McArt Dairy Cow Lab

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A big congratulations to Sofie Wilson, an undergraduate sophomore and McArt Lab member, who took 2nd place in the 2019 New York State CSTEP student poster competition. Sofie carried out a project titled “Using ß-Hydroxybutyrate Concentrations in Milk and Blood Samples During Early Lactation for Herd-Level Monitoring to Predict an Increased Risk of Disease”, in which she collected blood and milk samples from cows to improve our understanding of milk-based models to predict early lactation disease.

In true McArt Lab fashion, Sofie rocked sampling cows in the barn as well as her photo shoot on the runway.  Congrats, Sofie, for a job well done!

 

(The Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) increases the number of students from under-represented groups who are pursuing professional licensure and careers in mathematics, science, technology and health-related fields.)

We’ve started off 2019 with a bang! Dr. Kathryn Bach has published her latest work in Preventive Veterinary Medicine where she evaluated epidemiologic measures for detection of subclinical intramammary infections in dairy cattle using quarter or composite milk samples. Please click on the image below to go to the full article, which has been made available by the publishers until February 23rd. Happy 2019!

This month’s Journal of Dairy Science includes an open access article by Dr. Rafael Neves on the epidemiology of subclinical hypocalcemia in early lactation dairy cows. This was part of Dr. Neves’ PhD thesis in the McArt Lab, and we’re really excited about this publication! Click on the picture below to go directly to the final version of the article. You can download it for free from there!

The July 2018 edition of The Manager, produced by Progressive Dairyman, featured two articles on recent research from the McArt Lab. Click on the pictures to go to the full PDF versions of the articles!

McArt Lab members Dr. Jess McArt and Dr. Kathryn Bach traveled to Knoxville, TN in late June for the 2018 American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting. We learned a lot, met with collaborators, and had a great time! Below is a copy of the data Dr. McArt presented of Dr. Raf Neves’ doctoral research at the poster session – click the poster for a PDF version!

 

Another McArt Lab member is transitioning from pre-clinical coursework to clinical rotations in the Cornell DVM class of 2019. A big congrats to Stephanie Tarlowe as she donned her white coat for the next part of her veterinary education; Dr. Jess McArt had the honor of coating Stephanie at the ceremony. We’ve enjoyed Stephanie’s enthusiasm and dedication in the lab – over winter break she got up at 3:30am in the 2F weather to collect blood samples! – and all of us in the McArt Lab are excited for this next phase of Stephanie’s training.

We have some new research out from the McArt Lab in early 2018 that we want to share!

Our first publication was led by Dr. Sabine Mann continuing our examination of the effects of different treatments for hyperketonemia on liver triglycerides, glycogen, and expression of key metabolic enzymes in dairy cattle. Click on the picture below for access to the abstract in the Journal of Dairy Science.

 

And just out is a large study led by Dr. Brittany Leno looking at the effect of a single bolus of oral calcium on early lactation health and production parameters based on plasma Ca concentration pre-treatment. This research was done in collaboration with Dr. Tom Overton at Cornell University as well as Drs. Mark Thomas and Matt Curler at Dairy Health Management Services. Click on the picture below to get to the full article in the Journal of Dairy Science. The article is open access, so everyone can download it for free!  So hunker down for a good read – Dr. Leno didn’t leave anything out!

 

As usual, we are working on new (and we think exciting) things all the time, so stay tuned for more!

After years of modifications and testing, we have finally finished our validation of an on-farm ionized calcium meter! This work was the PhD baby of Dr. Rafael Neves who worked closely with the folks at Horiba to optimize this ion-selective electrode technology to provide a low-cost and accurate method of calcium measurement on dairy farms. Although the final product is not yet on the market, Horiba is currently in the final stages of commercialization of this tool, and we are excited to see how it changes our ability to monitor hypocalcemia in early lactation dairy cows.

This work has been published as an open access article in the Journal of Dairy Science, so please click on the picture below to get access to the complete publication. Congrats to Dr. Neves for all of his hard work! 

