Influence of somatic cell count in heifers on lifetime milk yield and disease management

The aim was to assess the impact of milk somatic cell count (SCC) during the first lactation on the lifetime milk production of cows, and therefore estimate potential savings through heifer mastitis control. Cow level SCC over the first lactation was summarised as SCC between 5 and 30 days in milk (SCC1), and the geometric mean and variance of first lactation SCC. The impact of SCC1 on cumulative milk yield over different time periods was assessed for cows in Irish, English, and Welsh dairy herds. The impact of SCC1 and the geometric mean and variance of first lactation SCC on lifetime milk yield, and the association between SCC1 and disposal risk were assessed for cows in Irish dairy herds. Increase in SCC throughout the first lactation was associated with large reductions in the milk yield of cows, and increased disposal risk. Bayesian micro-simulation was used to demonstrate the impact in different herd scenarios. This was extended to synthesise evidence on potential savings using previous research, to estimate the economic impact of specific interventions to reduce the prevalence of cows with high SCC1. There was considerable variation between herds in the apparent impact of SCC1 on SCC throughout the first lactation, indicating the importance of a herd specific approach to control. ‘Cost effectiveness’ of interventions to reduce the prevalence of cows with high SCC1, was found to be highly dependent on the willingness of decision makers to pay for control measures. Increase in herd size was associated with increase in cow SCC, highlighting a need for improved management of mastitis when expansion is planned. An important component of this should be through monitoring and control of mastitis in heifers, especially those in spring-calving Irish dairy herds

Constraints in Production and Marketing of Arecanut in Salem District of Tamil Nadu, India

Arecanut is an important cash crop in our country. The study was carried out to ascertain the constraints faced by arecanut farmers in Salem district of Tamil Nadu with a sample size of 120, by employing proportionate random sampling technique. Majority of the respondents expressed lack of specific grading of nuts in marketing as a constraint. More than three-fourths of the respondents suggested that there should be a mechanism to regulate import of nuts from other countries and to create market potential for nuts in the local markets

Influence of somatic cell count in heifers on lifetime milk yield and disease management

The aim was to assess the impact of milk somatic cell count (SCC) during the first lactation on the lifetime milk production of cows, and therefore estimate potential savings through heifer mastitis control. Cow level SCC over the first lactation was summarised as SCC between 5 and 30 days in milk (SCC1), and the geometric mean and variance of first lactation SCC. The impact of SCC1 on cumulative milk yield over different time periods was assessed for cows in Irish, English, and Welsh dairy herds. The impact of SCC1 and the geometric mean and variance of first lactation SCC on lifetime milk yield, and the association between SCC1 and disposal risk were assessed for cows in Irish dairy herds. Increase in SCC throughout the first lactation was associated with large reductions in the milk yield of cows, and increased disposal risk. Bayesian micro-simulation was used to demonstrate the impact in different herd scenarios. This was extended to synthesise evidence on potential savings using previous research, to estimate the economic impact of specific interventions to reduce the prevalence of cows with high SCC1. There was considerable variation between herds in the apparent impact of SCC1 on SCC throughout the first lactation, indicating the importance of a herd specific approach to control. ‘Cost effectiveness’ of interventions to reduce the prevalence of cows with high SCC1, was found to be highly dependent on the willingness of decision makers to pay for control measures. Increase in herd size was associated with increase in cow SCC, highlighting a need for improved management of mastitis when expansion is planned. An important component of this should be through monitoring and control of mastitis in heifers, especially those in spring-calving Irish dairy herds

Association between somatic cell count early in the first lactation and the lifetime milk yield of cows in Irish dairy herds

Change in lifetime milk yield is an important component of the cost of diseases in dairy cows. Knowledge of the likelihood and scale of potential savings through disease prevention measures is important to evaluate how much expenditure on control measures is rational. The aim of this study was to assess the association between somatic cell count (SCC) at 5 to 30 d in milk during parity 1 (SCC1), and lifetime milk yield for cows in Irish dairy herds. The data set studied included records from 53,652 cows in 5,922 Irish herds. This was split into 2 samples of 2,500 and 3,422 herds at random. Linear models with lifetime milk yield and first-lactation milk yield as the outcomes and random effects to account for variation between herds were fitted to the data for the first sample of herds; data for the second sample were used for cross-validation. The models were developed in a Bayesian framework to include all uncertainty in posterior predictions and parameters were estimated from 10,000 Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. The final model was a good fit to the data and appeared generalizable to other Irish herds. A unit increase in the natural logarithm of SCC1 was associated with a median decrease in lifetime milk yield of 864kg, and a median decrease in first-lactation milk yield of 105kg. To clarify the meaning of the results in context, microsimulation was used to model the trajectory of individual cows, and evaluate the expected outcomes for particular changes in the herd-level prevalence of cows with SCC1 ≥400,000cells/mL. Differences in mean lifetime milk yield associated with these changes were multiplied by an estimated gross margin for each cow to give the potential difference in milk revenue. Results were presented as probabilities of savings; for example, a 75% probability of savings of at least€97 or€115/heifer calved into the herd existed if the prevalence of cows with SCC1 ≥400,000cells/mL was reduced from ≥20 to <10 or <5%, respectively, and at least€71/heifer calved into the herd if the prevalence of cows with SCC1 ≥400,000cells/mL was reduced from ≥10 to <5%. The results indicate large differences in lifetime milk yield, depending on SCC early in the first lactation and the findings can be used to assess where specific interventions to control heifer mastitis prepartum are likely to be cost effective. Key words: dairy heifer, somatic cell count, lifetime milk yiel

