Gastrointestinal helminths in calves and cows in an organic milk production system

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Dairy goat health management and milk production on organic and conventional system in Brazil

The aimed of this article is to measure risk factors on health and milk production on organic and conventional dairy goats in Brazil. Two experimental groups (organic and conventional) were evaluated simultaneously. The study design was completely randomized. The organic herd consisted of 25 goats and 15 kids. In the conventional production system, a dairy herd comprising 40 goats and 20 kids participated in the study. Data on milk production and health management were available from January 2007 to December 2009. The abortion rate in the conventional system was 5% (2/40) whereas in organic system no abortion was diagnosed (0/25). The mortality rate at weaning in the conventional system was 5% (2/40) and in the organic system was 8% (2/25). Milk production was lower (2.20 kg/day) in organic than conventional system (2.66 kg/day). Goats and kids in organic farm had a higher FEC (386±104 and 900±204, respectively) (p<0.05) than those in conventional farm (245±132 and 634±212, respectively). In addition, Saanen kids had higher FEC (p<0.001) than goats. Treatment with antiparasitic drugs was higher in conventional system (50%) than organic system (1.3%).

Comparison of energy evaluation systems and a mechanistic model for milk production by dairy cattle offered fresh grass-based diets

Grass-based diets are of increasing social-economic importance in dairy cattle farming, but their low supply of glucogenic nutrients may limit the production of milk. Current evaluation systems that assess the energy supply and requirements are based on metabolisable energy (ME) or net energy (NE). These systems do not consider the characteristics of the energy delivering nutrients. In contrast, mechanistic models take into account the site of digestion, the type of nutrient absorbed and the type of nutrient required for production of milk constituents, and may therefore give a better prediction of supply and requirement of nutrients. The objective of the present study is to compare the ability of three energy evaluation systems, viz. the Dutch NE system, the agricultural and food research council (AFRC) ME system, and the feed into milk (FIM) ME system, and of a mechanistic model based on Dijkstra et al. [Simulation of digestion in cattle fed sugar cane: prediction of nutrient supply for milk production with locally available supplements. J. Agric. Sci., Cambridge 127, 247-60] and Mills et al. [A mechanistic model of whole-tract digestion and methanogenesis in the lactating dairy cow: model development, evaluation and application. J. Anim. Sci. 79, 1584-97] to predict the feed value of grass-based diets for milk production. The dataset for evaluation consists of 41 treatments of grass-based diets (at least 0.75 g ryegrass/g diet on DM basis). For each model, the predicted energy or nutrient supply, based on observed intake, was compared with predicted requirement based on observed performance. Assessment of the error of energy or nutrient supply relative to requirement is made by calculation of mean square prediction error (MSPE) and by concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). All energy evaluation systems predicted energy requirement to be lower (6-11%) than energy supply. The root MSPE (expressed as a proportion of the supply) was lowest for the mechanistic model (0.061), followed by the Dutch NE system (0.082), FIM ME system (0.097) and AFRCME system(0.118). For the energy evaluation systems, the error due to overall bias of prediction dominated the MSPE, whereas for the mechanistic model, proportionally 0.76 of MSPE was due to random variation. CCC analysis confirmed the higher accuracy and precision of the mechanistic model compared with energy evaluation systems. The error of prediction was positively related to grass protein content for the Dutch NE system, and was also positively related to grass DMI level for all models. In conclusion, current energy evaluation systems overestimate energy supply relative to energy requirement on grass-based diets for dairy cattle. The mechanistic model predicted glucogenic nutrients to limit performance of dairy cattle on grass-based diets, and proved to be more accurate and precise than the energy systems. The mechanistic model could be improved by allowing glucose maintenance and utilization requirements parameters to be variable. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The mammary gland in small ruminants: major morphological and functional events underlying milk production – a review

