Plasmin and plasminogen were determined monthly over a one year period in samples of bulk and herd milks from Montbeliard cows. Montbeliard milk showed a high content of plasmin and plasminogen in comparison with milk from other breeds. In bulk milk, the plasmin activity reached a minimum in September (O·15 μg/ml milk) and a maximum in June (0·32 μg/ml milk). The annual mean concentration was 0·23 μg/ml milk. The plasminogen content varied around a value of 1·28 μg/ml milk, with a marked decrease in September (0·83 μg/ml milk) and a maximum in October (1·59 μg/ml milk). In herd milk, the minimum plasmin activity occurred in October (0·17 μ/ml milk) and the maximum in spring (O·42 μg/ml milk in May) with an annual mean of 0·30 μg/ml milk. The plasminogen content varied in a similar way, from 0·87 μg/ml milk to 1·82 μg/ml milk, with an annual mean of 1·46 μg/ml. The ratio plasminogen: plasmin ranged from 1·4 to 9·2 with an average of 4·9. From early to late lactation, plasmin and plasminogen concentrations increased from 0·25 to 0·38 μg/ml milk and from 1·07 to 2·01 μg/ml milk respectively and the plasminogen: plasmin ratio increased from 4·5 to 5·3. Studies of milk from cows at similar stage of lactation within a single herd have shown the necessity for distinguishing between two phases in the early stage of lactation. The first, a very early period, is usually present up to one month and the second occurs in the second and third months. Milk samples with the highest proportion of γ-caseins were not those with the greatest plasmin content but were those with high plasminogen contents, which had increased suddenly from the levels of the preceding month. This suggests a role for the plasminogen activator and inhibitor system.

Manipulations of the lactation cycle are achieved through nutritional regimens and generally result in a restriction of the physiological lactation cycle. Most models of lactation used in management programmes only describe the average time course of lactation for groups of cows on a given feeding regimen. This is inadequate for the variety of feeding systems in use on British farms. In the present paper several existing models of lactation have been critically evaluated. An integral equation approach has been developed to rationalize experimental observations and currently accepted biological concepts.

Six Friesian cows were milked daily, and arterial and mammary venous blood samples were taken between day 266 of gestation and day 6 after parturition. Samples of blood plasma were analysed for their content of acetate and progesterone, and mammary secretion for potassium, isocitrate, 2-oxoglutarate and triglyceride fatty acids.

The onset of secretion of medium-chain triglyceride fatty acids was preceded by, or coincided with, increases of potassium and isocitrate concentration in the secretion. The onset of fatty acid secretion was not accompanied by any change in the gland's extraction of acetate from the circulation, and did not occur at a consistent time relative to parturition or changes in plasma progesterone concentration.

Groups of lactating cows and heifers were milked four times daily in two diagonally opposed glands for 4 weeks, and the effects on milk yield studied relative to twice-daily milked glands as controls. Mammary enzyme activities, in vitro synthesis rates of milk constituents and histological scoring were determined in mammary biopsy samples obtained at the end of this period. These were used for assessment of mammary function. Frequent milking increased milk yield only in the treated glands, the contralateral control glands continuing to decline in yield at ~ 2%/week. There was no significant difference in response between cows and heifers; the mean increase in yield was 10·4%. The rate of decline in milk yield tended to decrease with frequent milking, to ~ 1%/week. Consequently the yield of the treated glands continued to be elevated above that of the controls for some time after reversion to overall twice daily milking. Milk protein content was increased slightly by frequent milking. Mammary enzyme activities were ~ 18% higher in the treated glands than in the controls. Synthesis rates of lactose, casein and total protein were unaffected by milking frequency, but were all lower in the gland selected for the second biopsy, reflecting the reduction in milk yield caused by the first biopsy. DNA synthesis was increased by milking frequency, as were the size and number of epithelial cells in histological sections.

Teat penetration into transparent silicone rubber teatcup liners was recorded during milking of 90 cows on 15 farms. The cows were of Norwegian Red Cattle breed with mean teat length close to the average for the breed. The mean teat length was 54 and 48 mm for fore and rear teats respectively, and mean penetration at the end of milking was 104 and 94 mm. No significant correlation between initial teat length and teat elongation (difference between penetration and initial length) was found. This indicated that the teatcup liner was more stable on long teats than on short. The distribution of teat penetration at the end of milking showed that a large proportion of fore teats penetrated too far into the liner at the end of milking. The optimal liner length for Norwegian Red Cattle was ~ 150 mm.

