DSD 4.8 | How does grass-based milk impact human nutrition?

Research in Ireland is focused around better understanding the intersection of management and cattle nutrition on the quality of the milk produced within a system. This month we talk specifically about three different feeding strategies – TMR, PMR or grass based investigated for an entire lactation.

The vast majority of Irish dairymen attempt to maximize use of grass as the primary feed source for their nation’s dairy herd. Therefore food scientists Dr. André Brodkorb and Mark Timlin and team at Teagasc in Ireland set out to capture quantifiable differences in the milk between systems.

Listen in this month to learn more about the changes in milk quality that could have marketing implications. In addition to shifts in fatty acid profile they also captured milk processing parameter changes. We discuss the possible role that might have on preparing milk for their export markets.

These findings were published in the Journal of Dairy Science featured article titled, Impact of varying levels of pasture allowance on the nutritional quality and functionality of milk throughout lactation” Open access, available for download.

Topics of discussion

2:23 Introduction of researchers 7:11 Describe the Research Herd 8:27 Fatty Acid Analysis 11:00 Biologically relevant CLAs 11:26 Description of 2 types of trans-fatty acids 11:58 CLA concentration differences 12:25 Omega 3 Fatty Acid concentrations 12:44 Increase of ‘good fats’ 13:39 Decreased total fat production 15:16 Somatic Cell count differences – Figure 1 17:38 Figure 3 – separate feeding systems visually by FA 17:56 Figure 4 – visual heat map distinguishing dietary trt 18:42 Biomarkers to determine the difference between grass and TMR 21:36 Expect a production volume decrease 22:43 Grass fed dairy standards 24:21 Pilot scale test products for human intervention trial 27:49 Changes in milk and the impact on processing 30:52 UHT pasteurization and impact on nutrition, AA & FA  34:32 What would you like boots on the ground to know about your research project. #2xAg2030; #journalofdairyscience; @jdairyscience; #openaccess; #MODAIRY; #grassbasedmilk; #CLA, #grazing; #seasonaldairy; #fattyacid, #dairysciencedigest; #ReaganBluel

https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(23)00433-2/fulltext