lactation.

Two experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that suckling behavior of calves with similar growth potential varies depending on cows' level of estimated milk production and stage of lactation. Eleven mature cows, which varied in estimated 205-d milk production (996 to 2354 kg/205 d), nursing heifer calves of similar growth potential were used in Exp. 1. Suckling behavior of calves was ...

OBJECTIVE We determined the potential programming effects of maternal obesity and high-fat (HF) diet during pregnancy and/or lactation on offspring metabolic syndrome. STUDY DESIGN A rat model of maternal obesity was created using an HF diet prior to and throughout pregnancy and lactation. At birth, pups were cross-fostered, thereby generating 4 paradigms of maternal diets during pregnancy/la...

The objective of the study was to compare ranking of Sahiwal bulls selected on the basis of highest lactation milk yield of their dams with their estimated breeding values (EBVs) using an animal model. Data on 23,761 lactation milk yield records of 5,936 cows from five main Livestock Experiment Stations in Punjab province of Pakistan (1964-2004) were used for the study. At present the young A.I...

Reproduction incurs a high energetic cost and failure to meet nutritional needs results in reproductive failure. In red deer hinds, the interaction between nutrition, summer lactation and subsequent ovulation/conception is of particular interest for farmed deer production in NZ due to climatic constraints to summer pasture production in many areas. However, few studies have focussed on the pote...

BACKGROUND The unique lactation strategy of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugeni) has been invaluable in evaluating the role of lactogenic hormones and the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the local control of mammary gland function. However molecular pathways through which hormones and ECM exert their effect on wallaby mammary gland function remain unclear. This study undertakes transcriptome anal...