Changes in the rumen microbial community composition of dairy cows subjected to an acidogenic diet.

In modern breeding systems, cows are subjected to many stress factors. Animals fed a high-grain diet may have a decreased rumen pH, which would lead to subacute ruminal acidosis syndrome. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of microbial community composition in cows undergoing a dietary stress challenge.

The effect of first-lactation calving season, milk production, and morphology on the survival of Simmental cows.

Longevity in dairy and dual-purpose cattle is a complex trait which depends on many individual and managerial factors. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the survival (SURV) rate of Italian Simmental dual-purpose cows across different parities. Data of this study referred to 2 173 primiparous cows under official milk recording that calved between 2002 and 2020.

Predicting fibre digestibility in Holstein dairy cows fed dry-hay-based rations through machine learning.

Calculating the requirements and predicting the feed digestibility are essential to building robust dairy cattle rationing programmes. In the field, a huge number of in vivo observations are needed to develop accurate equations and reliable predictions. The aim of this study was to develop an equation to estimate total-tract potentially digestible NDF digestibility (TTpdNDFD) for lactating cows fed hay-based rations.

Parity and nutrient total-tract digestibility in dairy cows during transition period.

Cows experience many physiological, nutritional and social changes during transition period. This study aims to evaluate the differences in nutrients total-tract digestibility (nTTD) between primiparous (PP) and multiparous (MP) cows through the transition period. From -23, -5, 0, 7, 14, and 30 days from calving a sample of feed and feces samples were collected from 25 Holstein cows (11 PP and 14 MP) as well as daily rumination time through accelerometers.