Body condition scoring is a technique used to noninvasively assess fat reserves. It provides an objective estimate to describe the current and past nutritional status of the dairy cow and has been associated with increased disease risk and breeding success. Traditionally body condition scores are taken manually by visual appraisal on a 1 to 5 scale, in one-quarter increments. However, recent studies have shown the potential of automating the body condition scoring of cows using images. The first objective was to estimate the likelihood of disease development and breeding success, using odds ratios, associated with body condition score scored automatically at various points in lactation. The second objective of our research was to use a commercially available automated body condition scoring camera system to monitor body condition across the lactation period to evaluate differences between stratified parameters and to develop an equation to predict the dynamics of the body condition score. We found that poor body condition score at different times during the transition period are associated with increased disease occurrence and lower reproductive success. Automated body condition scoring (ABCS) curve during lactation was influenced by many factors, such as parity, ABCS at time of calving, disease occurrence, and milk production.

This thesis aimed to model agricultural outcomes that are important to Vermont dairy farms and their surrounding communities -- runoff, erosion, nitrogen and phosphorus losses, crop yields, and timeliness of farm operations -- under a set of possible future climates. The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model was used for this work, and the models were calibrated using data from a project that measured most of these outcomes on a set of local farms. The model setup and calibration methodology is thoroughly documented and may be a useful starting point for others who are new to agricultural modeling. Applied to two farms growing continuous corn, the future climate simulations showed that increasing temperatures by 2 C, combined with raising total precipitation or changing the seasonality of precipitation, had little effect on any outcome. Intense rainfall has increased greatly in recent decades, so a combination of higher temperatures and more intense precipitation was also simulated. This led to more runoff, more soil loss, and more nutrient losses. While median values were only modestly increased, the 95%-ile and total losses over the simulation period increased by a larger amount (as much as 53%, depending on the site). Management practices that can reduce runoff and soil/nutrient loss exist, but their effectiveness when a higher fraction of losses occur in large events is not well known. Crop yields changed by <10% in all simulations, and in some cases increased slightly. Other studies have warned of decreases in yields because of high summer temperatures and droughts. The pilot simulations in this thesis probed only a limited range of climate parameter space, so running the models for a wider range of scenarios may illuminate the circumstances in which particularly harmful and beneficial outcomes occur. Finally, APEX can in principle calculate the delays to corn planting that are expected if climate change leads to wetter conditions in the spring. However, the models consistently predicted that only harvest operations will be delayed. The reasons for this are not well understood, and it may be a useful avenue for future work. The present work is limited in a number of ways. Chief among these are somewhat mediocre model performance, and the narrow range of farming systems and climate scenarios investigated. Statistics describing the performance of the calibrated models were poorer than anticipated, and satisfactory results could not be obtained for some nutrient loss pathways. Only two farms were modeled, in just four hypothetical future climates; results for other relevant farming systems and climates may be quite different. Nonetheless, it is hoped that this thesis serves as a useful illustration of the potential and limitations of utilizing the APEX model in this context, and that it lays the groundwork for a more extensive investigation of agricultural outcomes under climate change in Vermont.

Loss of native biological diversity is a world-wide problem of growing international concern. One of the main causes of native biodiversity loss is destruction and degradation of native habitat through land development for agriculture. The Waikato region is an example of the destruction and degradation of native habitat in association with the development and intensification of farming, including dairy farming. This thesis explores cultural reasons for the loss of native forest in the Waikato region, and reasons why fragments of native forest remain. The research involves a participant observation study of 'typical' dairy farm families for 9 months of the dairy year, in-depth interviews of dairy farmers who have protected a significant proportion of their land for conservation of native habitat, a questionnaire of dairy farmers, and an examination of dairy farm magazines and other literature to identify the values and attitudes that motivate dairy farmers in relation to land management and protection of native habitat. The title of the thesis suggests two elements that are important for understanding the loss and persistence of native forest in Waikato's farmed landscapes. Symbolic reason refers to the values, attitudes and perceptions of farmers that derive from socio-political and economic forces which encourage productivist practises that leave little opportunity for native forest to survive. Material agency refers to the local circumstances of particular farms and individual people which enable native forest to persist. The thesis argues that persistence of native forest depends on the idiosyncrasies of material circumstance in the face of relentless pressure to transform the production landscape for economic purposes. The thesis concludes with a suggestion that policies to assist survival of native habitat in farmed landscapes need to include ones that encourage the odds in favour of fortuitous circumstance. In the face of globalised economic pressures, policies for conservation of native biodiversity need to involve a 'portfolio' of measures that apply to individual landowners and the wider rural community by recognising, assisting and rewarding management for non-production values.