Associations between BoLA type and milk production were investigated using information from 80 Icelandic cattle from four dairy farms in Iceland. The specificity w6 reduced milk, fat and protein yield. Although w6 has been shown to be associated with increased susceptibility to mastitis, there is no evidence to suggest that the reduced yields here were due to mastitis. The association may be due to increased disease susceptibility or due to a direct effect of BoLA Class I antigens.

Two experiments were carried out to determine the effect on milk yield, milk composition and composition and physical properties of milk fat of giving full fat soyabeans (FFS) and full fat rapeseeds (FFR) to dairy cows. In both experiments grass silage was provided ad lib. and constituted over 50% of the dry matter (DM) intake of the cows. In experiment 1, cows received 7·25 kg/d of a concentrate mixture containing 240 g/kg of extruded FFS or 7·25 kg/d of a mixture without soyabeans. Cow performance was not significantly affected by the inclusion of FFS but fatty acid composition of the milk fat was greatly altered. The contents of C8:0 to C16:0 were significantly reduced (P < 0·001) while the contents of C18:0, C18:l and C18:2 were significantly increased (P < 0·001). Milk fat produced during feeding on FFS concentrate had a significantly lower content of solid fat at temperatures between 0 and 25 °C compared with milk fat produced when FFS was not given. In experiment 2, cows received concentrate mixtures containing either no whole rapeseed, 150 g/kg of whole unground FFR or 150 g/kg of ground FFR. Milk yield was significantly higher and silage DM intake significantly lower with the ground FFR concentrate compared with the other two diets but milk composition was not significantly different among treatments. FFR inclusion, either ground or unground, reduced diet digestibility. Changes in fatty acid composition of the milk fat were similar to those observed with FFS inclusion but the effect was larger with ground FFR compared with unground FFR. Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis showed a lower solid fat content when the FFR diets were employed with the effect being greatest with ground FFR.

Cells were obtained by centrifuging the mammary secretion of healthy udders of 19 cows during the dry-period and during mid-lactation. The suspended cells were incubated in plastic wells. Those adhered cells classified as mammary macrophages were incubated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes were added to wells containing untreated macrophage cultures or cultures pretreated with PWM. In seven cows autologous dry-period mammary lymphocytes were added instead of blood lymphocytes. The macrophages + lymphocyte cultures were subjected to the lymphocyte stimulation test (LST). For comparison, peripheral blood lymphocytes and dry-period secretion lymphocytes were also subjected to the LST in the presence of PWM. In all cases, mitogenic responses were higher in pretreated macrophage cultures than in background control cultures.

The stimulation indices (SI) showed that PWM-pretreated dry-period mammary macrophages enhanced the proliferation of autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes to a greater extent than did blood lymphoeytes plus PWM (49±10 v. 30 ± 6; P ≤ 0·05). Mammary macrophages taken from the same cows but during midlactation also clearly induced proliferation of autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes but to a lesser extent than dry-period macrophages (16 ± 2 v. 49±10; 16±2 v. 30±6; P ≤ 0·01 and P ≤ 0·05).

The PWM pretreatment of mammary macrophages increascd the proliferation of autologous dry-period mammary lymphocytes by at least a factor of three (28±8 v. 8±2 P ≤ O·05).

The present results indicate that bovine mammary macrophages pretreated with PWM enhance proliferation as well as modulation of mammary and peripheral blood lymphocytes. The modulation of lymphocyte stimulation as demonstrated here in vitro, has great significance regarding aspects of local immunostimulation related to modern treatment of mastitis.

Starting in week 5 of lactation, goats were milked unilaterally once daily for 4 ½ weeks, then twice daily for 12 weeks and finally thrice daily for 2 weeks. The control gland was milked twice daily throughout. During less frequent milking, yield fell by 26%. There was a rapid and essentially complete recovery of milk yield on resumption of twice-daily milking, and five of the six goats subsequently responded to thrice-daily milking with a small increase in milk yield. Mammary function was assessed during each phase by determining enzyme activities and in vitro synthesis rates of lactose and casein in mammary biopsies. There was a trend towards reduced differentiation of secretory cells during infrequent milking, with very little recovery during twice-daily milking but complete recovery during thrice-daily milking. The differentiative state of the control gland remained unchanged throughout.

