Improving Dairy Cow Health (Research)

Spicing up the diets of transition dairy cows has been shown to improve their health

Image credit: Penn State

Problem

How can dairy farmers prevent milk yield decreases during the particularly vulnerable "transition cow" period of three weeks before and after calving?

Metabolic disease incidences, such as clinical mastitis, can cause losses of 5-10 pounds of milk per day at peak lactation.

Findings

Dairy nutrition researchers experimented with dietary supplements to bolster the immune systems of transition cows. Capsicum oleoresin, an extract from chili peppers, had the most pronounced effect.

Capsicum acts as antimicrobial and antiseptic with positive physiological effects on the immune response of lactating cows.
Research showed that capsicum can prevent clinical mastitis in 50 percent of the transition cows receiving it.

Impact

Conservative estimates for both disease incidence and adoption of capsicum use forecast large annual savings in milk yield not lost, mortality not experienced, and treatment costs foregone.

If only 1 percent of mastitis cases, with an average cost of $179 per case, adopted capsicum use, the estimated savings would be more than $2.5 million.

Related Research Areas: Advanced Agricultural and Food Systems and Integrated Health

Research Credit

Team

Alex Hristov, Joonpyo Oh

Participating Departments

Animal Science

Competitive Funding

Pancosma

Federal and State Appropriations

USDA NIFA Hatch Multistate Project PEN04664, Accession # 1017181

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