The influence of lameness on several automatic milking system variables and reproductive performance indicators in dairy cows.

There is an increased interest in using automatic milking systems (AMS) to indirectly assess the welfare of dairy cows, but knowledge on analyzing the association between lameness, milk yield characteristics, and reproductive performance in cows is still insufficient. The main aims of this study were to evaluate the influence of lameness on several AMS variables and reproduc- tive performance indicators during the early stage of lactation and estrus in Lithuanian Black and White dairy cows, as well as to assess the associations between lameness, productivity and repro- ductive efficiency. A total of 418 milking cows (50.3±1.2 d postpartum) without any apparent reproductive disorder were monitored for hoof health status. Cows were assigned to two groups on the basis of visual locomotion scoring: "non-lame"cows (group 1; 74.20%) and cows presen- ting "lameness" (lame cows) (group 2; 25.80%). Productive and milking performances of dairy cows were recorded from 50 to 100 days in milk (DIM) and 1 day after the first estrus. The lameness was predominantly localized on the hind feet (79.60%) and less frequently - on the front feet (20.40%; p⟨0.001). Furthermore, the lameness had a tendency to decrease milk production (4.24%; p⟨0.05) and increase the diffe- rence in milk yield between rear and front quarters of the udder (1.20%; p⟨0.05). The frequency of milking (5.19%) was lower in lame cows (p⟨0.05). The lame cows during estrus showed a more pronounced decrement in milk yield and milking frequency (p⟨0.05), and also higher milk progesterone concentration values (1.55-1.76 time's; p⟨0.001), and an increasing number of inseminations (11.69%; p⟨0.05) were observed. The results highlighted that analysis of data from AMS programs can be a successful tool for reducing risk factors related to the effective management of reproductive performance and hoof health of dairy cows.

The influence of medium on viability of bovine morulae produced in vitro after their biopsy.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of two different media on the viability of in vitro produced biopsied bovine morulae. Bovine morulae were produced in vitro, then biopsied and cultured in the Ham's F10 and IVM media. Cultured and control morulae were stained with Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide. Morulae were classified morphologically for excellent, good and degenerated quality. 42.86% of biopsied morulae cultured in the Ham's F10 medium and only 11.11% (only one) of these embryos cultured in the IVM were of excellent quality. Embryos of good quality were about 2 times less numerous in Ham's F10 medium (28.57%) than in IVM medium (55.5%) (P < or = 0.05). 28.57% of biopsied morulae cultured in Ham's F10 medium and 33.33% of these embryos cultured in the IVM degenerated (P > or = 0.05). The media had no significant influence on the number of total and viable blastomeres of morulae cultured in vitro after biopsy (P > or = 0.05). But the quantity of restored (excellent and good quality) embryos was higher when they were cultured after biopsy in Ham's F10 medium than in IVM. These statistically significant results (P < or = 0.05) show that the Ham's F10 medium is better for the restoring of biopsied bovine embryos produced in vitro than IVM.