Letter from Carrabassett Valley, Maine: building a trail in the forest isn't as easy as it seems

Maine needs new ways to balance public and private uses of the forest.Recreation - Maine

Influence of Environmental Temperature on Milk Production in the Italian Mediterranean Buffalo

The purpose of this study is to verify the influence of ambient temperature on the percentage of subjects with decreased production, compared to what was recorded in the previous 7-10 days. The data processed in the 2017-2020 period was studied in a company in the lower Caserta area that raises 3000 animals per year, of which 1300 are dairy. All this was possible thanks to the daily collection of production data recorded in the milking parlor, using RFID technology, and then transferred to management software, essential for the farmer for problem-solving decisions. The buffalo is of tropical origin, and there are many factors that influence the production of the Italian Mediterranean buffalo, first of all, seasonality, temperature, health, or the combination of all these elements. For these reasons, it seemed appropriate to focus our attention on the influence of ambient temperature on production. In the first three years of observation, it emerged that as the ambient temperature decreases, the percentage of subjects that recorded a drop in production compared to the previous figure increases. However, this was not found in 2020, when the covered structures were equipped with permanent bedding consisting of straw. This shows that it is important to guarantee the state of well-being so as not to penalize the production of milk for the PDO buffalo mozzarella, which represents an interesting source of income

Current Trends in Buffalo Milk Production

Between 1961 and 2018 on the total number of dairy ruminants, the percentage of buffaloes and the quantity of milk produced by them had an increasing trend from 3.7% to 5.2% and from 5.4 to 15.7%, respectively; this value on the world total "cow milk + buffalo milk" rose to 18.64%.In the Asian continent, buffaloes' incidence on the total number of dairy ruminants increased slightly (from 10.2% to 11.7%) while the percentage of cattle fell from 38% to 26.4%. In the same period, the percentage of buffalo milk decreased from 44.6% to 36.9%, while cow milk shares increased from 55.4% to 63%.The percentage of milk produced in Pakistan, India, Nepal (after 2010), and especially in Egypt showed a downward trend. In Italy, the trend has always been increasing.The market price of buffalo milk in developing countries does not compensate for costs which are 15% higher than cow's milk, if only the cost of feeding is considered, and increases to 40% when the difference in kg of milk equivalent between the two species is about 900 kg per lactation. A reduction of the production gap between the two species is difficult to be achieved because the genetic improvement of dairy cattle is performed in industrialized countries with higher financial support. Therefore, a marketing effort is needed to make well-differentiated buffalo products with specific and well-received sensory properties. In this regard, it should also be noted that δ-valerobetaine, a bioactive molecule beneficial for human health, is present in buffalo milk and meat in higher quantities than in cow's milk

Considerations on the Breeding and Weaning of Buffalo Calf

The buffalo calf is more challenging to adapt to the transition from breast milk to other substitutes that favor weaning.Growth in the pre-weaning period is affected by the amount of reconstituted milk consumed. When the quantity of reconstituted milk consumed is low, the weaning weight is also low. The gap between the latter and the optimal weight will never be eliminated because the species cannot perform compensatory growth, such as cattle. There is a delay in reaching an optimal live weight to start puberty. The age at first birth is, in fact, lower in those countries that leave all the milk to the calf for meat production or as happens in Italy where there is a suitable milk substitute.In Italy, it has been verified that calves taking almost ad libitum quantities of cow's milk weigh more than 140 kg at 4 months and have their first birth at the age of 22-26 months. As adults, they have an almost zero percentage of vaginal or uterine prolapse.In further experiences on 3672 heifers, it was possible to verify "ex-post" that the calves that had taken a more significant quantity (150 kg vs. 105) of milk substitute had shown age at the first birth in advance of about 6 months (28, 5 versus 34).Future investigations should verify the effect of weaning birth and not just the cost of weaning.Age at first birth is not only an economic parameter, but it is useful for an early evaluation of bulls in progeny tests