A field survey with 70 cows in 15 herds was carried out to find a possible correlation between the depth of teat penetration into the teatcup liner during milking, and udder health. The investigation showed that the depth of penetration into the liner of fore teats was positively correlated with the fore teat end hardness (P < 0·01), and with the frequency of clinical mastitis for the whole udder (P < 0·1). The investigation also showed that the teat end height above the floor was negatively correlated with mean cell count for the previous year (P < 0·001), and with the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in rear quarters (P < 0·05).

The effect of teat washing and drying on bacterial numbers in bulk milk was compared with that of no teat preparation in eight commercial herds over one year. Using in-line milk samplers, milk was collected at various points during its passage through the milking plant and the samples were used to establish the relative significance of the sources of contamination of raw milk. Teat washing and drying of cows housed during winter reduced the total counts by 40% and streptococcal and coliform counts by 50%. Bacterial counts were significantly lower in cows at pasture during the summer and there was no reduction in count due to teat washing and drying. Bacteriological counts increased at each stage as the milk passed through the milking machine. The milking equipment significantly increased the total colony count by between 2000 and 3000/ml, and the bulk tank added a further 1500 to 2000/ml. The mean rinse bacterial counts of the milking equipment were higher in summer than winter, averaging 4·4 x 107 bacteria/m2 compared with 3·5 x 107/m2 respectively. Although this level of bacterial contamination of the equipment is high by current standards, very low bulk milk bacterial counts were nevertheless achieved, particularly in the summer. This confirms that organisms from this source are not a major contaminant of the bulk milk. There was a very poor correlation between rinse counts and the bulk milk bacterial count, but a strong correlation (0·98) between total and streptococcal counts of the bulk milk. The unreliability of the use of rinse techniques to assess the contribution of milking equipment to bacterial counts of raw milk is emphasized.

Daily quarter-milk yields of eight high-yielding cows (24–28 kg/d) and eight heifers (14–24 kg/d) were measured to examine compensatory changes in milk production between quarters within an udder. Either one, two or three quarters per cow were left unmilked for 12 d, in early or late lactation, and then all quarters of all cows were milked normally for a further period of 12 d. Concentrate feeding levels were constant throughout the experiment.

The mean daily yield per cow fell to 26, 59 and 75% during the period of milking either one, two or three quarters respectively. Twelve days after resumption of normal milking the total daily yield per cow was the same for cows continuously milked in two, three or all four quarters. Daily yield in cows with only one quarter milked continuously recovered to only 78% of the level of the pretreatment period.

During the treatment period, the mean daily yield of the continuously milked quarters increased by almost 14% for cows milked in one quarter only, by more than 10% for two quarters milked, and by 4% per quarter if three quarters were milked. Milk yields of these quarters remained above their pretreatment levels when milking was resumed in the adjacent quarters.

There was no difference in the compensatory effect between cows and heifers in early lactation, but the compensatory effects were lower in late lactation heifers.

A method for assessing the loss in quarter milk yield due to subclinical mastitis is proposed. It is based upon two indices calculated from quarter milk yields and results from the assessment of mastitis obtained by measurement of the electrical conductivity of milk. The results were obtained from the cows through repeated quarter-milkings during several months of lactation. The grade of abnormality of a quarter with subclinical mastitis was expressed by the first index, the mean quarter difference of electrical conductivity of milk produced by the quarter (mQdEC, 25 °C). The reduction in milk yield of a quarter presumed to be due to subclinical mastitis was expressed by another index, the quarter yield ratio, R, which is that percentage of normal milk yield produced by a quarter with mastitis. Examination of the relationship between these two indices showed that subclinical mastitis caused a reduction in milk yield in the affected quarters. From the linear regression, it was found that ~3% reduction in quarter milk yield occurred for every 1 x 10–4 S/cm increase in the mQdEC of the quarter with presumed subclinical mastitis.

Free and protected soya oil and soya oil fatty acids were included in the rations of dairy cows and from outputs in the milk of 18:1 trans and of polyunsaturated acids conditions in the rumen have been deduced. Similarly, the content of citrate in the milk has been used to evaluate changes occurring in the synthesis of fatty acids in the mammary gland.

