The Dairy Industry

The Dairy Industry

1. Dairy Food Production

   • Products
     • Provides approximately 10% of calories in diet in US
     • Increasing in popularity
       • Cheese
       • Butter
     • Decreasing in popularity
       • Milk
       • Yogurt
       • Ice Cream
       • Dry and Condensed Milk
     • While fluid milk consumption is declining, the overall consumption of dairy food in increasing
   • Non-dairy products that compete
     • Coconut Milk
     • Almond Milk
     • Hemp Milk
     • Soymilk
     • Rice Milk

2. Statistics

   • Worldwide Milk Production (in million tons)
     • India- 186.1
     • European Union- 167.3
     • USA- 98.6
     • Pakistan- 45.6
     • Brazil- 35.5
   • In USA
     • About 15% of dairy products exported
       • 1. Mexico
       • 2. Canada
       • 3. China
       • 4. South Korea
       • 5. Japan
     • Total Dairy Cows- 9.2 million
       • 1. California- 1,726,000
       • 2. Wisconsin- 1,267,000
       • 3. New York- 627,000
       • 4. Idaho- 625,000
       • 5. Texas- 565,000
       • 24. Missouri- 78,000
     • Average Herd Size: 273
       • 1. New Mexico- 2,329
       • 2. Arizona- 2,189
       • 3. Nevada- 1650
       • 4. Colorado- 1550
       • 5. Texas- 1,487
       • 45. Missouri- 98
     • Average Milk Production- 23,391 lbs/cow/year
       • 1. Michigan- 26,725
       • 2. Oklahoma- 25,844
       • 3. Texas- 25,113
       • 4. Idaho- 25,010
       • 45. Missouri- 14,103

3. Life Cycle

   • Cow has a calf (needed for production
     • Lactation for year
       • Dry period to rest
         • Lactation
           • Typically lactates around four times before leaving dairy
     • Calf
       • If female- "replacement heifer"
         • Puberty at 8-10 months
           • Cycles for 4 months
             • Breeding (AI)
               • 9-month pregnancy

4. Calves

   • Bull Calves
     • Little value
     • Taken to market and sold within week of birth
     • Generally don't perform as well as beef calves
   • Replacement Heifers
     • Will replace cow in herd at 2 years old
     • About 30% of cows in herds replaced each year
     • Objectives (Time Frames)
       • Target breeding weight by 13-15 months
       • Target calving weight by 22-24 months
       • Raised healthy, while still minimizing costs
         • Colostrum: first secretion from mammary glands after giving birth, very nutritious and essential for calves
           • Feeding Calves: The Three Q's
             • Quantity: 10% of body weight in feed
             • Quality: High in immunoglobin, low in bacteria
               • Different feeding programs for different growth needs
                 • Conventional program: Fed less milk, with lower protein, and comparatively more grain intake
                 • Accelerated Program: Fed more milk, with higher protein, and comparatively less grain intake
             • Quickly: needs colostrum ASAP after birth, receiving it at first milking

5. Breeds

   • Major Breeds
     • Jersey
       • High percentages of fat and protein in milk
       • About 5% of cows in the USA
     • Holstein
       • Large volumes of milk
       • About 95% of cows in USA
     • Crossbred
       • Great health and longevity
       • About 50% of cows in New Zealand, where they are known as "Kiwi Cross"
       • Usually between Holstein and Jersey breeds
   • Minor Breeds
     • Guersney
     • Ayshire
     • Shorthorn
     • Brown Swiss

6. Artificial Insemination

   • Source of impregnation for most cows
   • Semen collected from bulls after puberty
     • Then it is diluted shipped to farms, and deposited in uterine bodies of cows
   • Benefits
     • Genetic Improvement
     • Eliminated STD concerns
     • Reduced injuries during breeding, for animals and workers
     • Genetic testing can be used to easily combine genes of parents in the best combinations
     • Semen can be gender selected to ensure that calf is boy or girl
     • Bull Stud Companies
       • Semex
       • Alta Genetics
       • Accelerated Genetics
       • Select Sires

