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Cancer has become one of the most common and deadliest diseases worldwide, affecting millions of people each year. As a contribution to finding ways how to combat this problem by well balanced nutrition, the current research compared the levels of medium and longchain saturated fatty acids in the milk of three distinct domestic animal species, including cattle, goats, and horses, intending to identify their potential anti-cancer properties. The study analysed milk samples from three different animal species in Slovenia and Croatia - the Simmental cows, the Saanen goats, and the Lipizzaner mares. The samples were evaluated for their fatty acid profiles, which included five medium-chain fatty acids (caprylic, pelargonic, capric, undecylic, and lauric) and ten long-chain fatty acids (myristic, pentadecylic, palmitic, margaric, stearic, nonadecylic, arachidic, behenic, tricosylic, and lignoceric). By analysing the fatty acid profiles, the research study aimed to contribute to the development of new nutritional recommendations for cancer and to help improve the lives of those affected by the cancer. The results indicate that milk from different animal species varies in the concentration of medium and long-chain saturated fatty acids. Goat’s milk has a high concentration of caprylic acid that may help prevent certain cancers (colorectal, skin, and breast cancer), whereas cow’s milk has more capric and lauric acid that can have beneficial effects against cancer. All three species have high concentrations of long-chain fatty acids (myristic, palmitic, and stearic acid), with cow’s milk having the highest value. These fatty acids have potential benefits in the prevention of diverse types of cancer (leukemia, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, and breast cancer). Therefore, consumption of milk, especially cows’ milk, may offer some protection against cancer prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to determine the persistence of heat stress effect in dairy cows regarding the breed, parity and susceptibility to heat stress, over 1.9 million of test-day records from Holstein and Simmental cows reared in Croatia were used. The persistence of heat stress effect in the subsequent milk recordings was determined in cows that had significant decrease of daily milk yield at different THI threshold value (65, 70, 75, 80, and 85). The obtained results indicate that cows heat stressed at lower THI threshold value had higher proportional drop of daily milk yield in subsequent milk recordings. Also, primiparous and Simmentals experienced higher proportional drop when compared to multiparous and Holsteins. The negative effect of heat stress on daily milk contents that existed in all cows was more pronounced in the 2nd subsequent milk recording. The determined increase of somatic cell count in more heat stress sensitive Holsteins (THI in 65, 70, 75) indicates that Holstein cows, in terms of heat stress, also become more susceptible to mastitis. Finally, the lower was the THI threshold value, the stronger and more persistent was the heat stress effect. Considering the quite probable increase of the frequency of heat stress days, it is necessary to develop an adequate strategy for dairy farming. Aiming the accurate answer to the problem of heat stress in this region, it is necessary to conduct further research on genetic evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyse metabolic disorders in Simmental cows, 2.641.223 test-day records have been used. The metabolic disorders prevalence risk was indicated by the fat to protein (F/P) ratio, while the subclinical disorder was demonstrated using the F/P ratio and daily production. In terms of the ketosis prevalence risk (KPR), the highest prevalence risks occurred at the 20th lactation day in all tested cows with exception of cows in parity P4+ which experienced peak prevalence risk at 25th lactation day. A steady decrease of KPR after peak prevalence was observed in all animals except the 3rd lactation cows which experienced the second peak prevalence at the 30th lactation day, after which the prevalence risk continued to decline. The highest acidosis prevalence risk (APR) was detected among 4+ parity cows. Considering the lactation stage, the highest APR occurred within the first 10 days, with the indication from 16 to 23 %, depending on parity. The peak prevalence risk was followed by a considerable decline during the ensuing 20 days. The prevalence risk began to increase among all cows after the 25th lactation day. Furthermore, there was a considerable decrease in a daily milk yield and variation of daily milk contents due to subclinical disorders. The most noticeable drop in daily milk yield, for both ketosis/acidosis, was detected in cows in 4+ parity in the amounts of 7.45 kg/day and 2.73 kg/day respectively. There was also a production decline in the subsequent milk controls. Subclinical disorders can also substantially change daily milk contents. The daily fat content was considerably reduced by the subclinical ketosis and the same parameter was considerably increased by the subclinical acidosis. The opposite trends were detected for daily protein content. Since indication criteria was set on Holstein population and considering the fact that Simmental cows produce noticeably less, some adjustment is needed before a routine use of test-day records for early detection of metabolic disorders in dairy Simmental herds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk, an essential source of offspring nourishment, varies in it's composition and properties significantly across species. In human nutrition, fresh milk and dairy products are valuable