A demonstration project of interdisciplinary dairy herd extension advising funded by industry and users. 3. Impact on management practices.

The objectives of this 24-herd, demonstration project of integrated problem solving and extension advising were 1) to evaluate dairy production management practices, 2) to formulate recommendations for guiding producers to correct management deficiencies, and 3) to measure the rate of practice adoption. Management evaluations focused on herd nutrition and forage crops, mastitis control and milking equipment, reproduction, and herd health. Sixty-eight management practices or milking equipment components were evaluated on each farm.

A demonstration project of interdisciplinary dairy herd extension advising funded by industry and users. 2. Impact on herd performance.

The objectives of this 24-herd, demonstration project of extension advising were to measure the impact of integrated problem solving on measures of DHI performance for 2 yr during and 2 yr after the project. During project advising, increases in rolling herd average milk and fat yields and 3.5% FCM were similar for project and state herds.

A demonstration project of interdisciplinary dairy herd extension advising funded by industry and users. 1. Implementation and evaluation.

An interdisciplinary team of extension workers conducted a 2-yr demonstration project using 30 herds with the objectives of increasing production efficiency and profitability and gaining experience in integrated problem solving. After 1 yr, 88% of the participants thought that the monthly fee paid to extension was a profitable investment. At the end of the project, 70% of the participants thought that increases in milk yield per cow were due to a combination of improvements in two to four management areas rather than to changes in any single management discipline.

Bovine placental prostaglandin synthesis in vitro as it relates to placental separation.

Bovine placentomes were collected during late gestation, prepartum and immediately postpartum. Postpartum tissues were collected prior to fetal membrane separation. Maternal and fetal placentomal components each were examined for their ability to synthesize prostaglandins (PG's) from arachidonic acid (AA) and metabolize PGF2 alpha and PGE2 in vitro.

Peripartum changes in the bovine placenta related to fetal membrane retention.

To understand fetal membrane retention in dairy cattle, we examined these tissues in the immediate peripartum period before tissue separation. Placentomes were collected at 270-280 d of gestation from pre-partum Holstein cows (n = 5) and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 h postpartum from a) cows releasing fetal membranes in less than 12 h (n = 7), b) cows retaining fetal membranes for more than 12 h (n = 5), and c) cows induced to calve with dexamethasone (releasing membranes in more than 12 h; n = 5). Subjective evaluations of necrosis, distribution, and condition of binucleate giant and of principal cells were made.