Vern Osborne

University of Guelph | UOGuelph · Department of Animal and Poultry Science

In the context of understanding lameness and injury from slipping, our objective was to characterize hoof impact and slide of 5 cows walking on 6 flooring surfaces commonly used in Ontario dairy farms: diamond-grooved concrete (DC), sanded epoxy-covered concrete (EC), grooved rubber mat (GR), high-profile rubber mat (HR), low-profile rubber mat (LR...

Irregular milking intervals in automated milking systems contribute to additional variation in daily milk yield records in comparison to those derived from systems using regular milking intervals. Various methods have been developed to estimate 24-h adjusted milk yields, though they are not well suited for the evaluation of serial milk yield data,...

Electrocardiography (ECG) is an essential tool in assessing equine health and fitness. However, standard ECG devices are expensive and rely on the use of adhesive electrodes, which may become detached and are associated with reduced ECG quality over time. Smart textile electrodes composed of stainless-steel fibers have previously been shown to be a...

Free-stalls for dairy cows promote cleanliness, provide cows with a defined space to lie down, and decrease labor and bedding required for maintenance. However, current stall features can restrict behavior and reduce stall use. The objective of this study was to assess the short-term effect of a novel free-stall design (flexible single-bar partitio...

The longitudinal slope of a stall is important for positioning cows in the stall and maintaining cleanliness of the stall surface. The objectives of this study were to determine the short-term effect of increasing free-stall slope from 4.5% to 9.3% on dairy cow lying behavior, rumination, milk production, cleanliness, and preference. In experiment...

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) can be a prevalent issue in commercial turkey production. This study aimed to identify the bird, housing, and management-related factors associated with the prevalence of FPD in the Canadian turkey flocks. A questionnaire and flock health scoring system were developed and disseminated to ∼500 commercial turkey farmers acros...

Genetic selection for improved feed efficiency in dairy cattle has received renewed attention over the last decade to address the needs of a growing global population. As milk yield is a critical component of feed efficiency metrics in dairy animals, our objective was to evaluate the associations between feed efficiency in primiparous Holstein catt...

A recently developed methodological approach for determining the greenhouse gas emissions impact of national breeding programs was applied to measure the effects of current and future breeding goals on the emission intensity (EI) of the Canadian dairy industry. Emission intensity is the ratio of greenhouse gas outputted in comparison to the product...

The goal of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and predict direct and correlated response to selection for lamb growth traits and ewe reproductive traits, based on single trait selection or combining multiple traits in an optimum index that targets total litter post-weaning weight in the first lambing as the main selection goal. Heritabi...

A variety of measures are currently used to evaluate feed efficiency in livestock, with some of the most popular being the linear regression of nutrient intake on the various energy sinks of the cohort being evaluated. The adoption of novel on-farm technologies has greatly increased the breadth and depth of data being collected on a daily basis, wh...

Current production systems for commercial turkeys can lead to challenges including the development of footpad dermatitis (FPD) and aggressive pecking. Both have welfare and economic implications for turkey production. To date, there have been no epidemiological studies conducted in Canada on risk factors for either FPD or aggressive pecking. In thi...

Feed represents a substantial proportion of production costs in the dairy industry and is a useful target for improving overall system efficiency and sustainability. The objective of this study was to develop methodology to estimate the economic value for a feed efficiency trait and the associated methane production relevant to Canada. The approach...

Feed efficiency has been widely studied in many areas of dairy science and is currently seeing renewed interest in the field of breeding and genetics. A critical part of determining how efficiently an animal utilizes feed is accurately measuring individual dry matter (DM) in- take. Currently, multiple methods are used to measure feed intake or dete...

Residual feed intake (RFI), along with the related residual net energy intake (REI), are some of the most widely used measures of feed efficiency in dairy cattle. As these methods are regression-based, efficiency is expressed relative to the animals used to estimate the regression coefficients. Furthermore, measures of feed efficiency are highly in...

The Efficient Dairy Genome Project is an international research initiative led by Canada that brings together research and industry experts and is focused on developing genomic selection tools for improving feed efficiency (FE) and decreasing methane emissions (ME) in dairy cattle. Genotypes and phenotypic data for FE, ME, and milk MIR spectral dat...