sources of protein, fat and energy, and are an important part of daily meals. Most of the world's milk production (85 %) comes from cows followed by buffaloes, goats, ewes, mares and donkeys. However milk related food allergies in infants may be a reason for health problems and may cause a decrease in milk. The objective of this paper was to give an overview of the overall composition of milk and fat from different species in comparison to women milk. Regarding the overall milk composition remarkable differences in energy content, fat, lactose, protein and ash of the various milks were found, but also some similarities among milk from ruminants and non-ruminants were detected. The structures of fat globule membranes were similar among non-ruminants and women milk, while the milk fat globule structure in ruminants differed significantly. The size of fat globules was significantly different between species and highly correlated to the milk fat content, regardless of the specie. The amount of triacylglycerols was notably higher, while the amount of free fatty acids and phospholipids was notably lower in milk from ruminants and women compared to milk from mares and donkeys. The triacylglycerol structure in women and non-ruminants ˈ was similar. The percentage of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids was lower, while the unsaturated fatty acid content was higher in milk from non-ruminants, with a remarkably higher percentage of C-18:2 and C-18:3. The cholesterol content was similar in women and ruminants ˈmilk, but lower in that of non-ruminants. This review indicates that milk from non-ruminants could be more suitable for human nourishment than milk from ruminants [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production data of Bovec and Improved (with East-Friesian) Bovec sheep born between years 1989 and 2006 were used for the analysis of culling dynamics and lifetime production. Lifetime production was calculated as the sum of production at each lambing (number of born and liveborn lambs and litter birth weight), weaning (number of weaned lambs and litter weaning weight) or during each lactation (milk yield, fat (6.5 %) and protein (5.8 %) corrected milk yield (FPC; Pulina et al., 2005.), and fat and protein yield) for culled sheep. Animals with any missing records from the first till the last lambing, weaning or lactation were removed from the analysis. Animals that left the system of animal recording alive, due to selling or the cancellation of recording by a breeder were also excluded. Dataset included records for 2254 sheep: 1734 of Bovec and 520 of Improved Bovec breed. Data preparation and statistical analysis were performed with the use of a statistical program R (R Development Core Team, 2007.) and additional packages Zelig (Imai et al., 2007; Bailey and Alimadhi, 2007; Imai et al., 2008) and lme4 (Bates and DebRoy, 2004; Bates, 2007). Results have shown that in the period ≤1996 Bovec breed had on average 4.4 lactations in their lifetime, which was almost one lactation more than in Improved Bovec breed. In the period after the year 1996 the highest proportion of animals were culled in the first lactation (as expected due to culling dynamics), with slightly higher proportion in Improved Bovec breed than in Bovec breed. Lifetime number of born, liveborn and weaned lambs was higher for about one lamb in Improved Bovec breed. Lifetime lamb weight gain did not differ between breeds, due to the high frequency of early weaning in Improved Bovec breed. During lifetime, Improved Bovec sheep produced around 200 kg (~34 %) more milk, around 190 kg (~32 %) more FPC milk, around 12 kg (~32 %) more milk fat, and around 10 kg (~34 %) more milk protein than Bovec breed. However, if the mean metabolic weight of breeds is taken into account the difference in milk production amounts to only ~6 % (~2 % for FPC milk). These results show that Bovec breed has satisfactory milk production, but too low body weight for intensive milk production. On the other hand, low body weight makes this breed suitable for extensive farming in hill and mountain areas. Improved Bovec breed has good results in Slovenian conditions, due to the similarity of environmental conditions with East Friesian's country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different AT milk recording schemes, with purpose of detection of scheme with the highest lactation milk yields prediction accuracy as well as with simplest practice application, were compared in this study. Analysed data were collected from November 2004 till November 2006 on 15 family farms in Croatia according to A4 milk recording scheme by the field assistants of the Croatian Livestock Centre. Measuring at test-day included measurement of milk yield and taking one sample for milk composition analysis at each milking (evening and morning). During research, total of 769 cows were included in research. More than 50 % of all cows were Holstein breed (58.9 %), while the rest of the cows belonged to the Simmental breed. For prediction of daily milk yields two methods were used: M I. = linear regression of daily on partial values with taking into account the interval between successive milkings; M II. = doubling of partial values. The Test Interval Method (TIM) was used for prediction of lactation values. As evaluation criteria for comparison of schemes, correlation and difference between estimated and true milk yields were used. Scheme S II., that is use of first morning, then evening test-day record, in case of doubling the partial yields, showed as scheme with the highest prediction accuracy. Regardless of milk recording scheme, use of method M I. in daily milk yields prediction, resulted in high accuracy and low