Australia is amongst the more efficient milk producers in the world.Milk production in the region of south-western Victoria relies mainly on rainfed white clover/perennial ryegrass pastures.As the demand for efficient and competitive milk production increases, the value of N2 fixation must be maximised. The objective of this thesis was to assess N2 fixation in grazed dairy pastures in south-western Victoria. Several tests and experiments were conducted and results noted. Studies revealed low white clover yields to be the major factor limiting N2 fixation in the region. For N2 fixation to have a significant impact on pasture quality and production, problems associated with legume persistence need to be addressed. Strategies may include the breeding of white clover cultivars with greater tolerance to water stress, improved winter production and increased competitiveness with companion species. Alternatively, the introduction of different legume species, better suited to the environment, may be appropriate. Where N2 fixation is unlikely to satisfy N demands, it may be necessary to introduce the strategic use of supplementary feeds or nitrogenous fertilisers. However, this would need to be carefully considered to ensure high input costs did not jeopardise the competitive advantage of low input pasture-based systems / Masters Thesis

This thesis focused on the conversion period from conventional to organic agriculture for a Quebec dairy farm. The crucial problem resided in developing an economic framework to evaluate alternative crop rotations that would provide farmers in transition an optimal rotation plan compatible with organic farming practices. / Two multi-period linear programming models were developed for that purpose, both models having different assumptions concerning effects that the transition might have on crop yield. / In both transitional models, two crop rotations were selected in the optimal solution. In addition, the establishment of crop rotations was comparable for both models, and this showed that the assumed drop in yield did not have a large impact on the selection of crop rotation. Also, the results support the notion that conversion to organic agriculture had a relatively less negative effect on farm profit if the transition was done gradually.

The objective of this study was to compute economic values of traits for dairy cattle improvement using an empirical approach. Field recorded data were obtained from the Programme d'Analyse des Troupeaux Laitiers du Quebec (PATLQ) and genetic evaluation data were obtained from the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN). After the editing procedure, the data set consisted of 195,001 lifetime records of Holstein, Ayrshire, Jersey, Brown Swiss and Canadienne cows which calved for the first time between January 1980 and December 1994. / Different profitability measurements were computed and used as the dependent variables in covariance model to compute different sets of economic values. Since the majority of cows produced 5 lactations or less, results obtained by using lifetime profits and profits until the end of the fifth lactation are similar. A kilogram genetic increase in fat production had higher economic values than the same increase in milk production in all breeds. A unit genetic increase in conformation had the highest positive impact on profit while a same increase in capacity had a negative impact on profit. Results obtained by using lifetime profit adjusted for the opportunity cost of postponed replacement showed that this adjustement reduced the influence of type traits on profit. Finally, profits of first lactations were used to study consequences of changes in pricing systems occurred in Quebec in August 1992. Economic values attached to protein production changed drastically. A kilogram genetic increase in protein production had negative economic values in the 80's and positive economic values after August 1992.

