The objective of this study was to investigate if a reduced milking frequency altered the effect of dietary energy restriction on the hepatic transcriptome of grazing dairy cows during early lactation. Multiparous Holstein-Friesian and Holstein-Friesian × Jersey cows (n = 120) were milked twice daily (2×) from calving until 34 ± 6 days in milk (mean ± SD). Cows were then allocated to one of fou...

Two directions can be distinguished in the development of high-tech milking equipment: 1) high-capacity milking parlors with a high throughput of cows per person per hour and 2) automatic milking systems in which manual labor is replaced by a milking robot. High-capacity milking parlors are developed in such a way that one operator is able to milk many cows, partly by automation and partly by o...

During the last several decades, new milking management systems have been introduced, of which development of automatic milking (AM) systems is a significant step forward. In Europe, AM has become an established management system and has shown to be much more than milking management. Factors such as milking, milk quality, feeding, cow traffic, grazing, and animal behavior are essential elements...

The introduction of new technology, management practices, and alternative production systems has resulted in rapid structural change in the US dairy industry. This paper examines adoption rates and adopter characteristics for the following dairy technologies, practices, and systems: holding pen with an udder washer, milking units with automatic take-offs, genetic selection technologies, recombi...

The dry period is required to facilitate cell turnover in the bovine mammary gland in order to optimize milk yield in the next lactation. Traditionally, an 8-week dry period has been a standard management practice for dairy cows based on retrospective analyses of milk yields following various dry period lengths. However, as milk production per cow has increased, transitioning cows from the nonl...

This field study focused on the possible effects of increased milking frequency (milking four times a day in comparison with milking twice a day) on clinical and bacteriological cure rates of clinical, antibiotically treated mastitis cases. Parameters tested were clinical, microbiological and full (cytomicrobiological) cure as well as the development of milk yield after the clinical mastitis ep...

The liver of the cow is a cross-road of nitrogen metabolism in dairy cows. Urea is synthesized in the liver as a results of unused degradable protein in the rumen, the absorption of excess amino acids from rumen undegradable protein, and from the catabolism of amino acids that are not utilized for productive purposes. Dietary crude protein (CP, % of DM) is the one single dietary factor most clo...