P9b: Milk as an Indicator of Heat Load

Milk samples could give insights about a cow’s level of heat load, offering an easy-to-access management tool to guide animal welfare decisions by dairy farmers

This would be a non-invasive alternative to testing though blood and saliva. There’s also less room for error or subjectiveness compared to visually assessing a herd for heat load. Additionally, it has the potential for remote monitoring and could be a service offered by milk processors.

This project is investigating the potential to use the level of the ‘heat shock protein’ HSP70 in milk as an indicator of heat load in dairy cattle.

Benefits

Using milk as a monitoring and diagnostic tool has potential benefits at the industry, herd and individual cow level. Ultimately, the diagnostic capability of bulk tank milk could reduce the risk of disease spread within and among herds.

At an industry level this is vital for biosecurity as the detection of pathogens or specific antibodies in milk can be used for monitoring endemic diseases within a farm, region, or country. At an individual level, the early diagnosis and treatment of infections and nutritional disorders improves animal health and welfare.

Progress

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Project Update (December 2023)

Studies to date have confirmed that milk HSP70 levels could be used as an indicator of heat load.

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Abstract (2024 American Dairy Science Association)

Influence of management and storage factors on detection of HSP70 in raw bovine milk.

American Dairy Science Association conference

Dairy UP work was recently showcased at the conference of the prestigious American Dairy Society Association. PhD student Md Rezaul Rakib presented early findings from P9b: Milk as an Indicator of Heat Load and Adj Prof. Ian Lean presented findings from David Sheedy’s PhD studies which are part of P2a Cattle Longevity.

P9b Monitoring heat load in milk

Dairy UP’s P9b project is researching the value of a modified ELISA test using milk samples to monitor heat load in dairy cows.

Project Lead

Juan Gargiulo

Development Officer Dairy | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

You can help

If you are interested in this project or think you may want to be involved at some stage, please contact Juan Gargiulo (juan.gargiulo@dpi.nsw.gov.au.

Project Team:

Rezaul Rakib – University of Sydney – rezaul.rakib@sydney.edu.au
Valeria Messina – University of Sydney – valeria.messina@sydney.edu.au
Yani Garcia – University of Sydney – sergio.garcia@sydney.edu.au

For more information contact Prof. Yani Garcia (sergio.garcia@sydney.edu.au) or Juan Gargiulo (juan.gargiulo@dpi.nsw.gov.au).
This research is funded by the Dairy UP initiative (https://www.dairyup.com.au/).