Socialization for success: Two recent studies expand our understanding of how early social housing helps dairy calves thrive
Dairy industry professionals continuously work to ensure the highest possible welfare for dairy calves, including fine-tuning their housing to improve overall health, well-being, and performance. Two new studies in JDS Communications are illuminating our understanding of paired housing in the critical newborn and pre-weaned stages of dairy lives by showing that housing designed to facilitate early socialization can build behavior skills, shape calf personalities, and ultimately, set up animals for success in the herd.
Cattle on low-protein rations may need amino acid supplement to boost milk yield
A series of experiments, which were published in the Journal of Dairy Science, followed, confirming the importance of histidine to maintain milk production and milk protein content when cows were fed diets with reduced protein concentration. Lactating mammals require large amounts of amino acids to support milk synthesis by mammary glands during lactation, Hristov noted. Amino acid metabolism is a critical process for the lactating mammary gland.