Effects of a ruminally protected B vitamin supplement on milk yield and composition of lactating dairy cows

It is not clear if B vitamins supplied to the small intestine of dairy cows from dietary and rumen microbial sources are provided in sufficient quantity to maximize animal performance. Our objective was to determine effects of adding a ruminally protected B vitamin blend supplement, containing biotin, folic acid, pantothenic acid and pyridoxine, to the diet of high producing dairy cows on their productivity. Two dairy facilities located in California (USA) were used, one with mid lactation Holstein cows (Experiment 1) and the other with early lactation Holstein cows (Experiment 2). In each Experiment, cows were randomly assigned to treatment in a 2×2 crossover design with 28 d (Experiment 1) or 35 d (Experiment 2) experimental periods. In Experiment 1, milk and milk fat yield were unaffected by treatment, although milk fat proportion was lower (37.1 versus 36.3 g/kg; P<0.01), but milk protein yield was higher (1.21 versus 1.24 kg/d; P=0.02) in cows fed B vitamins. In Experiment 2, milk (39.60 versus 40.46 kg/d; P=0.02), milk fat (1.40 versus 1.47 kg/d; P<0.01) and milk protein yield (1.10 versus 1.16 kg/d; P<0.01), as well as milk energy output (113.2 versus 117.8 MJ/d; P<0.01) were all higher with B vitamin feeding. Body condition score (BCS) increasedmore with B vitamin feeding in Experiment 2, but was unaffected in Experiment 1. Body locomotion score (BLS) increased with B vitamin feeding in both experiments (P=0.01 and < 0.01, respectively), possibly an indication of reduced locomotory ability.Overall, productivity of high producing lactating dairy cows responded positively to feeding a mixture of ruminally protected B vitamins, although differences in the extent of the positive responses between experiments perhaps suggests that early lactation cows, with lower DM intake to milk yield ratios, may be more responsive to ruminally protected B vitamins than mid lactation cows, with higher DM intake to milk yield ratios

Understanding revenge pornography: public perceptions of revenge pornography and victim blaming

Purpose: The disclosure of private images with the intent of causing distress is often described as ‘revenge pornography’. In the UK, this newly legislated crime has received a high level of media attention following several high profile cases, however there is a paucity of research in this area. Methods: 168 adults (UK general public) completed an online survey using a vignette approach. Views of the influence of perpetrator-victim relationship length and reason for termination were considered alongside perception of an offence, the necessity of police intervention, what extent revenge pornography creates psychological harm in victims, and victim blaming. Findings: Perpetrator-victim relationship length and reason for relationship breakdown did not influence perceptions of victim blame. Participants believed that the situation described in the vignettes was likely to be an offence, and that police intervention is somewhat necessary. Participants believed that the scenario was ‘very likely’ to create fear, and ‘moderately likely’ to create psychological/mental harm in victims. In line with the literature relating to stalking and sexual assault, men blamed the victim significantly more than women. Furthermore, women rated police intervention significantly more necessary than men. Implications: The public are recognising that revenge pornography is an offence, with consequences being fear and psychological harm, showing an awareness of the impact on victims. However, there are sex differences in the perceptions of revenge pornography and victim blame and this could be addressed by raising awareness of this crime. This research, which highlights that the public are aware of some of the harm caused, may encourage victims in coming forward to report such a crime. Originality: There is a paucity of research into revenge pornography, and this study is one of the first in this area

Rumen microbial protein flow and plasma amino acid concentrations in early lactation multiparity Holstein cows fed commercial rations, and some relationships with dietary nutrients

