Variation in Milk Fat of Fresh Cows

摘要

Monitoring milk fat concentration during early lactation is important for management of the risk for ketosis. The concentration of fat in milk is quite variable, and but this variation can be greater within a milking and day than between cows within aherd or the day-to-day variation for a given herd. New approaches to analyzing concentration of milk components on the farm using counter top or inline instrumentation offer the daily monitoring of milk composition of individual cows. Changes in the concentrations of milk fat or the milk fat: milkprotein (MF:MP) can elicit actions by herd managers, especially for the induction of a preventive approach for reducing the risk ofketosis or for use of another analytical method with greater specificity for ketosis on flagged cows. Improvement in providing management information for rapid response to "out of control" variables will be very valuable for reducing treatment costs for disease, improving efficiency of milk production, and increasing farm profitability.