Difficult Calvings Affect Milk Composition, Study of 650,000 Births Shows
The state agricultural research institute of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Germany has analysed data from roughly 650,000 calvings. The study examined how difficult births affect milk components.
A research institute in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Landesforschungsanstalt Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has published a new study on how difficult calvings in dairy cows affect milk quality. The scientists evaluated data from about 650,000 calvings. The findings matter to dairy farmers, because a hard birth can cost a farm money.
What was examined
The researchers analysed how different courses of calving influence the components of milk. They also checked for possible links with lameness in cows and calves.
Why it matters
Difficult calvings strain the health of both cow and calf, and, according to the study, they can also impair milk quality. Calving outcomes are therefore tied not only to animal welfare but also to farm income.
What is not yet known
The material published by the German farming outlet agrarheute does not say which milk components are most affected or how large the differences are. Those details, along with conclusions dairy farmers can apply on their own holdings, are in the full specialist article.