Well, apparently the Journal of Dairy Science provides 50 days of free access once an article is published in their journal. Having just figured this out, the link to Dr. Tonie Domino’s publication should be good for another 26 days; Dr. Rafael Neves’ publication link should work for the whole 50 days.  Click on the photo of each respective journal article to be taken to the website where you can download a copy.  Happy reading!

It’s been a busy year in the McArt Lab, and we’ve got some exciting new research that has just come out in the Journal of Dairy Science. The first project was headed by Dr. Tonie Domino who worked with Helen Korzec and Dr. Jess McArt to observe the effects of 2 different postpartum calcium supplements on health events, production, and culling in early lactation multiparous dairy cows. Click on the picture for a link to the Journal of Dairy Science abstract!

We also report on a large trial run by Dr. Rafael Neves with coauthors Dr. Brittany Leno, Dr. Tom Overton, Dr. Jess McArt, and our collaborators Dr. Mark Thomas and Dr. Matt Curler at Dairy Health Management Services, looking at the association of immediate postpartum plasma calcium concentration with early lactation health events, culling, and production in dairy cows. Click on the picture for a link to the Journal of Dairy Science abstract!

Previous work from Dr. Neves looking at the prepartum risk factors associated with development of subclinical hypocalcemia at calving and at 2 days in milk was also highlighted in a recent Dairy Nutrition Plus newsletter. Click on the picture for a link to the article!

We are learning a lot about the epidemiology of subclinical hypocalcemia in early lactation dairy cows, and the McArt Lab hopes to have more information about this disorder in the coming months!

The McArt Lab is happy to announce that Dr. Rafael Neves successfully defended his graduate thesis in August and is now Rafael Neves, DVM, MS, PhD. Some of the work from his thesis (epidemiology of subclinical hypocalcemia in early-lactation dairy cattle and a potential diagnostic tool for measurement of bovine blood ionized calcium) has already been published in the Journal of Dairy Science; be on the lookout for more in the near future!

Dr. Neves recently began a job as an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, and we wish him the best in his new position (details here). For those interested in contacting Dr. Neves, his new email is rafael.neves@ttu.edu.

We will greatly miss Dr. Neves’ energy, knowledge, excitement, and laugh in the McArt Lab but are so proud of his accomplishments!

Multiple members of the McArt Lab traveled to Omaha, NE last month to attend the 2017 American Association of Bovine Practitioners Annual Conference.  We had lots of research to present, collaborations to discuss, and friends to meet.

Research presentations included work performed in our lab by Dr. Rafael Neves, Dr. Kathryn Bach, Dr. Sabine Mann, Dr. Tonie Domino, and a collaborative effort between the McArt Lab and Dairy Health Management Services. In addition, Dr. Jess McArt presented an update on hypocalcemia during the Dairy Sessions program. In her usual style, Dr. Bach took second place in the graduate student competition with her presentation on subclinical intramammary infections.

We look forward to next year’s AABP conference in Phoenix, AZ where we can discuss all the new and exciting things we are currently doing in the lab!

The McArt Lab was well represented at the 2017 American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Pittsburg, PA. Dr. Rafael Neves gave a poster presentation examining the association of immediate postpartum hypocalcemia with early lactation health events and production, and Dr. Brittany Leno (a lab adoptee) gave a poster presentation on immediate postpartum hypocalcemia prevention/treatment. Dr. Sabine Mann gave a well-attended seminar on the comparison of different treatments for early lactation hyperketonemia, which was recently published in the Journal of Dairy Science. We all learned a lot and are energized for another year of research!

A big congrats to McArt Lab member Isabelle Louge on her snazzy white coat! Along with her fellow classmates in the Cornell DVM class of 2018, Isabelle donned her white coat this weekend as a symbol of her transition to the clinical portion of her veterinary education. Jess McArt had the honor of coating Isabelle, and we are all excited for her as she enters this portion of her veterinary training. Too bad they don’t call it the Green Coverall Ceremony!