Common contemporary diet formulation methods involve factorial or empirical models which simulate ruminal fermentation and post ruminal absorption to predict nutrient supply and needs. However, due to their inability to encompass all animal factors that affect digestion and absorption, metabolic models inadequately predict microbial protein (MCP) synthesis in the rumen and passage of nutrients such as protein and amino acids (AA) to the small intestine. Practical and simple on-farm methods to obtain “real time” values directly from cows are required to establish normal ranges of MCP flow from the rumen and plasma AA concentrations on commercial dairy farms. Urine purine derivative (PD) output, an index of MCP supply to the intestine when analyzed in spot urine samples, can accurately predict MCP flow from the rumen under farm conditions. Blood sampling from the tail vein is easily performed on commercial dairy farms and concentrations of free AA in these plasma samples, representative of intestinally absorbed AA, can be used as an index to predict limiting AA. A group of 20 commercial dairy farms, milking 2677 + 372 cows either 2 or 3 times a day were selected and one of their early lactation pens holding 255 + 20 cows were used to represent the range of nutritional strategies and rations fed to California dairy cows. On the day of sampling, one load of early lactation total mixed ration (TMR) was sampled and 20 pre-selected cows were body condition scored (BCS). Directly after scoring, the 4 cows with the highest, and the 4 cows with the lowest BCS values were removed to collect 12 tail vein blood samples from the group with average BCS scores. Spot urine samples were collected from all voluntarily urinating cows (retaining 6 to 12 samples/pen to match the characteristics of the cows pre-selected for BCS scoring and blood sampling). Most rations contained alfalfa hay, corn silage, almond hulls, corn dried distillers grains, corn grain, cottonseed, canola meal (solvent) and a mineral premix. Selected cow groups produced 45 ± 1.2 kg milk/day at 73 ± 0.5 days in milk with a BCS of 2.6 + 0.04 at 2.8 lactations. There were no correlations between MCP and milk production, but MCP flow from the rumen was correlated to organic matter and neutral detergent fiber content of the TMR (P<0.01 and P=0.03 respectively). Plasma AA concentrations were correlated with rumen undegradable crude protein (CP) and starch content of the TMR, with many inter-correlations among AA, but no plasma AA concentration was correlated to milk production. Results show that 8 urine samples and 6 blood samples/group provided accurate representation of the group. This study documents ranges of MCP flowing from the rumen (1703 ± 54.6 g CP/day), and plasma AA levels (with low variation within AA), in early lactation multiparity Holstein cows fed a range of contemporary dairy rations with multiple ingredient profile combinations. Since farms selected were well managed operations with cow groups selected to represent averages in early lactation, this data can be used as a benchmark for high, low and mean levels of MCP flow, and plasma AA concentrations, as well as provide real time evaluation of rations to identify possible rumen microbial growth and/or absorbable AA issues in commercial dairy cows.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/livsci2017-08-31hb2016Animal and Wildlife Science

Effects of ruminally protected methionine and/or phenylalanine on performance of high producing Holstein cows fed rations with very high levels of canola meal

Canola meal is the second largest protein feed in the Northern latitudes and inclusion levels in dairy rations are expected to increase due to projected large increases in production of canola seed in Canada. However, a recent study (Swanepoel et al. 2014) showed that even though higher inclusions of canola meal (CM) had a positive effect on production when CM directly substituted for high protein corn based dried distillers grains (DDG), that there was an optimum point at 120 to 135 g/kg of diet dry matter (DM) after which animal performance seemed to decline. Only the amino acids (AA), methionine (Met), phenylalanine (Phe) and leucine (Leu) could have limited production based upon plasma AA concentrations at the highest CM inclusion level. Our objective was to determine if either Met or Phe, or both, was limiting performance of early lactation dairy cows fed a ration containing 180 g/kg of diet DM as CM, by supplementing a calculated target of 7.5 g of intestinally absorbable Phe/cow/d and/or 8.0 g of intestinally absorbable Met/cow/d in ruminally protected (RP) forms to four pens of ~320 early lactation cows/pen in a 4 x 4 Latin square with 28 d experimental periods. Dry matter intake was not affected (avg: 27.6 +/- 0.4 kg/d) by feeding either of the RP AA, or the combination. Phenylalanine supplementation alone had no effect on milk production or composition, and body condition score (BCS) change compared to Control. Supplemental Met alone modestly increased (P<0.01) milk protein and fat content, while decreasing (P<0.01) milk lactose content and yield, but with no impact on BCS change compared to Control. Combination Met and Phe supplementation decreased milk and lactose yields, as well as lactose content (P<0.01), while increasing milk protein content and the BCS change (P<0.01). Urine volume (avg: 16.7 +/- 0.31 L/d) and flow of microbial protein (MCP) from the rumen (avg: 2092 +/- 52.7 g CP/d) were not affected by any treatment. Plasma Met levels increased (P<0.01) with both Met treatments and plasma tryptophan (Trp) levels decreased (P<0.01) with both Phe treatments. However, plasma Phe levels did not change with any treatment. Results are interpreted to suggest that delivery of Met with RP Met feeding was higher than animal requirements and caused an oversupply of Met. Addition of Phe to the Met supplementation changed the way energy was utilized by the cows, redirecting energy liberated by Met from milk components toward BCS gain. It remains unclear if Phe was limiting in the Control ration or if RP Phe was not fed at high enough levels to have a measurable response on production. However, it is clear that AA limitations, requirements and production responses are governed by much more than plasma AA levels. Results further suggest that AA are bioactive metabolites to the extent that they can change animal performance, even when they are not „limiting‟ per se, and that their supplementation to practical dairy cattle diets should be approached with extreme caution for this reason. Keywords: Spot urine purine; Estimated microbial flow; Plasma amino acids; Protein feeding. Abbreviations: AA, amino acid; ADF, acid detergent fiber; ADICP, AD insoluble CP; ADIN, acid detergent insoluble N; AL, allantoin; aNDF, amylase-treated NDF; aNDFom, aNDF free of residual ash; BCS, body condition score; BCAA, branched-chain AA; BW, body weight; CM, canola meal; CP, crude protein; CR, creatinine; DC305, DairyComp 305 management system; DDG, dried distillers grains; DHIA, Dairy Herd Improvement Association; DIM, days in milk; DM, dry matter; MCP, microbial CP; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; NEL, net energy for lactation; OM, organic matter; PD, purine derivatives; RDP, rumen degradable CP; RP, rumen protected; SCC, somatic cell count; SG, specific gravity; TMR, total mixed ration; TP, true protein.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anifeedsci2016-07-31hb2016Animal and Wildlife Science

