The longevity of a dairy cow is directly related to the profitability and environmental sustainability of the dairy industry. The most commonly stated reasons for early culling are reproductive failure, mastitis and poor milk production. However, the dynamic and multifactorial reasons for culling make identifying risk factors inherently difficult. Advances in the field of metabolomics, the study of metabolites in a biological system, may provide a pathway to identify previously unobserved risk factors for culling.
This PhD project involves a nested-case control study on multiple Australian dairy farms to identify metabolomic profiles from cow blood plasma samples that are at increased risk of culling before their fourth lactation.
More information:
Ian Lean | ianl@scibus.com.au
