The Research Column

Mastitis in dairy cows is costing the industry. It leads to treatment costs, milk production losses, and early culling of cows. For many years, blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT) has been the accepted treatment in mastitis control. It involves administering long-acting antibiotics to all cows and quarters at dry-off, regardless of their infection status or incidence risk during the dry period.

Trends in consumer food choices are sometimes spontaneous, not always rational, but nevertheless evoke changes in the food industry. In supermarkets with abundant product choices and information overload on labels, consumers are confused and mostly do not have the background to understand what the information means. Moreover, because of the industrialization of the agri-food industry, consumers lost contact with farm life and are often unfamiliar with the processes behind food production.

In the study the authors used a simulation model to estimate the potential economic benefit of using timed AI in combination with conventional unsorted or sexed semen in heifers only, and in both heifers and lactating cows. These scenarios were compared with a conventional reproductive programme in which heifers and cows were inseminated with conventional unsorted semen after oestrus detection (Control). A sensitivity analysis was also used to estimate the effect of hormone costs from timed AI use on the profitability of each programme relative to the conventional.

Discipline: yogurt; Keywords: lactic acid bacteria, stirring, low-speed agitation, process time, acidity profile, microbiological dynamics.

Is agitation during fermentation beneficial to yogurt characteristics? This question was addressed by E.J. Aguirre-Ezkauriatza and coworkers in a study entitled: Effect of mixing during fermentation in yogurt manufacturing, which was published in the Journal of Dairy Science (2008), Volume 91, pages 4454-4465.

Discipline: sensory; Keywords: texture, aroma, flavour, taste, scorecard judging, analytical sensory tests, descriptive analysis.

Is sensory analysis a valuable tool to the dairy product manufacturer? M.A. Drake was invited by the American Dairy Science Association to review the work done on sensory appraisal. The title of his Review which was published in the Journal of Dairy Science, Volume 90 of 2007, page 4925 to 4937, was appropriately: Sensory Analysis of Dairy Foods.

Discipline: breeding; Keywords: productivity measures, inbreeding, longevity, replacement costs, heritability, fitness traits.

Discipline: carbon footprint; Keywords: production systems, milk yield, fertilizer use, manure management, rumen fermentation.

Discipline: disease; Keywords: liver fluke, parasitic disease, lymnaeid snail, drug therapy, molluscicides, milk withdrawal period.

Discipline: probiotics: Key words: yogurt, fermented milk, probiotic viability, storage stability, sensory preference.                                                                  

Discipline: reproduction; Key words: dairy cow, body temperature,