Doris Pellerin | Université Laval (original) (raw)
Papers by Doris Pellerin
Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI, 2021
Simple Summary It has been known for several years that limiting phosphorus in the cow diet mitig... more Simple Summary It has been known for several years that limiting phosphorus in the cow diet mitigates its excretion in manure, hence reducing the environmental phosphorus load after manure spreading. The quantity of phosphorus that could be applied in the field is regulated by law in several countries. This is not the same for trace minerals such as cobalt, copper, manganese, and zinc. Nevertheless, if overfed, these last minerals are excreted in manure in great quantities and could accumulate in the soil after manure spreading, which could lead to detrimental environmental effects. However, formulating cow rations according to the mineral requirements is challenging for nutritionists. The aim of this analysis is to compare dietary phosphorus, cobalt, copper, manganese, and zinc concentrations from 100 commercial Holstein dairy herds with the National Research Council recommendations. Phosphorus is included as a point of comparison, as its overfeeding has been well studied compared ...
Longevity can be defined as the length of time that a cow remains in the herd after the first cal... more Longevity can be defined as the length of time that a cow remains in the herd after the first calving, in other words, it is the length of her productive life. The survival of a cow can be influenced by many factors. Management-related factors include milk quota restrictions, availability of replacement heifers, nutrition, overstocking, management practices that influence the incidence of disease, and barn features such as stall size, bedding type and flooring. Cowrelated factors include, among others, metabolic and reproductive disorders,
Animals
Continuous assessment of the herd status is important in order to monitor and adjust to changes i... more Continuous assessment of the herd status is important in order to monitor and adjust to changes in the welfare and health status but can be time consuming and expensive. In this study, herd status indicators from routinely collected dairy herd improvement (DHI) records were used to develop a remote herd assessment tool with the aim to help producers and advisors benchmark the herd status and identify herd management issues affecting welfare and health. Thirteen DHI indicators were selected from an initial set of 72 potential indicators collected on 4324 dairy herds in Eastern Canada. Data were normalized to percentile ranks and aggregated to a composite herd status index (HSI) with equal weights among indicators. Robustness analyses indicated little fluctuation for herds with a small HSI (low status) or large HSI (high status), suggesting that herds in need of support could be prioritized and effectively monitored over time, limiting the need for time-consuming farm visits. This too...
Animals
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Proceedings
The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic ... more The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic performance of farms, reduce the environmental footprint of the milk industry, and provide overall help in justifying a sustainable use of animals for food production. However, there is little yet published on the current status of cow longevity and we hypothesized that a reason may be a lack of standardization and an over narrow focus of the longevity measure itself. The objectives of this critical literature review were: (1) to review the metrics used to measure dairy cow longevity in order to determine those most commonly employed; (2) to describe the status of longevity in high milk-producing countries. Current metrics are limited to either the length of time the animal remains in the herd or if it is alive at a given time. To overcome such a limitation, dairy cow longevity should be first defined as an animal having an early age at first calving and a long productive life spent in p...
10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)
Transactions of the ASABE
. Several strategies are available for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with ... more . Several strategies are available for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with dairy manure management in barns, storage units, and fields. For instance, incorporation of manure into the soil, solid-liquid separation, composting, enclosed manure storage, and anaerobic digestion have been identified as good options. However, these strategies are not widely adopted in Canada because clear information on their effectiveness to abate the whole-farm GHG footprint is lacking. Better information on the most cost-effective options for reducing on-farm GHG emissions would assist decision making for dairy producers and foster adoption of the most promising approaches on Canadian dairies. In this context, whole-farm modeling provides a tool for evaluating different GHG abatement strategies. An Excel-based linear optimization model (N-CyCLES) was used to assess the economics and the nutrient and GHG footprints of two representative dairy farms in Québec, Canada. The farms were located in regions with contrasting climates (southwestern and eastern Québec). The model was developed to optimize feeding, cropping, and manure handling as a single unit of management, considering the aforementioned mitigation options. Greenhouse gas emissions from the different simulated milk production systems reached 1.27 to 1.85 kg CO2e kg-1 of corrected milk, allowing GHG reductions of up to 25% compared to the base system described in Part I. Solid-liquid separation had the greatest GHG mitigation potential, followed by the digester-like strategy involving a tight cover for gas burning. However, both options implied a decrease in farm net income. Manure incorporation into the soil and composting were associated with high investment relative to their GHG abatement potential. The most cost-effective option was using a loose cover on the manure storage unit. This approach lessened the manure volume and ammonia-N volatilization, thereby reducing fertilizer and manure spreading costs, increasing crop sales and profit, and enhancing the whole-farm N and GHG footprints. Consequently, covering the manure tanks appears to be an economically viable practice for Québec dairy farms. Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Composting, Dairy cow, Farm net income, Greenhouse gas emission, Incorporation, Nutrient footprint, Solid-liquid separation, Storage cover, Whole-farm model.