This study presents a production function analysis of fresh milk producers in the Highlands of Eritrea for the year 2002, dealing with the most important factors of production. Most dairy farmers are located in the Central Zone and Southern Zone (Mendefera and Dekemhare) areas of the Highlands of Eritrea. To ensure representative production functions, the Highlands of Eritrea were divided into three respectively homogenous study areas, namely Central Zone, Mendefera and Dekemhare. Most data for this study were collected by survey using a questionnaire, as dairy farms' recorded data were scarce. The annual milk yield record and purchased concentrates per farmer were obtained from their respective milk collecting centres and Dairy Associations belonging to each study area. Basically, an attempt was made to pool the data of the three study areas, using dummy variables to test if the three study areas' regressions have a common intercept and a common slope. However, from the analysis, the intercept and slope dummy coefficients for the pooled data were found to be statistically significant at the 1 % and 5% levels of probability. Thus, it was not economically as well as statistically practical to pool the three areas' data to determine a common function that represents the sample dairy farmers of the Highlands of Eritrea as a whole. For this reason, a separate analysis was conducted for each study area. The analysis used the Cobb-Douglas function (double-log) form using multiple regressions. However, while analysing the data using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, strong intercorrelations were encountered among some factors of production. These intercorrelations resulted in some of the parameters having negative production coefficients where, a priori, all such coefficients are assumed to be non-negative. Thus, to tackle the multicollinearity problem, a ridge regression technique was used at different levels of the biasing constant, c, where the regression coefficients in the ridge trace start to stabilize and the variance inflation factor (VIF) of each parameter and the average of the VIFs are close to one. The final fitted model includes those variables, which were significant at the 1 % and 5% levels of probability. However, for the Mendefera study area those variables significant at 10% level of probability were included as their t-statistic values were considerably greater than one and nearly significant at the 5% level of probability. From the regression coefficients of the final fitted model for each study area, the elasticities of production with respect to the factors of production, ceteris paribus, were estimated. The highest response in production to a one percent change, ceteris paribus, is due to milking cows followed by concentrates and labour for the Central Zone Dairy farmers . However, for the Southern Zone (Mendefera and Dekemhare) the highest response next to milking cows came from forage and labour. The regression coefficients of all the factors of production in each study area were greater than zero and less than one, implying rational use of the resources. However, the sum of the elasticities of production was found to be greater than one for each area of production, indicating increasing returns to scale. Components of the production function and cost calculations including marginal product (MP), values of marginal product (VMP), marginal rate of substitution (MRS), least-cost combinations of inputs, profit maximizing combinations of inputs and the short-run cost functions for each category within the sample of dairy farmers in each study area were estimated. All the VMP's of the resources for the Central Zone dairy farmers were found to be greater than the corresponding unit price of the resources. This implies that the resources are utilized inadequately. However, for the Southern Zone (Mendefera and Dekemhare) the variable concentrates is over-utilized, as the VMP is less than the unit price of the input. The marginal rate of substitution of concentrates for forage, ceteris paribus, showed that the Central Zone sample dairy farmers were utilizing the two resources almost equally. But for the Southern Zone sample dairy farmers the MRS of the mentioned resources showed a higher dependence on concentrates than forage. From the least-cost combination of concentrates and forage analysis it was found that none of the sample of dairy farmers was allocating resources on a least-cost basis. The profit maximizing combination of inputs showed generally a considerable improvement of milk yield and margins for all the sample of dairy farmers relative to the present situations. However, the profit maximizing criteria (i.e. VMPx = Px), assumes perfect knowledge, a risk free environment and competitive marketing systems. This has to be considered when advising sample farmers as to the optimal combination of concentrates and forage. The short-run cost function also indicates use of resources at below optimum levels. When the average variable cost of the resources is less than the unit price of output, then use of the resources is in the rational area of production. Based on the analysis of the three study areas, the average variable cost of the lower one-third group of sample dairy farmers of the Southern Zone was found to be greater than the unit price of output. This means that the farmers were not covering the short-run costs of production. The MC of concentrates for the lower one-third group of sample dairy farmers was found to be greater than the price per litre of fresh milk in the Southern Zone. This implies more than optimum use of the input (i.e. where MC = Py). / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

A series of studies were conducted to evaluate genetic and phenotypic aspects of culling, herd life and survival in Quebec Holstein herds. Data consisted of lactation records obtained from the Programme d'Analyse des Troupeaux Laitiers du Quebec (PATLQ) files, which included 2.2 Million records before the editing procedures. The average productive herd life in Quebec herds was approximately 33 months, corresponding to an average replacement rate of MIND, for both milk recording options. Herds enrolled in the PATLQ official option had cows with longer calving intervals and culled their heifers earlier than herds in the owner sampler option. The probability of being culled for each major reason for disposal was assessed by logistic regression models, and it was shown that culling for low production (voluntary) had a clearly descending trend from 1981 to 1994, while involuntary culling (assumed to include all the reasons other than production) increased in importance mainly because of the ascending trends observed for cuffing due to reproductive problems, mastitis and feet and legs problems. Proportion of cows culled for involuntary reasons increased with parity number, but the opposite occurred for culling due to low production. Herds in the official option culled less for mastitis and sold more cows for dairy purposes than owner sampler herds. After these preliminary studies, a sequence of Weibull models were fitted to analyze different aspects of the data. The genetic study of herd life traits focused on differences between sires regarding true and functional herd life, but also described the effect of different explanatory variables on the failure time variable. Heritability for true and functional herd life was, respectively, 0.09 and 0.08 in the log scale and 0.19 and 0.15 in the original scale. The difference in the median survival time of daughters of bulls with extreme proofs for functional herd life was 1.7 lactations. Quebec dairymen use classification fo