The yields and composition of milk from nursing mares were studied during the first two months of lactation in 11 mares of heavy breeds (784 kg). Daily yield increased from 21·7 to 24·6 kg between weeks 1 and 8 of lactation. Fat, protein, gross energy and Ca concentrations significantly decreased when lactose content increased during this period. Individual variations were higher for yield than for composition. Casein, whey protein and non-protein N (56, 34 and 10% of crude protein, respectively) and amino acid composition did not vary between weeks 1 and 8 of lactation.

The effect of supplementing a normal dairy feed ration (3–4% fatty acid of DM) with saponified palm acid oil (soap) was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment was carried out in eight herds (four Jersey, four heavy breeds), where the diet was supplemented with 1·0 and 0·5 kg soap for cows in the first and last part of lactation, respectively. Taste and acid degree of milk were not affected, and no breed × soap interaction was found. Fatty acid composition in milk was only slightly but significantly affected. The content of short and medium chain fatty acids was reduced (3·5% unit) and was followed by an increase in the content of 16:0 and 18:1. The increase in 16:0 by the soap supplementation was smaller in Jersey cows than in the other breeds. In the second experiment the effect of supplementing diets either with 0·5 or 1·0 kg Ca-soap to cows in the first part of lactation was investigated in two herds of Danish Black and White cows. Acid degree and time for curd formation on renneting (K20) were significantly lowest at the highest soap inclusion. No general effect on the proportion of short and medium chain fatty acids in the milk fat was observed as a function of level of Ca-soap, but the proportion of 16:0 was increased. It is assumed that the very small effect on milk fatty acid composition obtained when the daily allowance of fatty acids was increased from 600 to ~ 1400 g per cow, is more or less a specific effect of dietary fat rich in palmitic acid and given in excess to the basic diet.

A definition is proposed for the interquarter ratio of markers of inflammation in the bovine mammary gland which in contrast to present measurement procedures has well-defined distributional properties and thus facilitates statistical analysis. Our proposal of an interquarter ratio is equally applicable to evaluation of both single and multi-sample experiments. Finally, we define a new index for diagnosis of subclinical mastitis at the cow level, the interquarter variation, which assesses the degree of dispersion of the four quarter levels for values of any continuous inflammatory marker.

Buffalo milk collected within 4 h of milking was standardized (4·5% fat and 8·5% SNF) and processed in an ultra high temperature plant at 5 °C intervals. Changes in viscosity, free tyrosine and sedimentation were measured over 6 months at 15 and 30 °C. We suggest that an interaction probably occurred in the casein and whey proteins (β-lactoglobulin) and caused changes in the physical and chemical qualities of these milks during storage. Variations in the casein particle sizes were observed in the milks during storage by electron microscopy.

Responses of dairy cows given silage diets to the intraruminal infusion of urea in progressively increasing doses were studied in four experiments, two with non-lactating cows and two with lactating cows. No clinical symptoms of NH3 toxicity were observed in any of the experiments. When urea was infused continuously, silage intake was depressed (P < 0·05) when the total supply of N exceeded the equivalent of 250g crude protein (CP)/kg DM in the total diet. However, when the urea load was administered twice daily, as opposed to continuously, intake depression (P < 0·05) occurred at the equivalent of 170g CP/kg DM. At the higher doses of urea, concentrations of NH3 in peripheral blood increased and were accompanied by increased concentrations of glucose and reduced levels of insulin in plasma. In general, responses of milk production followed those of silage intake but there was evidence of greater proportional reductions in the yield of lactose relative to that of fat and protein. It is concluded that the voluntary intake of high-protein silages may be depressed by factors associated with high rates of absorption of NH3 from the rumen.

Two cleaning-in-place disinfectant Systems (alkaline–acid, alkaline–CI2) were tested on wild bacteria isolated from a milking line. Most of the isolated strains were Gram-negative and capsule-positive. The effect of milk and cream on the resistance of the wild strains to the cleaning Systems was tested. Suspension tests did not show the resistance of bacteria whereas the surface test showed high resistance towards all cleaning-agents. Milk had a protective effect only on the surfaces whereas cream showed mild protection in suspension and complete protection on the surfaces. It was concluded that the growth pattern of contaminants on surfaces needs further attention and the laboratory suspension tests do not correlate with the practical situation. Disinfectant tests based on bacterial growth on the surface are of importance.