Journal of Animal Science
The Professional Animal Scientist
ABSTRACT The concept of Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load (RUFAL) has been proposed to reflect th... more ABSTRACT The concept of Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load (RUFAL) has been proposed to reflect the supply of dietary unsaturated fatty acids in relation with their potential to disturb ruminal fermentation and trigger milk fat depression in lactating dairy cows. The objective of this study was to assess this concept, and its relationship with milk fat concentration, using data available in a DHI database. Data from Holstein cows recorded over 3 yr by Valacta (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada) were used for the analysis. The fatty acid concentrations in feed were obtained from CNCPS V6.1, INRA-AFZ Tables of Feed Composition, and peer-reviewed articles. Multiple regression analyses were performed at 2 stages of lactation (early: 1–100 DIM; and established: 101–350 DIM) using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Estimated breeding value was also included to account for the effect of genetics on milk fat concentration. Results show that RUFAL has a negative and significant relationship with milk fat concentration at each stage of lactation (P
Canadian Journal of Animal Science
ABSTRACT
Journal of Dairy Science
ABSTRACT
Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI, 2021
Simple Summary It has been known for several years that limiting phosphorus in the cow diet mitig... more Simple Summary It has been known for several years that limiting phosphorus in the cow diet mitigates its excretion in manure, hence reducing the environmental phosphorus load after manure spreading. The quantity of phosphorus that could be applied in the field is regulated by law in several countries. This is not the same for trace minerals such as cobalt, copper, manganese, and zinc. Nevertheless, if overfed, these last minerals are excreted in manure in great quantities and could accumulate in the soil after manure spreading, which could lead to detrimental environmental effects. However, formulating cow rations according to the mineral requirements is challenging for nutritionists. The aim of this analysis is to compare dietary phosphorus, cobalt, copper, manganese, and zinc concentrations from 100 commercial Holstein dairy herds with the National Research Council recommendations. Phosphorus is included as a point of comparison, as its overfeeding has been well studied compared ...
Longevity can be defined as the length of time that a cow remains in the herd after the first cal... more Longevity can be defined as the length of time that a cow remains in the herd after the first calving, in other words, it is the length of her productive life. The survival of a cow can be influenced by many factors. Management-related factors include milk quota restrictions, availability of replacement heifers, nutrition, overstocking, management practices that influence the incidence of disease, and barn features such as stall size, bedding type and flooring. Cowrelated factors include, among others, metabolic and reproductive disorders,
Animals
Continuous assessment of the herd status is important in order to monitor and adjust to changes i... more Continuous assessment of the herd status is important in order to monitor and adjust to changes in the welfare and health status but can be time consuming and expensive. In this study, herd status indicators from routinely collected dairy herd improvement (DHI) records were used to develop a remote herd assessment tool with the aim to help producers and advisors benchmark the herd status and identify herd management issues affecting welfare and health. Thirteen DHI indicators were selected from an initial set of 72 potential indicators collected on 4324 dairy herds in Eastern Canada. Data were normalized to percentile ranks and aggregated to a composite herd status index (HSI) with equal weights among indicators. Robustness analyses indicated little fluctuation for herds with a small HSI (low status) or large HSI (high status), suggesting that herds in need of support could be prioritized and effectively monitored over time, limiting the need for time-consuming farm visits. This too...
