Investigation into the sensory-behavioural interactions between a dairy camel and a calf during milking

Feral Dromedary camels are increasingly being utilised in Australia and around the world to provide milk for human consumption. There are significant contradictions in the literature concerning the requirement of the presence of a calf for successful milking of the Dromedary camel. The first hypothesis tested in the current study was that presence of her own calf for the dairy camel is more successful than no calf or a non-kin calf, without any contact, for allowing milk let-down prior to machine milking. The second hypothesis was that full physical contact between the dairy camel and her calf is more successful than no calf or a non-kin calf (with contact) for allowing milk let-down prior to machine milking. An additional aim was to investigate the sensory behaviours associated with successful milking of the dairy camel. A total of 9 camels and their respective year-old calves were used in the study. A total of twelve experimental sessions were conducted, six kin sessions and six non-kin sessions. On the kin day, after the cow was situated in the race and the udder was washed, let-down was attempted by manual stimulation firstly without a calf. If let-down was successful, the cow was milked and moved into the release yard with the calf. If let-down was unsuccessful, a transparent plastic barrier was moved into place between the cow race and calf race to block physical contact. The kin calf was let into the calf race and the milker continued to use manual stimulation to elicit milk let-down with the calf present. If let-down was successful, the cow was milked, then both cow and calf were let into the release yard. If let-down was unsuccessful, the barrier was removed, and the calf given full physical contact access to the cow including suckling. This procedure was repeated for the non-kin day. Success of let-down, time taken to let-down and cow and calf behaviours were recorded. There was an overall effect of treatment (χ2=37.2; P<0.0001), with the presence of the kin calf stimulating milk let-down by the cow on 73% (n=64) of attempts, compared to 20% (n=64) for the presence of the non-kin calf and 42% (n=108) when no calf was present. There was also a significant effect of the barrier (χ2=24.8; P<0.0001), for when the barrier placed between the cow and calf, the kin calf elicited milk let-down on 50% of attempts, while the non-kin calf was unable to initiate let-down on any occasion. When the barrier was removed the kin calf successfully initiated let-down on 94% of attempts, while the non-kin calf was only successful on 40% of all attempts. The dominant behaviours associated with let-down were cow and calf vocalisations, vigilance of the cow looking at the calf, and udder nudges. The findings of the current study partially agrees with the majority of literature that stated that the presence of the kin calf was “essential” for achieving milk let-down in Dromedary camels. However, it is clear from this study that it is still possible to achieve milk let-down using no calf or a non-kin calf. This research may act as a platform to launch future study into the management and understanding of Dromedary camels and may be used to improve industry practises within the camel dairy industry

Vitality in Newborn Farm Animals: Adverse Factors, Physiological Responses, Pharmacological Therapies, and Physical Methods to Increase Neonate Vigor

Publication history: Accepted - 29 April 2023; Published - 4 may 2023.Vitality is the vigor newborn animals exhibit during the first hours of life. It can be assessed by a numerical score, in which variables, such as heart rate, respiratory rate, mucous membranes’ coloration, time the offspring took to stand up, and meconium staining, are monitored. Vitality can be affected by several factors, and therapies are used to increase it. This manuscript aims to review and analyze pharmacological and physical therapies used to increase vitality in newborn farm animals, as well as to understand the factors affecting this vitality, such as hypoxia, depletion of glycogen, birth weight, dystocia, neurodevelopment, hypothermia, and finally, the physiological mechanism to achieve thermostability. It has been concluded that assessing vitality immediately after birth is essential to determine the newborn’s health and identify those that need medical intervention to minimize the deleterious effect of intrapartum asphyxia. Vitality assessment should be conducted by trained personnel and adequate equipment. Evaluating vitality could reduce long-term neonatal morbidity and mortality in domestic animals, even if it is sometimes difficult with the current organization of some farms. This review highlights the importance of increasing the number of stock people during the expected days of parturitions to reduce long-term neonatal morbidity and mortality, and thus, improve the farm’s performance.This research received no external funding

Evaluating the Influence of the Inclusion of Liquid Brewers Yeast during Gestation on Ewe and Lamb Performance, Colostrum and Milk Quality, and Transfer of Passive Immunity in Lambs