The importance of small ruminants to the dairy industry has increased in recent years, especially in developing countries, where it has a high economic and social impact. Interestingly and despite the fact that the mammary gland is the specialised milk production organ, very few authors studied the modifications occurring in the mammary gland through the lactation period in production animals, particularly in the small ruminants, sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus). Nevertheless, understanding the different mammary gland patterns throughout lactation is essential to improve dairy production. In addition, associating these patterns with different milking frequencies, lactation number or different diets is also of high importance, directly affecting the dairy industry. The mammary gland is commonly composed of parenchyma and stroma, which includes the ductal system, with individual proportions of each changing during the different periods and yields in a lactation cycle. Indeed, during late gestation, as well as during early to mid-lactation, mammary gland expansion occurs, with an increase in the number of epithelial cells and lumen area, which leads to increment of the parenchyma tissue, as well as a reduction of stroma, corresponding macroscopically to the increase in mammary gland volume. Throughout late lactation, the mammary gland volume decreases owing to the regression of the secretory structure. In general, common mammary gland patterns have been shown for both goats and sheep throughout the several lactation stages, although the number of studies is limited. The main objective of this manuscript is to review the colostrogenesis and lactogenesis processes as well as to highlight the mammary gland morphological patterns underlying milk production during the lactation cycle for small ruminants, and to describe potential differences between goats and sheep, hence contributing to a better description of mammary gland development during lactation for these two poorly studied species.

A comparison of individual cow versus group concentrate allocation strategies on dry matter intake, milk production, tissue changes, and fertility of Holstein-Friesian cows offered a grass silage diet

A diverse range of concentrate allocation strategies are adopted on dairy farms. The objectives of this study were to examine the effects on cow performance [dry matter (DM) intake (DMI), milk yield and composition, body tissue changes, and fertility] of adopting 2 contrasting concentrate allocation strategies over the first 140 d of lactation. Seventy-seven Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were allocated to 1 of 2 concentrate allocation strategies at calving, namely group or individual cow. Cows on the group strategy were offered a mixed ration comprising grass silage and concentrates in a 50:50 ratio on a DM basis. Cows on the individual cow strategy were offered a basal mixed ration comprising grass silage and concentrates (the latter included in the mix to achieve a mean intake of 6 kg/cow per day), which was formulated to meet the cow’s energy requirements for maintenance plus 24 kg of milk/cow per day. Additional concentrates were offered via an out-of-parlor feeding system, with the amount offered adjusted weekly based on each individual cow’s milk yield during the previous week. In addition, all cows received a small quantity of straw in the mixed ration part of the diet (approximately 0.3 kg/cow per day), plus 0.5 kg of concentrate twice daily in the milking parlor. Mean concentrate intakes over the study period were similar with each of the 2 allocation strategies (11.5 and 11.7 kg of DM/cow per day for group and individual cow, respectively), although the pattern of intake with each treatment differed over time. Concentrate allocation strategy had no effect on either milk yield (39.3 and 38.0 kg/d for group and individual cow, respectively), milk composition, or milk constituent yield. The milk yield response curves with each treatment were largely aligned with the concentrate DMI curves. Cows on the individual cow treatment had a greater range of concentrate DMI and milk yields than those on the group treatment. With the exception of a tendency for cows on the individual cow treatment to lose more body weight to nadir than cows on the group treatment, concentrate allocation strategy had little effect on either body weight or body condition score over the experimental period. Cows on the individual cow treatment had a higher pregnancy rate to first and second service and tended to have a higher 100-d in calf rate than cows on the group treatment. This study demonstrates that concentrate allocation strategy had little effect on overall production performance.

Peach brown rot incidence related to pathogen infection at different stages of fruit development in an organic peach production system

Brown rot, caused by Monilinia fructicola, is the most widespread disease for organic peach production systems in Brazil. The objective of this study was to determine the favorable periods for latent infection by M. fructicola in organic systems. The field experiment was carried out during 2006, 2007 and 2008 using the cultivar Aurora. After thinning fruits were bagged using white paraffin bags, and the treatments were performed by removing the bags and exposing the fruit for four days to the natural infection during each of seven fruit stages from pit hardening to harvest. Throughout the entire growing season, the conidial density and the weather variables were measured and related to the disease incidence using multiple regression analyses. At the fourth day after harvest in each season, the cumulative disease incidence was assessed, and it ranged from 40 to 98%. The incidence of brown rot on fruit that were exposed during the embryo growing stage was lower than that of unbagged fruit throughout the entire season in 2006 and 2008. The relative humidity and the conidia density were significantly correlated to disease incidence. Based on our results, M. fructicola can infect peaches during any stage of fruit development, and control of the disease must be revised to account for organic peach production systems. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of sodium chloride supplementation on the milk production of grazing Holstein Friesian cows during summer and autumn in a humid sub-tropical environment

