Historical Evolution of Cattle Management and Herd Health of Dairy Farms in OECD Countries

Abstract

This work aimed to review the important aspects of the dairy industry evolution at herd level, interrelating production with health management systems. Since the beginning of the industrialization of the dairy cattle sector (1950s), driven by the need to feed the rapidly growing urban areas, this industry has experienced several improvements, evolving in management and technology. These changes have been felt above all in the terms of milking, rearing, nutrition, reproductive management, and design of facilities. Shortage of labor, emphasis on increasing farm efficiency, and quality of life of the farmers were the driving factors for these changes. To achieve it, in many areas of the world, pasture production has been abandoned, moving to indoor production, which allows for greater nutritional and reproductive control of the animals. To keep pace with this paradigm in milk production, animal health management has also been improved. Prevention and biosecurity have become essential to control and prevent pathologies that cause great economic losses. As such, veterinary herd health management programs were created, allowing the management of health of the herd as a whole, through the common work of veterinarians and farmers. These programs address the farms holistically, from breeding to nutrition, from prevention to consultancy. In addition, farmers are now faced with a consumer more concerned on animal production, valuing certified products that respect animal health and welfare, as well as environmental sustainability.

Use of Cracker Residue in the Diet of Dairy Heifers: Impacts on Animal Health, Ruminal Fatty Acids Profile, Digestibility, Weight Gain, and Economic Viability

“…& corresponds to the end of the experiment (day 60). 1 Treatments were: heifers that received a diet with cracker residue (treatment); animals that did not receive cracker residue in the diet (control). 2 SEM-standard error mean.…”

“…The production of heifers is of extreme importance in dairy production. Cows with problems that affect production must be discarded to obtain a genetic improvement of the herd; this occurs in young animals, which have better productive activity [1]. According to Santos [2], the ideal culling rate is 20 to 30% of the lactating herd per year; therefore, many heifers are needed for a replacement rate above 25%.…”

“…Profile of fatty acids in the ruminal fluid of Jersey heifers fed (or not) with cracker residue. : valeric acid was not detected 1. Treatments were: heifers that received a diet with cracker residue (treatment); animals that did not receive cracker residue in the diet (control).…”

Ruminant microbiome data are skewed and unFAIR, undermining their usefulness for improving sustainable production

“…The available data should be interpreted with caution but there is a predominance of sample metadata from dairy versus meat production systems (74% vs. 26%, respectively) (Fig. 3C), which is opposite to the global cattle structure, 17% for dairy cattle and 83% for beef cattle [29,35]. Furthermore, samples from adult animals are higher than those from calves but otherwise they can be considered equilibrated (Fig.…”

Breeding and genetic features of simmental animals of different production types

“…У зв'язку з інтенсифікацією виробництва в молочному скотарстві постали нові вимоги до тварин різних порід великої рогатої худоби, найважливішими з яких є високий рівень продуктивності, придатність до машинного доїння, здатність зберігати високі надої за дворазового доїння, високі технологічність вимені та відтворювальна здатність, стійкість до захворювань, тривале господарське використання, які забезпечують рентабельність його виробництва Slivinska et al, 2021;Borshch et al, 2021;Bashchenko et al, 2021;Medeiros et al, 2022).…”