The microbrewery industry has experienced exponential growth since 2005. As a result, the by-products associated with this industry are becoming increasingly available. One of these by-products is liquid brewers yeast, which is produced in excess during the production of beer. For livestock producers that have access to microbreweries, a potentially economical way to feed their flock would to be repurpose the by-product that would otherwise be disposed. Similarly, microbreweries would benefit from repurposing the liquid brewers yeast as livestock feed, resulting in less waste and a more sustainable beer production system.Researchers have evaluated the effect of liquid brewers yeast supplementation in other species, especially cattle. Literature pertaining to its influence on performance measures, colostrum quality, and the transfer of passive immunity has been inconsistent. Furthermore, while research has investigated the use of liquid brewers yeast in cattle, there is currently limited research on feeding liquid brewers yeast to small ruminants. Due to the lack of literature published, small ruminant producers may be hesitant to utilize liquid brewers yeast in their sheep diets, even though there is an increasing availability of the potentially valuable feed ingredient. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of liquid brewers yeast on late gestation ewe and lamb performance, colostrum quality, and the transfer of passive immunity. In the first experiment, from 4 weeks prior to expected lambing to 4 weeks post-lambing, ewes were group housed and fed either a control diet, or the control diet with liquid brewers yeast included at a rate of 32 g of DM/hd/d. Findings of this research indicated no significant effect of liquid brewers yeast supplementation on ewe body weight (BW; P = 0.31), body condition score (BCS; P = 0.97), and F:G ratio at start of experiment (P = 1.00), prior to lambing (P = 0.82), post lambing (P = 0.94), and at the end of experiment (P = 0.79). Additionally, treatment did not have a significant effect on colostrum or milk quality at 2- or 4-wk post lambing (P = 0.22, P = 0.64, P = 0.13, respectively) or lamb ADG (P = 0.77). In the second experiment, ewes received an increased rate of 60 g of DM/hd/d of liquid brewers yeast. All ewes in this experiment were immunologically challenged with a parainfluenza-3 vaccine and antibody titer levels were monitored throughout the experiment. The supplementation of liquid brewers yeast did not result in significant differences in antibody titer levels (195 for control group and 122 for treatment group; P = 0.30) or colostrum IgG concentrations between control (30.4% Brix) and treatment (24.6% Brix) ewes (P = 0.21). Results from these two studies suggest there are no improvements in animal performance, colostrum quality, or offspring immune status with the rate of liquid brewers yeast provided. However, these findings also suggest that the inclusion of liquid brewers yeast in late gestation diets of sheep does not negatively affect the parameters evaluated. Additional research is warranted to identify what level of liquid brewers yeast supplementation may have a beneficial effect on sheep and lamb performance, colostrum and milk quality, and the transfer of passive immunity in lambs

Lactation in Farm Animals

Greater knowledge of lactation allows us to alter environmental, nutritional, and milking procedures, or general management to maximize production. This book, focusing on lactation in farm animals (biology, physiological basis, nutritional requirements, and modelization), presents invited papers from internationally recognized scientists. This volume contains seven chapters covering the key topics related to milk production and lactation biology and physiology. The authors show that animals raised on a well-controlled nutrition regimen may have significant enhancement of succeeding lactations. Furthermore, the usefulness of a milk yield prediction system depends upon how accurately it can predict daily milking patterns and its ability to adjust to factors affecting supply. Milk yield prediction models have proven helpful for genetic analysis and for bio-economic modeling. On the whole, this book serves as an inspirational basis for both scientists and farmers