Determining the optimal ratio of canola meal and high protein dried distillers grain protein in diets of high producing Holstein dairy cows

Use of canola meal (CM) and dried corn distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as major supplemental protein sources are common practice in North American dairy rations and usage of both is projected to increase in the future. Since limited data is available on performance of cows fed diets with different ratios of CM and DDGS, our objective was to determine the optimal ratio of CM to DDGS protein in a contemporary lactation dairy ration by feeding combinations of CM and high protein DDG (HPDDG) to early lactation multiparity dairy cows. The experiment was a 4×4 Latin square with 28 d periods using four pens of ∼320 high producing cows/pen. Treatments were created by varying the amounts of CM and HPDDG added on a DM basis to be: (1) 0 g/kg CM and 200 g/kg HPDDG, (2) 65 g/kg CM and 135 g/kg HPDDG, (3) 135 g/kg CM and 65 g/kg HPDDG, (4) 200 g/kg CM and 0 g/kg HPDDG. Dry matter intake was not affected by the CM/HPDDG ratio in the ration. Milk and lactose yield, true protein (TP) content and yield, milk fat yield as well as milk energy output increased at a decreasing rate with a higher CM/HPDDG ratio. Maximum values for milk and TP yield were at ∼135 g/kg CM, while lactose, TP content and milk energy were maximized at ∼120 g/kg CM inclusion. Milk fat content and milk energy density decreased linearly with higher CM inclusion. Body condition score change responded quadratically with the highest gain at ∼120 g/kg CM inclusion. The purine derivative to creatinine index increased linearly with higher CM inclusion levels, suggesting that microbial protein production (MCP) was limited in the 0 g/kg CM ration and was progressively stimulated by higher feeding levels of CM. Plasma AA levels suggest that the reduction in lysine in dietary protein, together with the decrease in MCP production, resulted in a substantial reduction in lysine available for milk production, thereby limiting performance in the higher HPDDG ration. The only AA which decreased in plasma with higher CM feeding levels were phenylalanine, leucine and methionine. That the level of leucine in the plasma was still decreasing linearly, while methionine and phenylalanine responded quadratically at the 200 g/kg CM treatment, was interpreted to suggest that the leucine supply remained higher than its requirement at the highest CM inclusion level, but that phenylalanine and/or methionine was limiting production in the highest CM ration. Overall, results suggest that the optimum ratio of CM to HPDDG in these diets was with 120–135 g/kg of diet DM from CM.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anifeedscihj201