Tryptophan (Trp) is an indispensable dietary amino acid that supports the modulation of mood and behavior in mammalian species through its role in the serotonergic pathway. This study assessed the behavior patterns of 36 healthy, female adult mixed-breed hound dogs fed a control diet (tryptophan = 0.18% as-fed) or 1 of several experimental diets wi...

Background: The objectives of this study were to: (A) select an ideal organogel for the oil phase of a novel gel encapsulation technology, (B) optimize the formulation of an organogel and sodium alginate-based gel complex, and (C) examine the rumen protective ability of the gel by measuring 48-hour in vitro ruminal dry matter disappearance and gas...

The objective of this study was to determine if the addition of glycerol to the diet of dairy cows would stimulate milk protein yield in the same manner as the addition of corn grain. Twelve multiparous lactating dairy cows at 81 ± 5 d in milk were subjected to 3 dietary treatments in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design for 28-d periods. The die...

Genetic selection of dairy cattle has been successful in improving production and conformation traits over time, but change has not been assessed for feed efficiency and methane emissions. Genetic evaluation of these complex traits is difficult, and requires the use of expensive methods and materials that are not practical on commercial farms. As a...

Ontario’s dairy goat industry has grown in recent years. The objective of the present study was to establish the current nutritional practices on dairy goat farms. A survey was sent out to 216 dairy goat producers in Ontario. Producers were asked questions regarding their general herd structure and mortality, voluntary culling reasons, lactation ma...

Water use on 17 Ontario dairy farms was studied over 20 mo using continuous-flow water meters to measure cow consumption and milk-house and parlor usage with the goal of quantifying and assessing the amount of water used on dairy farms. The farmers were also interviewed regarding their perspectives on water use on their operations as well as throug...

Stereotypic behavior in horses, including cribbing and weaving, can be attributed to a number of different factors including the number of hours in a stall, number of grazing opportunities, number of times fed hay in a day, and the ability to touch other horses. By providing environmental enrichment that allows for feed availability for a longer ti...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of enhanced whole-milk (WM) feeding systems in calves from birth to 8 wk of age on subsequent first-lactation performance. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design consisting of 2 treatment groups. At birth, 152 Holstein heifer calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 trea...

Background Decreasing the rate of protein emptying from the stomach may improve efficiency of utilization of dietary amino acids for protein deposition. Some studies in rats and humans have shown casein to be more slowly released from the stomach than whey protein. To test if casein induces a slower rate of gastric emptying in cats than whey protei...

Abstract Text: As the biofuel industry grows and expands, there is an increased availability of the by-product glycerol, which could be a glucogenic feedstuff for dairy cows. The objective of this study was to determine if the addition of glycerol to the diet of dairy cows would stimulate milk protein yield in the same manner as the addition of c...

Photoperiod is essential in manipulating sexual maturity and reproductive performance in avian species. Light can be perceived by photoreceptors in the retina of the eye, pineal gland, and hypothalamus. However, the relative sensitivity and specificity of each organ to wavelength, and consequently the physiological effects, may differ. The purpose...

To test which, if any, of the major milk precursors can elicit a rapid change in the rate of mammary blood flow (MBF) and to define the time course and magnitude of such changes, 4 lactating cows were infused with glucose, amino acids, or triacylglycerol into the external iliac artery feeding one udder half while iliac plasma flow (IPF) was monitor...

Two studies were conducted using adult dogs to evaluate the effect of increasing the inclusion of soybean meal (SBM) in an adult dog food on body composition, hematological, biochemical blood analyses, and total tract nutrient digestibility. Nutritionally complete and balanced diets were formulated with commercial-grade SBM (48% CP) to replace 0, 1...

The objective of this study was to determine effects of glucose on milk protein yield and mammary mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activity in dairy cattle in early lactation. Eight multiparous cows at 73 ± 8 d in milk were randomly assigned to 2 treatments in a crossover design for two 6-d periods. Treatments were jugular infusion of either sa...

Valacta (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada) is the Canadian Dairy Herd Improvement organization responsible for milk recording in Québec and Atlantic provinces. Up to 14 first-lactation body condition score (BCS) records were collected per cow (average of 2.5 records per cow), allowing the trait to be described by a random regression animal m...

