Calves fed by computer-controlled milk feeders are often weaned gradually by reducing the size of the milk portions. However, reducing the number of milk portions instead may lower calves' occupation of the milk feeder and stimulate their concentrate intake, especially when they are offered a high milk allowance. Before weaning, but not during weaning, the calves on low milk allowance occupied the milk feeder more, consumed more concentrates, and had a lower daily gain. There was no interaction between milk allowance and weaning type. Weaning by reducing the number of milk portions resulted in more unrewarded visits to the milk feeder, but less time ingesting a similar amount of milk. The effect of milk allowance on milk feeder occupancy before weaning was not found when this allowance was halved during weaning.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(06)72084-7 | DOI Listing |
J Dairy Sci
January 2025
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark.
Given increasing adoption of social housing for pre-weaned dairy calves, we conducted a systematic review to summarize existing literature describing effects of social housing management factors on behavior, performance, and health of dairy calves. Included articles addressed interventions applied to pre-weaned, socially housed dairy calves, encompassing age at introduction to social housing, group composition (size, stocking density, within-group age range, stability), and housing environment (space allowance, enrichment provision). Outcome measures addressed behavior, including social behavior, locomotor behavior, feeding behavior, abnormal oral behavior, and behavioral responses during tests; performance, including body measurements and weight gain; and health, including clinical health scores and mortality rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Dairy Sci
January 2025
Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1Z4. Electronic address:
Decades of research have helped inform practices on how to care for calves, but little is known about how well these practices are adopted on commercial dairy farms. The primary aim of this study was to describe rearing practices of dairy calves in British Columbia, Canada. Measures of calf growth are sometimes used to assess success in calf rearing, so a secondary aim was to describe methods used to assess calf growth on these farms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLab Chip
January 2025
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Milk is commonly screened both for indicators of animal disease and health, but also for foodborne hazards. Included in these analyses is the detection of , that can produce an enterotoxin, causing staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP), which often leads to sudden onset of significant gastrointestinal symptoms in humans. Epidemiological data on SFP are limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hum Nutr Diet
February 2025
Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Background: During lactation, maternal requirements for many nutrients increase due to the physiological demands of breast milk production, reflected in dietary recommendations. BMI is negatively associated with dietary quality postpartum, and 40% of women in Norway have pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity. Currently, there is limited data on dietary intake among lactating women in Norway and whether they meet nutritional requirements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Nutr
January 2025
School of Agriculture and Food Science, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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