Dairy Resources

Cow behavior is critical for animal well-being and performance and influenced by many factors, such as heat stress. Under thermo-neutral conditions, cows spend half a day lying down and the rest of the time is distributed into standing, feeding and milking. However, when cows are exposed to heat stress, they spend less time lying down but more time standing up. The altered cattle behavior by heat stress may be associated with impaired productive and reproductive performance and an increase in disease incidence.

This publication focuses on the impacts of environmental heat stress on cattle behavior and the possibly related consequences.

This bulletin provides information for producers, nutritionists, and feed industry personnel on formulating diets to maintain or improve milk composition. The value of milk components is increasing more than skim milk, so this topic impacts all dairy farmers. The publication provides information on feeding dairy cows for improved yield of milk components, providing background on how the cow synthesizes milk components and the dietary factors that affect milk component yield.

Antibiotic therapy continues to play an important role in the control of mastitis in dairy cows. Lactational therapy is effective against Streptococcus agalactiae but less successful against infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and other causes of mastitis. As a result, alternative treatment strategies have been developed, including a combination of both intramammary infusion and the parenteral administration (injection) of antibiotics to successfully cure quarters infected with S. aureus. Likewise, extended therapy, which involves prolonged drug administration, has improved cure rates against this organism. Nonantibiotic approaches to treatment have included oxytocin injections, but relapse rates after this form of therapy can be unacceptably high. Dry or nonlactating cow therapy is almost always more successful than lactational therapy because cure rates are higher and new cases of mastitis are prevented. To reduce antibiotic usage, selective dry cow therapy is becoming popular, and teat seals are appealing because they prevent new infections without having to rely on antibiotics.