Association of lameness and mastitis with return‐to‐service oestrus detection in the dairy cow

Abstract

Oestrus detection is an important part of maintaining efficient reproductive performance in dairy herds. Both lameness and mastitis are common diseases of dairy cows that may impact oestrus detection. A set of data from 28 herds identified as having good recording of clinical mastitis and lameness incidents was used for the study. Logistic regression was used to identify associations between disease episodes within 100 days of insemination and changes in the probability of reinsemination at either 18–24 or 19–26 days after an unsuccessful insemination. Population attributable risk was calculated to understand the impact these diseases may have at a herd level. Lameness 0–28 days after the first insemination of the interval decreased the odds of a reinsemination at an appropriate time by approximately 20 per cent. Clinical mastitis 1–28 days prior to the first insemination of the interval increased the odds of reinsemination at the expected time by approximately 20 per cent. The associations were similar for either interservice interval outcome. Population attributable risk suggested that the effect of these diseases on the probability of reinsemination at the expected time at a population level would likely be extremely small.

Functional genomics of cattle through integration of multi-omics data

“…Using this approach, we could identify significant similarity between 184 different bovine traits. For example, clinical mastitis showed significant similarity with 23 different cattle traits that were greatly supported by published studies, such as milk yield (Rajala-Schultz et al 1999), milk composition traits (Martí De Olives et al 2013), somatic cell score (Halasa and Kirkeby 2020), foot traits (Remnant et al 2019), udder traits (Miles et al 2019), daughter pregnancy rate (Lima et al 2020), length of productive life (Hertl et al 2018) and net merit (Kaniyamattam et al 2020). Similar results were observed for residual feed intake, which showed significant similarity with 14 different traits such as average daily feed intake (Green et al 2013), average daily gain (Elolimy et al 2018), carcass weight (Weber et al 2013), feed conversion ratio (Yi et al 2018), metabolic body weight (Liu and VandeHaar 2020), subcutaneous fat (Clare et al 2018), and dry matter intake (Houlahan et al 2021).…”

Enhanced bovine genome annotation through integration of transcriptomics and epi-transcriptomics datasets facilitates genomic biology

“…Using this approach, we could identify significant similarity between 184 different bovine traits. For example, clinical mastitis showed significant similarity with 23 different cattle traits that were greatly supported by published studies, such as milk yield [ 46 ], milk composition traits [ 47 ], somatic cell score [ 48 ], foot traits [ 49 ], udder traits [ 50 ], daughter pregnancy rate [ 51 ], length of productive life [ 52 ], and net merit [ 53 ]. Similar results were observed for residual feed intake, which showed significant similarity with 14 different traits such as average daily feed intake [ 54 ], average daily gain [ 55 ], carcass weight [ 56 ], feed conversion ratio [ 57 ], metabolic body weight [ 58 ], subcutaneous fat [ 59 ], and dry matter intake [ 60 ].…”

More sophisticated assessment of overall disease impact is needed to prioritise herd health efforts

“…In a study summarised on p 442 of this issue of Vet Record , Remnant and colleagues further investigated the effects of disease on reproductive performance 12 . They found that cows with a recorded lameness event in the four weeks after insemination were more likely to return to oestrus outside of the expected interoestrus interval of 18 to 24 days, while cows with a recorded mastitis event in the four weeks before insemination were more likely to return to oestrus within the expected interval.…”

“…However, it is assumed that these herds are likely to have lower disease incidence than those with incomplete records. Remnant and colleagues 12 discuss how this might bias the estimated effects, which may be greater in herds with more lameness and mastitis. This underscores the importance of vets encouraging thorough record keeping by farmers, and by using and adding value to these data in herd health management.…”