Acute post-parturient haemoglobinuria in dairy cows and phosphorus status

Abstract

During the conduct of an experiment designed to examine the nutritional management of dairy cows in late pregnancy, four cows out of 72 suffered from acute haemoglobinuria two to four weeks after calving. Thirty-six thin and 36 fat cows were individually fed one of three diets based on a total mixed ration with different energy or protein concentrations during the last 3 to 4 weeks before expected calving date. After calving, cows grazed pasture and were offered 6 kg dry matter of pelleted concentrates daily. The P concentrations of the feeds offered suggested that the cows' diets were marginally deficient in P relative to requirements. Plasma P concentrations were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in fat cows than in thin cows during the first 6 weeks of lactation (0.87 versus 1.12 mmol/L), but precalving diet had no effect (P > 0.05). Concentrations of plasma inorganic P of the four fat cows that developed acute haemoglobinuria were less than 0.3 mmol/L. However, plasma P concentrations in another 12 cows, none of which displayed overt symptoms, declined to similar levels. It appeared that inadequate dietary P may have predisposed cows to acute haemoglobinuria, but the precipitating cause was not readily obvious.

Hemoglobinuria posparto en vacas de tres rebaños lecheros de la región del Bío-Bío, Chile

“…A su vez se encontraron vacas con concentraciones plasmáticas de fósforo inferiores a los 0.30 mmol/L sin signos clínicos (19).…”

Influence of feeding a low-phosphorus diet on leucocyte function in dairy cows

“…Periparturient conditions, such as downer cow syndrome and postparturient hemoglobinuria, are widely believed to be associated with hypophosphatemia (Gerloff and Swensen, 1996;Stockdale et al, 2005). Impairment of immune function has been described in states of P depletion in other species (Craddock et al, 1974;Alexiewicz et al, 1991;Kegley et al, 2001).…”

“…Hypophosphatemia, which is widely used as indicator for P depletion, was observed in over 10% of dairy cows in early lactation in one study (Macrae et al, 2006). Although the clinical relevance of subnormal serum phosphate concentrations ([Pi]) is currently poorly understood, hypophosphatemia has been incriminated 5177 as a potential cause for the downer cow syndrome and postparturient hemoglobinuria (Gerloff and Swensen, 1996;Stockdale et al, 2005).…”

“…Phosphorus in dairy cows has received increased attention over the past decades because of environmental concerns with excessive fecal P excretion and also because of empirical associations that were made between P depletion and clinical signs such as muscle weakness and recumbency or postparturient hemoglobinuria, a condition associated with severe intravascular hemolysis (Gerloff and Swensen, 1996;Stockdale et al, 2005). Legal regulations limiting the P content in soil have led to incentives to reduce the dietary P content of ruminant feed to reduce the P content in manure.…”

Post parturient hemoglobinuria in a sheep flock

“…Post parturition hemoglobinuria in cattle occurs sporadically and the incidence is relatively low (Smith, 2015). Thompson and Badger (1999), Stockdale et al (2005) and Miller et al (2006) reported an outbreak of 16.7%, 5.6% and 6.7% in dairy cattle, respectively (Millar et Table1. Haematological and biochemical parameters in the affected ewes with post-parturient haemoglobinuria Stockdale et al, 2005;Thompson and Badger, 1999).…”