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of including NaCl at various rates in grain-based supplements for Friesian cows grazing established, dominant (>90%), rainfed kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum cv. Common) pastures during summer and autumn in a humid sub-tropical environment. In study 1 (19 January-27 March 1998), 48 cows (36 multiparous, 12 primiparous; 27-96 days postpartum) were allocated to one of four groups based on genetic merit, milk production, liveweight (LW) and days postpartum. They were fed (2.7 kg dry matter (DM) per cow, twice-a-day) one of four isoenergetic and isonitrogenous barley grain-based concentrates containing NaCl at concentrations (% as-fed) of either 0 (SC1), 1.1 (SC2), 2.2 (SC3) or 3.3 (SC4). Maximum temperature humidity index (THImax) was greater than or equal to78 during 50% of the experimental period. Concentrate NaCl content had no effect (P>0.05) on daily milk yield or LW change but daily yields of 4% fat corrected milk (FCM), fat and protein were higher (P0.05) among treatments at 7.6+/-1.24 kg DM per cow. In study 2 (18 January 1999-1 March 1999), 48 cows (32 pluriparous, 16 primiparous: 32-160 days postpartum) were fed (2.7 kg DM per cow twice-a-day) one of two isoenergetic and isonitrogenous barley grain-based concentrates containing NaCl at concentrations (% as-fed) of 0 (control) or 2.2 (HSC). THImax was greater than or equal to78 during 34% of days in the experimental period. Yields of milk, FCM, fat and protein were lower (P0.05) by concentrate NaCl content. These studies indicate that NaCl supplementation can be beneficial in terms of milk production during warm, humid conditions as opposed to milder conditions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of level of dietary protein on the milk production and rumen physiology of dairy cows fed a diet based on a tropical grass hay

zFour rumen-fistulated, multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows in early lactation were offered mixed diets based on rhodes grass hay (Chloris gayana) cv. Callide containing 13, 14, 15 or 16% crude protein (CP) on a dry matter basis, in a 4 x 4 latin square design. The estimated undegradable protein concentration in these diets was similar with rumen degradable protein concentration varying. Cows fed a diet containing 13% CP had lower (P = 0.07) milk yields than cows in other treatments (20.4 vs 21.9, 22.0 and 22.2 L/d for 13, 14, 15 and 16% CP, respectively). A positive linear relationship was found (P = 0.06) between organic matter intake and dietary CP%. There were negative linear relationships between dietary CP% and digestibilities of dry matter (P = 0.09), organic matter (P = 0.06) and neutral detergent fibre (P = 0.02). Feeding a diet containing 13% CP resulted in significantly lower (P = 0.001) molar proportions (%) of rumen valerate in comparison with other treatments. The molar proportions of isovalerate differed (P = 0.001) between treatments (0.66, 0.78, 0.89 and 1.04%) for 13, 14, 15 and 16% CP, respectively). Dietary protein level had no effect on rates of passage, in situ digestion of rhodes grass hay or ratios of allantoin: creatinine in urine. These data showed that increasing the dietary CP concentration of lactating cows fed diets based on rhodes grass hay increased intakes and not significantly improved at dietary CP concentrations above 14% DM.

Palco: a multisensor realtime 3D cartoon production system

This paper presents Palco, a prototype system specifically designed for the production of 3D cartoon animations. The system addresses the specific problems of producing cartoon animations, where the main obj ective is not to reproduce realistic movements, but rather animate cartoon characters with predefined and characteristic body movements and facial expressions. The techniques employed in Palco are simple and easy to use, not requiring any invasive or complicated motion capture system, as both body motion and facial expression of actors are captured simultaneously, using an infrared motion detection sensor, a regular camera and a pair of electronically instrumented gloves. The animation process is completely actor-driven, with the actor controlling the character movements, gestures, facial expression and voice, all in realtime. The actor controlled cartoonification of the captured facial and body motion is a key functionality of Palco, and one that makes it specifically suited for the production of cartoon animations.

