A computer vision approach to improving cattle digestive health by the monitoring of faecal samples.

The digestive health of cows is one of the primary factors that determine their well-being and productivity. Under- and over-feeding are both commonplace in the beef and dairy industry; leading to welfare issues, negative environmental impacts, and economic losses. Unfortunately, digestive health is difficult for farmers to routinely monitor in large farms due to many factors including the need to transport faecal samples to a laboratory for compositional analysis.

Evaluating lifetime nitrogen use efficiency of dairy cattle: A modelling approach.

The increased nitrogen (N) use efficiency in cattle farming is proposed as a key action to improve N management and reduce the environmental impact of cattle farming systems. Most attention has been given to lactating cow nutrition, excluding the elements of fertility, disease, and the non-lactating animals within the herd. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to develop a herd-level simulation model incorporating these elements to assess dairy farm N use efficiency.

Spatially explicit estimation of heat stress-related impacts of climate change on the milk production of dairy cows in the United Kingdom.

Dairy farming is one the most important sectors of United Kingdom (UK) agriculture. It faces major challenges due to climate change, which will have direct impacts on dairy cows as a result of heat stress. In the absence of adaptations, this could potentially lead to considerable milk loss.

Does Dietary Mitigation of Enteric Methane Production Affect Rumen Function and Animal Productivity in Dairy Cows?

It has been suggested that the rumen microbiome and rumen function might be disrupted if methane production in the rumen is decreased. Furthermore concerns have been voiced that geography and management might influence the underlying microbial population and hence the response of the rumen to mitigation strategies. Here we report the effect of the dietary additives: linseed oil and nitrate on methane emissions, rumen fermentation, and the rumen microbiome in two experiments from New Zealand (Dairy 1) and the UK (Dairy 2).

Traditional vs modern: role of breed type in determining enteric methane emissions from cattle grazing as part of contrasting grassland-based systems.

Ruminant livestock turn forages and poor-quality feeds into human edible products, but enteric methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants are a significant contributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and hence to climate change. Despite the predominance of pasture-based beef production systems in many parts of Europe there are little data available regarding enteric CH4 emissions from free-ranging grazing cattle. It is possible that differences in physiology or behaviour could influence comparative emissions intensities for traditional and modern breed types depending on the nutritional characteristics of the herbage grazed.

Simultaneous quantification of purine and pyrimidine bases, nucleosides and their degradation products in bovine blood plasma by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Improved nitrogen utilization in cattle is important in order to secure a sustainable cattle production. As purines and pyrimidines (PP) constitute an appreciable part of rumen nitrogen, an improved understanding of the absorption and intermediary metabolism of PP is essential. The present work describes the development and validation of a sensitive and specific method for simultaneous determination of 20 purines (adenine, guanine, guanosine, inosine, 2'-deoxyguanosine, 2'-deoxyinosine, xanthine, hypoxanthine), pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine, uracil, cytidine, uridine, thymidine, 2'-deoxyuridine), and their degradation products (uric acid, allantoin, β-alanine, β-ureidopropionic acid, β-aminoisobutyric acid) in blood plasma of dairy cows.

Mixed grazing systems benefit both upland biodiversity and livestock production.

Background: With world food demand expected to double by 2050, identifying farming systems that benefit both agricultural production and biodiversity is a fundamentally important challenge for the 21(st) century, but this has to be achieved in a sustainable way. Livestock grazing management directly influences both economic outputs and biodiversity on upland farms while contributing to potentially damaging greenhouse gas emissions, yet no study has attempted to address these impacts simultaneously.

Methods: Using a replicated, landscape-scale field experiment consisting of five management 'systems' we tested the effects of progressively altering elements within an upland farming system, viz i) incorporating cattle grazing into an upland sheep system, ii) integrating grazing of semi-natural rough grazing into a mixed grazing system based on improved pasture, iii) altering the stocking ratio within a mixed grazing system, and iv) replacing modern crossbred cattle with a traditional breed.

Shifts in the rumen microbiota due to the type of carbohydrate and level of protein ingested by dairy cattle are associated with changes in rumen fermentation.

Balancing energy and nitrogen in the rumen is a key to both profitability and environmental sustainability. Four dairy cows were used in a Latin square experimental design to investigate the effect of severe nitrogen underfeeding (110 vs. 80% of requirements) and the type of carbohydrate consumed [neutral detergent fiber rich (FIB) vs.

Oxidative phenols in forage crops containing polyphenol oxidase enzymes.

Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) are copper-containing enzymes that catalyze oxidation of endogenous monophenols to ortho-dihydroxyaryl compounds and of ortho-dihydroxyaryl compounds to ortho-quinones. Subsequent nucleophilic addition reactions of phenols, amino acids, and proteins with the electrophilic ortho-quinones form brown-, black-, or red-colored secondary products associated with the undesired discolouration of fruit and vegetables. Several important forage plants also exhibit significant PPO activity, and a link with improved efficiency of ruminant production has been established.

Relationship between grazing lamb growth rate and blood plasma analytes as profiled by gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS).

There can be considerable variation in the performance of individual lambs grazing on the same pasture. Gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS) was used to profile the relative abundances of metabolites in plasma from growing lambs to determine any correlation effects between plasma metabolites and liveweight gain. Analysis of relative abundance of 336 analyte clusters and liveweight gain revealed that the growth rates of female lambs were significantly positively correlated with 5 analyte clusters and negatively correlated with 5 other analyte clusters.

Application of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolite profiling techniques to the analysis of heathland plant diets of sheep.

Little is known about how plant biochemistry influences the grazing behavior of animals consuming heterogeneous plant communities. The biochemical profiles of grassland species are mostly restricted to major nutritional characteristics, although recent developments in analytical techniques and data analysis have made possible the detailed analysis of minor components that may influence animal feeding preferences, performance, and health. In the present study, gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS) was used to profile the abundances of metabolites in nine specific heathland plant groups and in three mixed forage diets containing 10, 20, or 30% heather (Calluna vulgaris) and also in plasma and feces from sheep offered one of the three diets.