Duration of dam contact had a long effect on calf rumen microbiota without affecting growth.

Introduction: Separating calves from their mothers at birth is linked to calf welfare issues and disturbances in the mother-calf relationship. It can also disrupt the maturation of the digestive tract, affecting calf health. It has been demonstrated that separation at weaning allows for the optimal establishment of the ruminal microbiota, whereas separation at birth alters colonization dynamics.

Dietary inclusion of hay of greater digestibility and water-soluble carbohydrate content increases performance of dairy cows, irrespective of concentrate type and breed.

Water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC)-rich pasture or alfalfa hay, with high organic matter digestibility (OMd), are known to increase the voluntary dry matter intake (DMI) of dairy cows and diet digestibility, often resulting in higher dairy performance. However, little is known about the effect of highly digestible hays from botanically diversified natural grasslands, rich in WSC and their interactions with concentrate type on dairy performance. The present trial tested the effect on dairy cow performance of dietary inclusion of hay of greater digestibility and WSC content (high OMd, WSC-rich or low OMd, WSC-poor) from botanically diversified natural grasslands and its possible interactions with concentrate type with low or high starch degradation rate in cow breeds with different production potential.

Principles, barriers and enablers to agroecological animal production systems: a qualitative approach based on five case studies.

Agroecology is among the most promising options to alleviate the negative impacts of animal farming on the environment and build local food systems based on ethically acceptable production methods. So far, most of the research on agroecological animal production systems was conducted at farm scale, and the potential of agroecological principles addressing social dimensions and food system-level approaches has been underexplored. Here, we analyse how the whole set of agroecological principles was mobilised in five case studies on grassland-based, silvopastoral or integrated crop-livestock systems in Switzerland, Guadeloupe, French uplands, Bulgaria and Andalucía.

Strategies for keeping dairy cows and calves together - a cross-sectional survey study.

Although it is still most common to rear dairy calves separately from adult cattle, the interest in prolonged contact between dairy calves and lactating cows during early life is increasing. Previous research has documented positive effects of cow-calf contact (CCC) on for example early calf growth and udder health of suckled cows, but also negative effects such as increased separation distress and reduced weight gains after weaning. The aim of this study was to use information from European farms with prolonged cow-calf contact to identify innovative solutions to common challenges for CCC farms.