🍼 Calf feeding and weaning strategies reviewed 🧀 Cheddar preferences 🤖 CattleEye adds BCS

New here? Subscribe to get (curated) dairy industry news (summarized in five minutes or less) delivered to your inbox (for free)!

Review of dairy calf feeding strategies (>30 minute read)

Ninety-six studies evaluating the effect of milk feeding practices on behavior, health, and performance were reviewed and summarized. There is a general consensus in the literature that feeding more milk improves growth rates, does not affect health, and improves behavior as seen through more frequent play and fewer hunger behaviors. Nearly half of studies reported preweaning improvements were not maintained through weaning and postweaning, but this may be a side effect of weaning practices (see next summary). Preweaning starter intake is reduced by higher milk allowances, but the difference resolves postweaning. Calves fed via buckets are more likely to engage in sucking behaviors, including cross-sucking, but show no differences in growth or health. Increased feeding frequency (of the same total milk allowance) did not impact behavior, growth, starter intake, or health; few of these studies evaluated the effect of feeding frequency on higher (>8L/d) milk allowances.

Review of dairy calf weaning strategies (>30 minute read)

Researchers from Aarhus University summarized the available literature (44 articles) on the effect of weaning on performance, behavior, and health. There is a generally positive effect on starter intake and growth when calves are weaned later, over a longer period, based on their starter intake, or using a step-down program. Calves weaned at younger ages were reported to consume more starter, but this result was confounded by the fact that these calves were consuming only solid feed for a greater proportion of the experimental period. The authors also suggest that early weaning (less than eight weeks) should be avoided. Only a minority of studies reported behavioral outcomes and the results were mixed; nonetheless the authors reached a "cautious consensus" that later weaning appears to reduce hunger behaviors. Cross-sucking and play behaviors were not well reported. Health outcomes were either not reported (most studies) or not sufficiently powered to report meaningful differences and no conclusions could be drawn from the results.

Researchers report two undetected human HPAI cases (4 minute read)

Two of 14 serum samples from farm workers exposed to HPAI-infected dairy cows on two Texas dairies in the spring are reported to have tested positive for antibodies against HPAI, indicating a previous infection. Neither of the positive workers are included in the US total of 13 human cases of HPAI. Both workers reported recent respiratory symptoms at the time of sample collection. None of the 17 nasopharyngeal swabs from the same 14 workers, plus three additional that declined submitting serum samples, were positive for HPAI. These findings suggest poor surveillance is allowing human cases of HPAI to go undetected. In the same report, the researchers also found 64% (9/14) milk samples and 2.6% (1/39) nasopharyngeal swabs from dairy cows on the two farms to be positive for the virus.
[My take: these findings may appear to contradict a previous story but both positive workers were or had been symptomatic whereas the CDC concluded there was no evidence of HPAI infection in asymptomatic workers. Both of these studies are extremely small, especially when considering at least 178 herds have confirmed HPAI cases, and larger studies are needed to reach any meaningful conclusions.]

New York co-op plans $150M expansion (3 minute read)

Upstate Niagara Cooperative is planning a $150 million, 250,000 sq. ft., addition to its facility in West Seneca, NY, more than doubling the facility's size. The expansion will provide space for the co-op to triple production, but will initially increase annual production from 125 to 225 million pounds. Demand for cottage cheese and (Greek) yogurt are driving the need for increased capacity.

Consumers prefer light orange cheddar (20 minute read)

Researchers used two online surveys to understand consumers' perception of cheddar cheese's color. The impetus was a current FDA review of the "natural" label on foods and the potential for new restrictions on annatto, an extract of the seeds of the annatto plant used as the coloring agent to give cheddar cheese its orange tint. Overall, consumers preferred light orange cheddar to white or dark orange. White and light orange cheddar were considered to be equal in their "naturalness" and both were viewed as more natural than dark orange cheddar.

AI-enhanced cattle identification and tracking (15 minute read)

A proof-of-concept cattle identification and tracking system was tested on three Japanese farms. The system uses the YOLOv8 model to detect cattle in video footage, followed by processing to track animals in a video stream and identify individual characteristics that link them to known cow records. The approach improves on existing systems by allowing cattle to be tracked and identified in more locations (e.g. a rotary parlor) and through better recognition of black cattle.

CattleEye adds BCS capability (3 minute read)

The CattleEye system was originally launched as an automated locomotion scoring system that differentiated itself by requiring only an inexpensive security camera in the return alley to operate. The company has now expanded the capabilities of the platform with the addition of body condition scoring, using the same camera as the locomotion scoring system. The BCS functionality was validated against experienced veterinarians and published in the Journal of Dairy Science last year. CattleEye users will be able to enable either or both of the scoring algorithms.

Most solar projects have been installed on farmland (1 minute read)

The USDA reports that 3,177 large-scale, commercial solar projects were installed between 2012 and 2020. Most of these projects were placed on cropland (43%), followed by pasture/range land (28%). The Midwest and Atlantic regions had the highest share of solar installed on cropland, while the West and Plains regions mostly consumed pasture/range land. A chart depicting the distribution is available in the article.

Greek feta production threatened by disease outbreak (3 minute read)

Greece and Romania are facing an outbreak of peste de petits ruminants (PPR), a highly contagious disease of sheep and goats. The outbreak was first detected in the Thessaly region of Greece on July 11. It has spread quickly and lead to culling 58,000 sheep and goats. Greek authorities have imposed restrictions on movement to try to contain the outbreak. There is concern that the disease and its control measures may impact production of feta cheese. Greece produces about 140,000 tons of feta annually and exports around 65% of the cheese; 40% of this cheese is produced using sheep and goat milk from Thessaly.