Animals
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Proceedings
The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic ... more The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic performance of farms, reduce the environmental footprint of the milk industry, and provide overall help in justifying a sustainable use of animals for food production. However, there is little yet published on the current status of cow longevity and we hypothesized that a reason may be a lack of standardization and an over narrow focus of the longevity measure itself. The objectives of this critical literature review were: (1) to review the metrics used to measure dairy cow longevity in order to determine those most commonly employed; (2) to describe the status of longevity in high milk-producing countries. Current metrics are limited to either the length of time the animal remains in the herd or if it is alive at a given time. To overcome such a limitation, dairy cow longevity should be first defined as an animal having an early age at first calving and a long productive life spent in p...
10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)
Transactions of the ASABE
. Several strategies are available for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with ... more . Several strategies are available for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with dairy manure management in barns, storage units, and fields. For instance, incorporation of manure into the soil, solid-liquid separation, composting, enclosed manure storage, and anaerobic digestion have been identified as good options. However, these strategies are not widely adopted in Canada because clear information on their effectiveness to abate the whole-farm GHG footprint is lacking. Better information on the most cost-effective options for reducing on-farm GHG emissions would assist decision making for dairy producers and foster adoption of the most promising approaches on Canadian dairies. In this context, whole-farm modeling provides a tool for evaluating different GHG abatement strategies. An Excel-based linear optimization model (N-CyCLES) was used to assess the economics and the nutrient and GHG footprints of two representative dairy farms in Québec, Canada. The farms were located in regions with contrasting climates (southwestern and eastern Québec). The model was developed to optimize feeding, cropping, and manure handling as a single unit of management, considering the aforementioned mitigation options. Greenhouse gas emissions from the different simulated milk production systems reached 1.27 to 1.85 kg CO2e kg-1 of corrected milk, allowing GHG reductions of up to 25% compared to the base system described in Part I. Solid-liquid separation had the greatest GHG mitigation potential, followed by the digester-like strategy involving a tight cover for gas burning. However, both options implied a decrease in farm net income. Manure incorporation into the soil and composting were associated with high investment relative to their GHG abatement potential. The most cost-effective option was using a loose cover on the manure storage unit. This approach lessened the manure volume and ammonia-N volatilization, thereby reducing fertilizer and manure spreading costs, increasing crop sales and profit, and enhancing the whole-farm N and GHG footprints. Consequently, covering the manure tanks appears to be an economically viable practice for Québec dairy farms. Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Composting, Dairy cow, Farm net income, Greenhouse gas emission, Incorporation, Nutrient footprint, Solid-liquid separation, Storage cover, Whole-farm model.
Journal of Animal Science
The Professional Animal Scientist
ABSTRACT The concept of Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load (RUFAL) has been proposed to reflect th... more ABSTRACT The concept of Rumen Unsaturated Fatty Acid Load (RUFAL) has been proposed to reflect the supply of dietary unsaturated fatty acids in relation with their potential to disturb ruminal fermentation and trigger milk fat depression in lactating dairy cows. The objective of this study was to assess this concept, and its relationship with milk fat concentration, using data available in a DHI database. Data from Holstein cows recorded over 3 yr by Valacta (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada) were used for the analysis. The fatty acid concentrations in feed were obtained from CNCPS V6.1, INRA-AFZ Tables of Feed Composition, and peer-reviewed articles. Multiple regression analyses were performed at 2 stages of lactation (early: 1–100 DIM; and established: 101–350 DIM) using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Estimated breeding value was also included to account for the effect of genetics on milk fat concentration. Results show that RUFAL has a negative and significant relationship with milk fat concentration at each stage of lactation (P
Canadian Journal of Animal Science
ABSTRACT
Journal of Dairy Science
ABSTRACT