SERUM AMYLOID A IN RUMINANTS: DIAGNOSTIC VALUE AND FOOD CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENT

The aims of the work presented in this thesis were to investigate the bovine acute phase protein Serum Amyloid A, focussing on its value as safety marker in farm animals. SAA can be considered as a natural anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agent and local expression of SAA, at the site of the initial acute phase reaction, could protect against the deleterious effects of inflammation. In this study whether SAA can be isolated from tissues of bovine with clinical amyloidosis was investigated. We also investigated if AA fibrils present in milk can be then found in cheese after caseification, i.e. if the process of ripeining can degrade the AA fibrils. In bovine, SAA was identified as potential marker of mastitis, and SAA milk concentration in milk increases before the raising of somatic cells. In this thesis two aspect of the involvement of SAA in food safety were explored: a)the acute phase reaction, strongly focused on the mammary gland. The animal model chosen was water buffalo, since no information is available so far about the acute phase reaction in this species. The acute phase proteins sequences are unknown, and also their concentration in physiological and pathological conditions are not established. b)The possibility that high concentration of SAA in milk induce the formation of amyloid fibrils, which are considered to be potentially dangerous for human safety. Results presented in this thesis advanced the knowledge of the acute phase reaction in water buffalo: the five APPs included in this investigation, namely Serum amyloid A, Haptoglobin, Ceruloplasmin, \u3b11-acid glycoprotein and Lipolysaccaride Binding Protein were sequenced for the first time, and two of them were quantified. In the second part of the thesis, we purified amyloid fibrils from amyloidosis-affected cows, and added purified fibrils at a given concentration in milk before ripening. Results demonstrated the presence of insoluble fibrils in cheese added with amyloid proteins, even if a lower amount of precipitated insoluble SAA could be detected also in negative control cheese

Mastitis problem in East and Southern Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Abstract available in pdf

Vitamin C status in Sudanese camels

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which is a potent antioxidant, recently has received a great deal of attention because of its positive action on the immune response and disease resistance of animals. Brief reviews are presented on ascorbic acid metabolism in animals and its relation with stressful conditions. The original research in this thesis is concerned mainly with the identification of various factors that are related with vitamin C status in Sudanese camels (Camelus dromedarius) kept under natural grazing conditions. The study was conducted in the Butana area, Central Sudan. As indicators of vitamin C status, the concentrations of ascorbic acid in blood, leukocytes, organs and milk were used. Irrespective of the season, the highest tissue ascorbic acid levels were observed in adrenals and liver, and the lowest levels were in heart. There were breed variations in vitamin C status, Arabi camels having the highest plasma ascorbic acid concentrations and Bisharis the lowest, the Anafis showing intermediate values. In the Sudanese camels, gender did not affect plasma ascorbic acid concentrations. However, female camels excreted more ascorbic acid with urine than did males. The breeding season was associated with a reduction of vitamin C status in both males and females. Estrus versus non-estrus was associated with high plasma and leukocyte ascorbic acid concentrations. Lactating Arabi camels had higher plasma and leukocyte ascorbic acid levels than did their pregnant counterparts. The stage of lactation was associated with plasma vitamin C levels, the levels being higher when the animals were more than 180 days in lacatation. The ascorbic acid levels in milk parallelled those in plasma. Multiparous camels had higher ascorbic acid concentrations in their milk than did primiparous animals. New-born calves had higher plasma ascorbic acid concentrations than their dams. In the calves, plasma ascorbic acid declined as from birth and had stabilized after four weeks. In the dams, plasma ascorbic acid rose from parturition and reached a steady value after four weeks. Colostrum contained more ascorbic acid than milk. The simulated habitual diet of Sudanese camels, when compared with alfalfa as sole source of nutrition, lowered plasma and leukocyte levels of ascorbic acid. Infections due to sarcoptic mange, helminthiasis and trypanosomiasis were associated with a lowering of vitamin C status, the latter infection having the greatest impact. Brucellosis was associated with a reduction of ascorbic acid status and was so mastitis. It is assumed that ascorbic acid status is a reflection of disease resistance. The data may also indicate that infectious diseases may further lower disease resistance and that female camels in non-estrus versus those in estrus, pregnant versus lactating, non-pregnant camels, breeding versus non-breeding animals and Bishari versus Arabi and Anafi camels might be more sensitive to disease. Dietary supplements should be identified that enhance vitamin C status in Sudanese camels as their habitual, free-range diet tends to lower the status

Body Condition and Productivity, Health and Welfare

This reprint focuses on applied research on growth traits, fat reserves, fatty acid profiles and enriched diets and their effects on reproduction, health status and welfare. The studies contained in the volume have been carried out in both monogastric organisms and ruminants, fish, broilers or pigeons. Fundamental studies with rats or mice are also presented. The reader will find novel research about the effects of the degree of fatness and muscularity determined by ultrasound method on sows´ reproductive performance, genetic studies on fatty acid profiles and growth traits in rabbits and Gilthead Seabream; nutritional studies addressing diets enriched with bee pollen in rats, postbiotics in male rabbits, concentrate and bypass supplementations in buffaloes; and interesting studies on the welfare assessment of meat sheep, rabbits, racing pigeons, broilers, alpacas and llamas using body condition measurements