The objective of this research was to estimate genetic parameters of first-lactation body condition score (BCS), milk yield, fat percentage (Fat%), protein percentage (Prot%), somatic cell score (SCS), milk urea nitrogen (MUN), lactose percentage (Lact%), and fat to protein ratio (F:P) using multiple-trait random regression animal models. Changes i...

The objective of this research was to estimate the genetic parameters of body condition score (BCS) in the first 3 lactations in Canadian Holstein dairy cattle using a multiple-lactation random regression animal model. Field staff from Valacta milk recording agency (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada) collected BCS from Québec herds several times...

The decline in mammary epithelial cell number as lactation progresses may be due, in part, to oxidative stress. Selenium is an integral component of several antioxidant enzymes. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of oxidative stress and selenomethionine (SeMet) on morphology, viability, apoptosis, and proliferation of bovine mamm...

This study examined the localization of cellular glutathione peroxidase (GPx1) and extracellular glutathione peroxidase (GPx3) in lactating mammary tissue and in primary cultures of bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMEC). The effect of selenium as selenomethionine (SeMet) on the growth and viability of BMEC and GPx protein expression and activity w...

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of supplementing glycerol and soybean oil in drinking water on feed and water intake, calculated energy balance, and production performance of periparturient dairy cows. Ninety multiparous Holstein dairy cows were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) no nutrients supplemented in the dri...

The objectives of this study were (i) to determine the amount of time required for microbial Se concentration to reach a plateau and the halflife of Se in the ruminal microorganisms (exp. 1) and (ii) to compare Se uptake by ruminal microorganisms from organic and inorganic sources (exp. 2). In exp. 1, four dry ruminally cannulated Holstein dairy co...

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that a sufficient proportion of histidine (His) included in the drinking water of lactating cows bypasses the rumen to have an effect on milk synthesis. Eight dairy cows (45 +/- 15 d in milk) were given either 0 or 2.5 g/L of His in the drinking water in a crossover design of two 7-d periods. Cows...

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of supplementing fish oil (FO) in the drinking water of dairy cows on production performance and milk fatty acid composition. Sixteen multiparous Holstein dairy cows (741 +/- 84 kg of BW; 60 +/- 2.3 d in milk, mean +/- SD) housed in a tie-stall facility were used in the study. The study was c...

Long-day photoperiods (LDPP) have been shown to increase milk production in lactating dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of supplemental light and glucose-supplemented drinking water on starter dry matter intake (DMI), water intake, serum and rumen metabolites, and growth performance of calves from birth to 8 wk...

Experiments were conducted to investigate the use of added flavor in drinking water of Holstein calves and lactating dairy cattle to determine effects on dry feed intake. Nine calves were used in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square design, and water offered was unflavored or flavored with orange or vanilla. All calves were offered commercial starter. F...

The effects of additive, dominance, additive by dominance, additive by additive and dominance by dominance genetic effects on age at first service, non-return rates and interval from calving to first service were estimated. Practical considerations of computing additive and dominance relationships using the genomic relationship matrix are discussed...

Four multiparous ruminally fistulated Holstein dairy cows were used in an 8-wk experiment utilizing a repeated measures block design to determine the effects of subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) on supplemented water intake. Animals were subjected to SARA, which was induced by replacing 25% of the ad libitum intake of the total mixed ration (dry mat...

The objective of this experiment was to examine the effects of supplementing the drinking water of transition dairy cattle with glucose on the energy and nitrogen status of the cow. Twenty-four multiparous Holstein dairy cows were randomly assigned to one of three treatments for an experimental period that extended from -7 to 21 d of lactation. The...

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of heating the drinking water of lactating dairy cows in different ambient environments on the feed and water intake and milk yield and composition and hydration status of Jersey and Holstein cows. Eighteen cows were randomly assigned to either an ambient (7-15°C), or a continuously heated (30-33°C...

Ninety-six Charolais and Limousin steers were used to evaluate 75% grain (whole barley or corn) diets and two slaughter endpoints (7 mm backfat or 568 kg liveweight) in an experiment designed to constrain carcass weights to under approximately 341 kg yet produce optimal beef quality. Each breed was represented by eight progeny from each of six sire...