Production performance, nutrient digestibility, and milk fatty acid profile of lactating dairy cows fed diets containing triticale silage of different maturities and different dietary forage levels.

This study aimed to evaluate the production performance, the milk fatty acid profile, and the nutrient digestibility of high-producing dairy cows fed high-forage (HF) or low-forage (LF) diets containing triticale silages harvested at either the boot stage (BT) or the soft-dough stage (SFT) of maturity. A 10-ha field was seeded with 105 kg/ha of triticale. Half of the field was harvested at BT and the other half at SFT.

Mare Milk and Foal Plasma Fatty Acid Composition in Foals Born to Mares Fed Either Flax or Fish Oil During Late Gestation.

Maternal supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids during late gestation has been shown to have a variety of benefits for neonates. The current study utilized 13 mares and their foals, assigned to one of three dietary treatments: an unsupplemented control diet (CON; n = 5), or the addition of either fish oil-derived omega-3 (FO; n = 5) or a flaxseed (FLAX; n = 3) supplement. The mares received treatments beginning on day 310 of gestation through day 5 post-parturition.

Tissue-specific responses to oxidative fuel source preference during heat stress in lactating dairy cows.

Prolonged exposure to high environmental temperatures results in an accumulated heat load that induces a heat stress (HS) response in dairy cattle. Heat stress compromises dairy farm profitability by reducing milk yield, altering milk composition, and hindering reproductive performance. The ability to alternate between carbohydrate and lipid sources for energy production is termed metabolic flexibility (Met Flex).

Mammary epithelial cell exfoliation increases as milk yield declines, lactation progresses, and parity increases.

Milk yield (MY) naturally declines after peak lactation. One approach to improving production is to increase lactation persistency, or the length of time a cow maintains lactation. To do so, cows must maintain functional secretory mammary epithelial cells (MEC), which synthesize milk.

Ruminal passage rate and digestibility of fiber from dairy cows consuming diets containing alfalfa and orchardgrass hays with different concentrations of undegradable neutral detergent fiber.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of feeding diets with different fractions of undegraded NDF (uNDF) and potentially degradable (pdNDF) on ruminal NDF degradation and passage kinetics of lactating dairy cows. Six rumen-cannulated (533 ± 43 kg BW and 122 ± 15 DIM) and 6 noncannulated (558 ± 62 kg BW and 126 ± 16 DIM) primiparous Holstein dairy cows were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental diets in a crossover design with two 28-d periods. The experimental diets were formulated to include either alfalfa hay (ALFA) or orchardgrass hay (ORCH) in addition to corn silage.