Experimental devices, research protocols, results...: we are being talked about!

Smartcow

On 6 April 2022, the final conference to present the results of the SMARTCOW project, part of the European H2020 programme, took place. Le Pin unit participated in the collection of data on the reproduction of dairy cows, via heat sensors placed on our animals at pasture.   
You can find the different presentation videos and .pdf files here !

Grass management

Two podcasts have recently been produced on grazing management in Le Pin, including the notions of flexibility in grass management, but also the impact of cow size (animal genetics) on soil compaction.

Radio Prairies : Episode 11 – Saison 2 – Flexible grazing management

Radio Prairies : Episode 12 – Saison 2 – Dairy cow size and grazing management

Nitrogen

Nitrogen efficiency and apparent nitrogen balance are commonly used indicators to assess production systems and their environmental consequences. Many levers exist to improve them. But is the overall gain at the system level the result of the gains observed at each of its components? Is a gain in efficiency always synonymous with a reduction in losses?

The QVQS experiment lasted 14 years on the Le Pin unit. It has served as a basis for many studies, including work on the impact of dairy systems on the environment. This is the case, for example, in this publication!

Preccaval

The Preccaval experiment, which lasted about 8 years, showed how genetic selection can improve the sexual precocity of Charolais heifers and its link with feed efficiency; and the results describe how Charolais suckler cows respond and adapt to a period of feed restriction. Enjoy reading!

Deffilait - Effialim

The body condition index reflects the average condition of dairy cows, but does it also provide information on variations in body reserve mobilisation and intake during lactation? This experiment of the Deffilait project provides some answers in this new article.

Bovimune

The recent development of multiplex technologies allows the determination of a large number of soluble proteins such as cytokines in various biological samples; they make it possible to establish secretion profiles allowing a better characterisation of conditions related to infectious diseases or vaccination: here are the results of this study carried out on blood samples from 107 Holstein cows from our herd!