The study was conducted in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa with the objective of characterising milk production and consumption among the communal households. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data through a single visit survey between June 2014 and May 2015. The study was undertaken in five randomly selected communal districts using a multi – stage area probability sampling method. Household sample size was calculated using a statistical methodology through a fixed formula based on a rural population size of 4410000, at a confidence level of 95 percent. A total of 500 households were selected with a sample size of 20 households in 5 communities within five different communal districts within the province. Half of the total sample size was used to represent the number of non-milk producing households (250) to get a true reflection on consumption profiles for nonproducers. Across the province the average communal family size was between 5-10 members with a monthly income of ZAR1340 per household. On average, pasture land size of the sampled households was 1 ha, with a range of 0.25-1.7 ha. The numbers of animals per species found in the studied province was highest for sheep (310) followed by cattle (227) and goat (87). Average livestock holding per household in the study area was 9.85 TLU (Tropical Livestock Unit). According to the respondents the predominant milking livestock numbers were between 1-3 animals milking per household. In the studied area traditional hand milking of livestock was the major milking practices at 12 percent in goats, 15 percent in sheep and 45 percent in cattle milk production. Consumption was the predominant reason for milk production recorded at 27 percent across the province. Milk production was 43 percent most preferred in cattle followed by 32 percent in goat and least at 29 percent in sheep across the province. In general, from the study it was noted that the majority (38 percent) of the respondents across the province indicated 0-5mins as the time it took to milk most milk producing livestock. The majority of the milking practices was done (37 percent) predominantly once a day, followed by 2 percent twice daily across the province. The daily milk production was on average (0.45±1.07) 2-5 litre in cattle, (4.86±0.814) 0-1litre in goats and (2.62±0.42) 0-1 litre sheep per producing house hold with in the province The monthly raw milk consumption in the province was (2.20± 1.42) 2-5 litres of cattle milk, (4.78±0.79) 2-5 litres of goat milk and (4.98±0.69) 2-5 litres of sheep milk per consuming household.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:44:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Celestino_Gabriel.pdf: 5860993 bytes, checksum: 6217e6ac5c030586726f3990dfc778ef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-30 / In western Paraná, institutional programs and public policies aiming at the maintenance of the reservoir of Itaipu Binacional have enhanced the characteristics of pre-existent family agriculture in Paraná Basin 3 (BP3), due to its land structure, introducing concepts, knowledge and technologies in order to meet sustainable development indicators in the area surrounding the reservoir of the hydroelectric dam. The focus of this study was the Agrienergy Condominium of Linha Ajuricaba, in the inner city of Marechal Cândido Rondon. The aim of the research was to characterize the actions and methodologies used by CAB Cultivating Good Water Program and, specifically, to analyze the participating producers of the Agrienergy Condominium, in order to trace the trajectory of their actions with the purpose of achieving sustainability parameters in dairy farming. Twenty one (21) producer members of the Agrienergy Condominium have been evaluated by means of a questionnaire, whose properties had water, soil and herd handling systems implemented, as well as the facilities have been adapted aiming to meet the requirements of the Normative Instruction 62 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply for milk production. The results obtained from the questionnaire, with their subsequent tabulation and grouping through the Analysis of Multiple Components, outlined the existence of four well-defined groups that characterize the milk producers of Linha Ajuricaba, with regard to technical and economic, environmental, social and institutional sustainability indicators / Na região Oeste do Paraná, programas e políticas públicas institucionais, visando à manutenção do reservatório da Itaipu Binacional, potencializaram as características da agricultura familiar pré-existentes, no território da Bacia do Paraná 3 (BP3), em virtude da sua estrutura fundiária, introduzindo conceitos, conhecimentos e tecnologias no intuito de atender os indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentável no entorno do reservatório da hidrelétrica. O Condomínio de Agroenergia da Linha Ajuricaba, interior de Marechal Cândido Rondon, foi o foco deste estudo. Assim o objetivo da pesquisa foi de caracterizar as ações e as metodologias, utilizadas pelo CAB programa Cultivando Água Boa e, especificamente, analisar produtores participantes do Condomínio de Agroenergia, no sentido de traçar uma trajetória de suas ações na busca de atingir parâmetros de sustentabilidade na atividade leiteira. Foram avaliados, através de um questionário, 21 produtores membros do condomínio de agroenergia, em cujas propriedades foram implantados sistemas de manejo das águas, solos e rebanho, e adequadas as instalações, de maneira que atendessem os requisitos constantes da Instrução Normativa 62 do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento para a produção de leite. Os resultados obtidos com a aplicação do questionário, com sua posterior tabulação e agrupamento, através da técnica da Análise de Componentes Múltiplos, delinearam a existência de 4 grupos bem definidos, que caracterizam os produtores de leite da Linha Ajuricaba, no que se refere aos indicadores de sustentabilidade técnica e econômica, ambiental, social e institucional