milk yields, milk fat and protein bias prediction in standard lactation. Research results implicate the use of method M I. in daily milk yields prediction, as well as possibility of different AT milk recording schemes combination in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the differences in milkability, milk and health traits in Holstein and Simmental dairy cattle due to parity. Following traits were analysed: milkability (duration of milking, MT; milk yield per milking, MYM; maximal, MMF and average milk flow, AMF), milk traits (daily milk yield, DMY; daily fat content, DFC; daily protein content, DPC; daily lactose content, DLC; urea, UREA) and health traits (logarithmic somatic cell count, SCClog and teatend hyperkeratosis, TEH). Significant (p<0.05; p<0.01; p<0.0001) differences between parity in MYM, DMY, MMF, DPC and DLC was determined. Also, significant (p<0.0001) difference in the teat-end hyperkeratosis score were found between cows in 1st and 2nd as well as between cows in 1st and ≥3rd parity. The cows in 1st and 2nd parity had similar SCClog, while significant (p<0.05) difference was found between SCClog in cows in 1st and cows in ≥3rd parity. The obtained results indicate that the parity significantly affect the milkability, milk and health traits. Since the hyperkeratosis level is highly correlated to the mastitis incidence risk, the regular teat-end scoring should be used in order to ensure quality machine milking and to minimize mastitis incidence risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates differences in efficacy of isolating pathogenic bacteria Salmonella Enteritidis, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 between conventional cultivation (ISO method) and immunomagnetic separation (IMS method) related to the types of dairy products and initial numbers of bacteria. Different milk products (dairy pudding- vanilla or chocolate; a mixture of yoghurt and pudding; solid, liquid and fruit yoghurt; AB culture - with or without fruit; cheese spread) were intentionally contaminated with different numbers (≈10 and ≈30) of live cells of the observed bacteria per mL. The obtained results showed that the classical ISO procedure still represents an equally adequate method for the detection of S. Enteritidis and L. monocytogenes in dairy products as well as the IMS method. However, the ISO method was found to be inefficient for determination of E. coli O157:H7 when the initial contamination was low (≈10 live cells per mL). In such cases, even the IMS method appeared to be inefficient when used for fermented dairy products analysis. Fermented dairy products in contrast to the non-fermented ones, still represent a challenge for the development of routine detection methods, especially for S. Enteritidis, whilst the detection of L. monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 has improved by introducing the IMS method. The largest difference in the ability to detect bacteria in dairy product samples with reference to the initial number of bacteria by both methods was in the detection of E. coli O157:H7. The choice of broth (non-selective fluid broth vs. selective fluid broth) did not matter in the in the detection of S. Enteritidis and L. monocytogenes by applying the IMS procedure. However, for the detection of E. coli O157:H7 the application of modified tripton-soya broth with novobiocin (mTSB+Nb) has proved to be superior when compared to using the buffered peptone water (BPW). The presented results may be of importance as a scientific basis for future determination of standard methods related to laboratory detection of pathogens in dairy products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anatomical characteristics of dairy cattle are not equal for all breeds, meaning that the morphological traits of udder and teats could favor an individual performance or a determined breed. Changes in teat tissue after machine milking occur because of the negative influence of the vacuum and mechanical forces of the teat cup liner. Duration and performance of machine milking also depend on the udder and teat conformation and milkability traits of cows. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in morphological characteristics of Simmental and Holstein cows before and after machine milking, as well as to elaborate the differences in some of milkability traits of the cows during process of milking. A correlation (from -0.30 to 0.37) was determined between exterior and interior traits of teats and the performance of milkability traits. In both cow breeds, statistically significant difference (p<0.0001) was found between the pre- and post-milking values in all investigated traits, with exception of teat end width. Holstein cows had significantly (p<0.001) higher amount of milk per milking, maximum and average milk flow, while cows of the Simmental breed had longer milking time duration, but without statistical significance. In comparison to Holstein breed, results of internal morphological traits of teats showed that cows of Simmental breed had longer teat canals and wider teat ends for both front and rear teats. Holstein breed compared to Simmental had thinner teats wall, but wider teat cistern. If compared to pre-milking stage, differences in teat cistern width and teat wall thickness that occur after milking were more expressed in the Holstein breed than in Simmental. Simmental cows had significantly (p<0.05) longer and wider rear teats. Future research should focus on proving the differences in changes of teat tissue due to milking between different groups of cows, as depending on the milk flow. Ultrasound method of recording can be applied in such assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]