7. Reproduction

   • Ovulation
     • Happens after puberty
     • Rupture of ovarian follicle, release of female gamete (egg)
   • Impregnation, mostly through AI
   • Hormones
     • GnRH (Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone)
       • Produced by hypothalamus
       • Cause of LH surge
       • Can be injected, causing LH release and ovulation
     • FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone)
       • From anterior pituitary gland
       • Causes growth of small follicles
       • Can be injected, causing cow to develop follicles, process often used to superovulate cows and collect embryos for transfer
     • LH (Luteinizing Hormone)
       • From anterior pituitary gland
       • Causes ovulation of large follicles
       • Can be injected, causing ovulation
     • E2 (Estradiol)
       • Produced by follicle
       • Causes GnRH release and LH surge
       • Induces estrus in cows, which it can do when injected as well
     • P4 (Progesterone)
       • From corpus luteum
       • Essential for establishing and maintaining pregnancy
       • Prevents cow from coming into heat
       • Progesterone treatment used to manage dairy cow reproduction
   • Estrus- period of being in heat
     • Signs of estrus
       • Definitely
         • Stands still when mounted by other cows
       • Possibly
         • Mounting other cows
         • Restless
         • Vaginal secretion of mucous
     • Happens every 21 days
       • If not showing signs at 8-10 months, either:
         • Already pregnant at very young, unsafe age
           • Too small
           • Definitely needs vaccinated and dewormed
         • Freemartin: heifer born with male twin, ovary damaged by male during mother's pregnancy, causing lifelong sterility
     • Estrous cycle time frames
       • Estrus
         • Day 1- Ovulation, beginning of CL development and luteal phase, and beginning of first follicular wave
           • Day 11- First follicular wave ends, second follicular wave begins
             • Day 17-18- Regression of CL, unless cow is pregnant
               • Day 21:
                 • Estrus

8. Milk

   • Dairy Matrix
     • Combination of nutrients and other factors unique to dairy products, and contributing to its overall positive effects on health
       • Which is why plant-based products, like almond milk or soy milk, while marketed like and competitive with dairy milk, simply doesn't provide the same nutritional value as milk
   • Components of Milk
     • Water
     • Fat
       • Propionate
       • Butyrate
       • Acetate
       • Fat from Diet
       • Fat from Lipolysis
     • Lactose
       • Propionate
       • Glycerol
       • Amino Acids
         • From:
           • Diet
           • Rumen Microbes
             • Bacteria
               • Fibrolytic- digests fiber
               • Amylotic- digest simple sugars
               • Proteolytic- digests proteins
             • Protozoa
               • Consume and digest proteins
               • Digest starches, sugars, and proteins
             • Fungi
               • Break down cell walls
     • Ash
     • Protein
       • Cassein- 80% of protein in milk, used for cheese production
       • Whey- By-product of cheese production

9. Diseases

   • Transition cow diseases
     • Milk Fever
       • Weak to down cow close to or after calving
       • Cold extremities
       • Normal to low temperatures
       • Bladder is often full, manure often dry
       • Treated with 400 mL of 40% calcium borogluconate solution
       • Prevented by controlling the sensitivity to the parathyroid hormone
     • Fatty Liver
       • Caused by too much weight loss postpartum
       • Impossible to treat, can only be prevented by not letting cows get too fat during the dry period
     • Ketosis
       • Caused by elevated BHB in the blood
       • Low blood glucose
       • Excess ketone bodies in blood or urine
       • Lack of appetite
       • Lethargy or excitability
       • Caused by any factor resulting in reduction of dry matter intake
       • Treated with propylene glycol
   • Mastitis
     • Infection of mammary gland
     • Incidence increases around calving
     • Can affect one or more quarters
     • Caused by bacteria usually
     • Can spread from one cow to another during milking (Contagious)
     • Can come from the environment (environmental)
     • Clinical Mastitis
       • Mild Mastitis- cloggy milk
       • Moderate Mastitis- swollen udder
       • Severe Mastitis- Loss of appetite, fever
     • Sub-Clinical Mastitis
       • Milk looks fine
       • Udder looks fine
       • Normal behavior
       • Still could be infected, affecting milk quality
     • Some cases treated with antibiotics
     • Milk from antibiotic-treated cows can't be sold