Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2025

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

COLSA

Department

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems

Program or Major

Animal Science

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Claira Seely

Abstract

Organic dairy systems are limited when it comes to the use of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals which creates opportunities to explore alternative treatments to promote cow health. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF), a form of electromagnetic stimulation, promotes various types of healing for both animal and human medicine. Our objective was to explore the effect of PEMF on milk yield and composition in organic dairy cows. Mid-lactation Jersey cows (n = 35) of various parities were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) control (CON; n = 12); no PEMF, 2) once daily PEMF (PEMF1; n = 12), or 3) twice daily PEMF (PEMF2; n = 12). Cows were enrolled on the study for 10 consecutive days: 2 d of baseline (BL) no treatments occurred, 3 d of treatment (TRT), and 5 d of follow-up (FU). During TRT, PEMF was given directly after AM (PEMF1 and PEMF2) and PM (PEMF2) milkings for 12 minutes. Daily milk yield was recorded, and composite milk samples were collected at each milking for component analysis. Linear mixed models were created to assess the differences overtime between treatment groups for milk yield and components during BL, TRT, and FU. Milk yield was similar between groups for BL and TRT periods, and SCC was similar between all periods. There was no effect of treatment or time on milk components. Our findings suggest that PEMF may offer an opportunity to improve milk quality, future investigations into the utility of PEMF in clinically ill dairy cattle are warranted.

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