Risk of employing an evolvable production system

Nowadays manufacturing companies are facing a more challenging environment due to the unpredictability of the markets in order to survive. Enterprises need to keep innovating and deliver products with new internal or external characteristics. There are strategies and solutions, to different organisational level from strategic to operational, when technology is growing faster in operational level, more specifically in manufacturing system. This means that companies have to deal with the changes of the emergent manufacturing systems while it can be expensive and not easy to be implement. An agile manufacturing system can help to cope with the markets changeability. Evolvable Production Systems (EPS) is an emergent paradigm which aims to bring new solutions to deal with changeability. The proposed paradigm is characterised by modularity and intends to introduce high flexibility and dynamism at shop floor level through the use of the evolution of new computational devices and technology. This new approach brings to enterprises the ability to plug and unplug new devices and allowing fast reformulation of the production line without reprogramming. There is no doubt about the advantages and benefits of this emerging technology but the feasibility and applicability is still under questioned. Most researches in this area are focused on technical side, explaining the advantages of those systems while there are no sufficient works discussing the implementation risks from different perspective, including business owner. The main objective of this work is to propose a methodology and model to identify, classify and measure potential risk associated with an implementation of this emergent paradigm. To quantify the proposed comprehensive risk model, an Intelligent Decision system is developed employing Fuzzy Inference System to deal with the knowledge of experts, as there are no historical data and sufficient research on this area. The result can be the vulnerability assessment of implementing EPS technology in manufacturing companies when the focus is more on SMEs. The present dissertation used the experts’ knowledge and experiences, who were involved in FP7 project IDEAS, which is one of the leading projects in this area.

Economic impacts of alternative water policy scenarios in the Spanish production system: an input-output analysis

The objective of this paper is to analyse the economic impacts of alternative water policies implemented in the Spanish production system. The methodology uses two versions of the input-output price model: a competitive formulation and a mark-up formulation. The input-output framework evaluates the impact of water policy measures on production prices, consumption prices, intermediate water demand and private welfare. Our results show that a tax on the water used by sectors considerably reduces the intermediate water demand, and increases the production and consumption prices. On the other hand, according to Jevons' paradox, an improvement in technical efficiency, which leads to a reduction in the water requirements of all sectors and an increase in water production, increases the amount of water consumed. The combination of a tax on water and improved technical efficiency takes the pressure off prices and significantly reduces intermediate water demand. JEL Classification: C67 ; D57 ; Q25. Keywords: Production prices; Consumption prices; Water uses; Water policy; Water taxation.

Economic impact of alternative policy measures implemented on the energy activities of the Catalan production system: an input-output analysis

The aim of the paper is to analyse the economic impact of alternative policies implemented on the energy activities of the Catalan production system. Specifically, we analyse the effects of a tax on intermediate energy uses, a reduction in the final production of energy, and a reduction in intermediate energy uses. The methodology involves two versions of the input-output price model: a competitive price formulation and a mark-up price formulation. The input-output price framework will make it possible to evaluate how the alternative measures modify production prices, consumption prices, private welfare, and intermediate energy uses. The empirical application is for the Catalan economy and uses economic data for the year 2001.

Scenarios for the milk production chain in Brazil in 2020

Brazilian milk production has grown steadily and in 2004 the country became self-sufficient in dairy production. This article develops possible scenarios for the milk production chain in Brazil for the year 2020 in order to contribute to decisions that must be made by stakeholders. A literature review on foresight and the use of scenarios was conducted, and a scenario writing approach based on Wright and Spers (2006) was adopted, which includes the use of the Delphi method, Michael Porter's Five Competitive Forces model, Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) (WRIGHT, 1991) and quantitative projections. This methodology provided four scenarios, with quantitative and qualitative elements: two exploratory scenarios ("milk, the new agribusiness star" and "a wasted future"), a most probable scenario ("continuous but uneven growth") and a desired scenario ("competitive family agriculture"). Overall, it is possible to note many market opportunities, as well as niche markets and the strengthening of cooperatives. Future prospects are also favorable to the dairy industry in general, but nearly all scenarios point to a concentration in the industrial sphere.