Effect of Calving Interval on Milk Yield in Italian Buffalo Population

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the previous calving intervals (CI) on milk yield (MY) in the current lactation for the Italian buffalo breed population.Data for 86,585 lactation records from the Italian Buffalo Breeders Association database, were analyzed. MY BLUP-estimates were obtained by including in the Animal Model the fixed effects of age-parity, previous CI, and herd-contemporary-group. The MY solutions for the months of CI were analyzed with the linear regression model where CI in months was the explanatory variable. 59.66% of the lactation records had CI between 11 and 14 months. 37.91 % of the lactation records were distributed between 15 and 24 months. The smaller percentage of records showed CI greater than 24 months. This CI distribution may be, in part, the result of herd management strategies. Dairy producers try to shorten the CI of their herd in order to get the most profit from early conceptions of the buffalo. The regression model and its parameters were statistically significant. The coefficient of determination was equal to 0.58. The intercept was equal to 72.42 kg; and the linear coefficient (b) was equal to -3.43. The negative value of b denotes a negative effect of CI on MY. This result indicates that there is a negative linear relationship between previous CI and MY in the current lactation. Therefore, shorten the CI may increase the profits of the farm through higher MY, because it has less of a negative effect on MY than longer CI

Genetic Parameters and Sire Ranking for the Adjusted Estimate of Mozzarella Cheese Production in Italian Mediterranean Buffalo

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of adjusting mozzarella cheese production (APKM) compare to the unadjusted PKM on genetic parameters and sire ranking in Italian buffalo. 337,158 lactation records at 270d, from years 1997 to 2014, up to fifth parity, of 136,525 animals were analyzed. Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for APKM and PKM were predicted by BLUP-Animal Model with the fixed effects of age-parity, days-open, and contemporary-group; and the random factors of animal, permanent environmental and residuals. APKM showed lower heritability (0.23) than that of PKM (0.31) which might be due to the lower genetic correlation between APKM and milk yield (MY) (0.09) compared to that of PKM with MY (0.25). APKM positively changed sire ranking with increasing rank of sire with positive EBVs of Protein and Fat percentage, and decreasing rank of sire with negative EBVs of Protein and Fat percentage. Due to the larger correlation between PKM and MY, by selecting through the PKM, one risk is to increasing the number of buffalo that produce more milk, not optimal for making mozzarella cheese. Whereas, genetic selection through the APKM will increase the number of high-yielding buffalo with positive EBVs for Protein and Fat percentage

Effect of two different source of forage on the organic matter digestibility in Mediterranean Italian Buffalo cows

The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of two different source of forage (haysilage and hay) during the lactation on organic matter digestibility (OMD) in buffalo cows. Lactating buffaloes (n = 40) at 29.6 days in milk (DIM) were equally divided as function of previous milk yield into Group 1 (meadow hay, n = 20) and Group 2 [haysilage (Lolium multiflorum), n = 20]. The diets were isoenergetic [0.92 milk unit forage (MUF) on dry matter basis] and isoproteic (16.2 % crude protein on dry matter basis) and administred as total mixed ration (TMR). From all the buffaloes, for each group and in two sampling time (first sampling, DIM = 74.0 and second sampling, DIM = 129.0) the faeces were collected in order to evaluate the in vivo digestibility. Overall the trial, the subjects fed haysilage showed higher OMD than those fed hay (66.1 vs 45.7; P<0.01), moreover the in vivo digestibility was affected by the DIM, in particular in the group fed hay (40.6 vs 53.4; P<0.0001, respectively). This work underlines the importance of the administration of the haysilage (Lolium multiflorum) as source of high quality forage because it gives, overall the lactation, more nutritive principles compared with meadow hay

fzero~: fundamental estimation for Max 6

fzero∼ is a monophonic, wavelet-based, real-time fundamental estimation object released as part of the standard Max 6 distribution. It was designed to provide usable results in a large variety of cases with a minimum of parameter modification by the user. It implements a Fast Lifting Wavelet Transform (FLWT) using the Haar Wavelet. The object provides an efficient estimation of the fundamental frequency in a large variety of real-world situation

Influence of the Month on the Chemical Composition of Mediterranean Italian Buffalo Milk

It is known that the chemical composition of milk is influenced by several factors and the length of lactation plays a prominent role. In Italy, where the reproductive activity of the herd is aimed at the demand for milk from the market, the chemical composition is influenced not only by the adoption or otherwise by the out-breeding-mating-strategy (OBMS) but also by the severity which characterise these techniques (the length of the interruption of sexual promiscuity). The productions and the chemical composition of the milk of 23 farms (average 9000 buffaloes a year) were processed from 2011 to August 2016. The milk was daily conferred and analysed. We evaluated the milk production (kg), the percentage of fat, protein, lactose, dairy yield calculated with the equation of Altiero (1989), the values of the titratable acidity (°SH) and of pH. For each parameter, the monthly values of each farm were divided by the respective annual average and were expressed as an index (monthly values/annual average) in order to homogenize the graphical representations