Herd health monitoring in dairy farms – discover metabolic diseases. An overview

Abstract

The transition period, 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after calving, is inevitably accompanied by a negative energy balance, which sometimes causes metabolic disturbances, such as ketosis. Subclinical ketosis (SCK) is defined as an increase in the β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentration to ≥ 1.2 mmol/l in the blood. According to a recent study, a value of ≥ 0.7 mmol/l of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in the blood indicates the potential development of the poor metabolic adaption syndrome (PMAS). With a herd prevalence of 21 %, and an incidence of approximately 40 % within the first 2 weeks after calving, SCK is a relevant herd health problem. The milk yield decreases in the first 2 weeks postpartum by 3–5.3 kg/d for each ketotic cow, and the total milk reduction through the whole lactation period of 305 days averages 112 kg (SD 89 kg). Although the cow does not display any clinical signs of ketosis at this stage, the risk of developing associated production diseases like retained placenta, metritis, displaced abomasum, lameness and clinical ketosis increases and the expected performance in terms of milk production will decrease. The herd health status deteriorates and the risk for early culling increases. Another impact factor is the financial aspect, which includes costs for early death, reduced milk production, reproduction losses, and associated production diseases. In the literature, the calculated costs per SCK case vary between $ 78 and $ 289. The gold standard diagnostic test for SCK is the photometric measurement of BHB in blood. This method is accurate, but results are delayed due to the required laboratory analysis. There are also some rapid cow-side tests, i. e. urine or milk strip tests available to identify ketotic cows. The common disadvantage of these methods is that they are not suitable for herd health monitoring because of the need to collect samples from each cow manually and the high rates of false negative results. However, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is suitable for herd health monitoring. It is already being used for the analysis of milk composition. This inexpensive, rapid and simple technique has a specificity of 83.8 % and a sensitivity of 82.4 %. Therefore, FTIR is an early and easy method for detecting ketotic cows, that could help reduce financial and performance losses associated with ketosis.

Effect of Feeding Improved Grass Hays and Eragrostis tef Straw Silage on Milk Yield, Nitrogen Utilization, and Methane Emission of Lactating Fogera Dairy Cows in Ethiopia

“…The NEFA concentration of cows fed NPH in our study exceeded the threshold (NEFA ≥ 0.5 mmol/L) that may be associated with milk loss, thus perhaps accounting for the low milk production of this treatment group [ 57 ]. Furthermore, the maximal BHBA (0.22 mmol/L) of cows fed NPH in our study was below the threshold proposed by Gruber et al [ 58 ] (≥1.2 mmol/L).…”

β-hydroxybutyrate and hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 agonists activate the AKT, ERK and AMPK pathways, which are involved in bovine neutrophil chemotaxis

“…During the transition to lactation, dairy cows undergo a period of negative energy balance (NEB) that causes an increase in circulatory ketone bodies, predominantly β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), that can potentially lead to the development of ketosis 8 , 9 . Subclinical ketosis is defined as an increase in the BHB concentration to ⩾ 1.2 mmol/l in the blood without clinical signs and clinical ketosis is defined when cows have clinical signs regardless BHB levels 10 , 11 . The onset of subclinical ketosis during the first week of lactation causes great economic impact that is associated with a reduction in milk production and a predisposition to other metabolic and inflammatory diseases 12 .…”

Invited Review: Ketosis Diagnosis and Monitoring in High-Producing Dairy Cows

“…Assigning an average cost of US$289 per case (either primiparous or multiparous), in a prevalence of 21.8% in a herd of 100 cows, the resultant losses would be from 4425 to US$6300 (corresponding to €3646.93 and €5192.24) by a transition period of the herd, depending on the calculation model chosen [16]. It is easy to understand how damaging and costly this pathology can be for both the cow and the farmer and how important it is to know how to prevent and early diagnose this disease.…”

“…Compared to prepartum, at the beginning of lactation, milk production requires an expected energy supply in the diet 30 to 50% higher [16]. These requirements are mirrored by the plasma glucose concentration that decreases after calving, mainly in high producing cows, reflecting the priority energy supply for milk production in the mammary gland; mainly to produce lactose (glucose + galactose), the main osmotic regulator for the mammary secretion of water, thus determining the total volume of produced milk.…”

“…However, this increased contribution does not occur because, on the contrary, and besides, there is a more pronounced decrease in dry matter intake 24 h before delivery, which only returns to the values prior to this fall 24 h after delivery [40] for the emergence of the sensation of hunger in response to the increased nutritional demand [38]; even so, values equivalent to those of predelivery intake are insufficient to supply these 30 to 50% more energy needed for milk production [16].…”