| Title: | "Effect of extreme walking conditions for dairy cows on milk yield, chemical composition, and somatic cell count" |
| Author(s): | Coulon JB; Pradel P; Cochard T; Poutrel B; |
| Address: | "Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique, Laboratoire Adaptation des Herbivores aux Milieux, Saint Genes Champanelle, France" |
| DOI: | 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(98)75660-7 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0022-0302 (Print) 0022-0302 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Thirty-two cows (16 Montbeliardes and 16 Tarentaises) in midlactation were used in an experiment utilizing a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Throughout the trial, cows received first-cutting cocksfoot hay for ad libitum intake supplemented with a fixed amount of concentrate that was individually adapted to the milk yield of each cow. During a 23-d experimental period, one group of cows walked 9.6 km/d; the other group of cows remained in the barn. Cows that walked daily ate less hay (-1.3 and -2.1 kg/d of dry matter for Tarentaise and Montbeliarde cows, respectively) and yielded less milk (-1.7 and -2.5 kg/d for Tarentaise and Montbeliarde cows, respectively) than did cows that did not walk daily. A residual effect of walking on milk yield was observed during the 10 d following the experimental period. For both breeds, fat content and, to a lesser extent, protein content were higher (+6.4 and +1.0 g/kg, respectively) for cows that walked. Somatic cell count was also higher for cows that walked (+115,000 cells/ml). This difference was more marked in cows that were initially infected by a minor or major pathogen (+185,000 cells/ml) than in uninfected cows (+47,000 cells/ml) and on the 1st d of walking when walking was linked to increases in pH, bovine serum albumin, and immunoglobulin G1 contents of milk (+0.08 unit, +0.16 g/L, and +0.19 g/L, respectively). Throughout the experimental period, walking induced a rise in body temperature (+1 degree C) and in plasma nonesterified fatty acids (+0.63 mM/L). On the 1st d of walking, plasma glucose, lactic acid, and cortisol contents were significantly higher for cows that walked (+0.25 g/L, +0.64 g/L, and +28.8 ng/ml, respectively)" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Blood Glucose/metabolism Cattle/*physiology *Cell Count Fatty Acids, Nonesterified/blood Female Gait Hoof and Claw/anatomy & histology Hydrocortisone/blood Lactation/*physiology Lactic Acid/blood Lactose/analysis Lipids/analysis Milk/*chemistry/*c;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCoulon, J B Pradel, P Cochard, T Poutrel, B eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 1998/05/22 J Dairy Sci. 1998 Apr; 81(4):994-1003. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(98)75660-7" |