Polymorphisms in the circadian expressed genes PER3 and ARNTL2 are associated with diurnal preference and GNβ3 with sleep measures

Sleep and circadian rhythms are intrinsically linked, with several sleep traits, including sleep timing and duration, influenced by both sleep homeostasis and the circadian phase. Genetic variation in several circadian genes has been associated with diurnal preference (preference in timing of sleep), although there has been limited research on whether they are associated with other sleep measurements. We investigated whether these genetic variations were associated with diurnal preference (Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire) and various sleep measures, including: the global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index score; sleep duration; and sleep latency and sleep quality. We genotyped 10 polymorphisms in genes with circadian expression in participants from the G1219 sample (n = 966), a British longitudinal population sample of young adults. We conducted linear regressions using dominant, additive and recessive models of inheritance to test for associations between these polymorphisms and the sleep measures. We found a significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in period homologue 3 (PER3) (P < 0.005, recessive model) and a novel nominally significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like 2 (ARNTL2) (P < 0.05, additive model). We found that a polymorphism in guanine nucleotide binding protein beta 3 (GNβ3) was associated significantly with global sleep quality (P < 0.005, recessive model), and that a rare polymorphism in period homologue 2 (PER2) was associated significantly with both sleep duration and quality (P < 0.0005, recessive model). These findings suggest that genes with circadian expression may play a role in regulating both the circadian clock and sleep homeostasis, and highlight the importance of further studies aimed at dissecting the specific roles that circadian genes play in these two interrelated but unique behaviours

Molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus uberis clinical mastitis in dairy herds: strain heterogeneity and transmission

Multi Locus Sequence Typing was successfully completed on 494 isolates of S. uberis from clinical mastitis cases in a study of 52 commercial dairy herds over a 12 month period. In total, 195 sequence types (STs) were identified. S. uberis mastitis cases occurring in different cows within the same herd and attributed to a common ST were classified as 'potential transmission events' (PTE). Clinical cases attributed to 35 of the 195 STs identified in this study were classified PTE. PTE were identified in 63% of herds. PTE associated cases, which include the first recorded occurrence of that ST in that herd (Index case) and all persistent infections with that PTE ST represented 40% of all the clinical mastitis cases and occurred in 63% of herds. PTE associated cases accounted for over 50% of all S. uberis clinical mastitis cases in 33% of herds. Nine sequence types (ST 5, 6, 20, 22, 24, 35, 233, 361, and 512), eight of which grouped within a clonal complex (sharing at least four alleles), were statistically overrepresented (OVR STs). The findings indicate that 38% of all clinical mastitis cases and 63% of the potential transmission events attributed to S. uberis in dairy herds may be caused by the nine most prevalent strains. The findings suggest that to a small subset of sequence types are disproportionally important in the epidemiology of S. uberis mastitis in the UK with cow to cow transmission of S. uberis potentially occurring in the majority of UK herds and may be the most important route of infection in many herds

Augmented reality meeting table: a novel multi-user interface for architectural design

Immersive virtual environments have received widespread attention as providing possible replacements for the media and systems that designers traditionally use, as well as, more generally, in providing support for collaborative work. Relatively little attention has been given to date however to the problem of how to merge immersive virtual environments into real world work settings, and so to add to the media at the disposal of the designer and the design team, rather than to replace it. In this paper we report on a research project in which optical see-through augmented reality displays have been developed together with prototype decision support software for architectural and urban design. We suggest that a critical characteristic of multi user augmented reality is its ability to generate visualisations from a first person perspective in which the scale of rendition of the design model follows many of the conventions that designers are used to. Different scales of model appear to allow designers to focus on different aspects of the design under consideration. Augmenting the scene with simulations of pedestrian movement appears to assist both in scale recognition, and in moving from a first person to a third person understanding of the design. This research project is funded by the European Commission IST program (IST-2000-28559)