Hot topic: Early postpartum treatment of commercial dairy cows with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs increases whole-lactation milk yield

Abstract

Previous research has shown that postpartum administration of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) sodium salicylate can increase 305-d milk yield in older dairy cattle (parity 3 and greater). However, in this prior work, sodium salicylate was delivered to cows via the drinking water, a method that does not align well with current grouping strategies on commercial dairy farms. The objective of the current study was to replicate these results on a commercial dairy farm with a simplified treatment protocol and to compare sodium salicylate with another NSAID, meloxicam. Dairy cattle in their second lactation and greater (n=51/treatment) were alternately assigned to 1 of 3 treatments at parturition, with treatments lasting for 3d. Experimental treatments began 12 to 36 h after parturition and were (1) 1 placebo bolus on the first day and 3 consecutive daily drenches of sodium salicylate (125 g/cow per day; SAL); (2) 1 bolus of meloxicam (675 mg/cow) and 3 drenches of an equal volume of water (MEL); or (3) 1 placebo bolus and 3 drenches of water (CON). Blood samples were collected on the first day of treatment, immediately following the last day of treatment, and 7d after the last day of treatment; plasma was analyzed for glucose, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), free fatty acids, haptoglobin, and paraoxonase. Milk production, body condition score, reproductive status, and retention in the herd were monitored for 365 d posttreatment, and effects of treatment, parity, days in milk, and interactions were evaluated in mixed effects models. Significance was declared at P<0.05. Whole-lactation milk and protein yields were greater in NSAID-treated cows, although 305-d fat production was not affected. There was a significant interaction of treatment and parity for plasma glucose concentration; MEL increased plasma glucose concentrations compared with CON and SAL in older cows. Sodium salicylate decreased plasma BHB concentration compared with MEL at 7d posttreatment, although no difference was detected immediately following treatment. Haptoglobin concentrations were elevated in SAL cows compared with CON. There was a tendency for CON cows to be removed from the herd more quickly than MEL cows (42 vs. 26% at 365 d posttreatment). Body condition score, concentrations of plasma free fatty acids and paraoxonase, and time to pregnancy were not affected by treatment. These results indicate that NSAID administration in postpartum cows has the potential to be a viable way to improve productivity and potentially longevity in commercial dairies, although further research is necessary to optimize recommendations for producers.

Effects of sodium salicylate on glucose kinetics and insulin signaling in postpartum dairy cows

“…Plasma haptoglobin, the most heavily used biomarker of inflammation in transition cows, had a mean concentration of 510 µg/mL at 5 DIM in this cohort, similar to the median value of 640 µg/mL across 412 cows on 2 commercial farms (Huzzey et al, 2015). However, as in previous work (Carpenter et al, 2016(Carpenter et al, , 2018, salicylate did not decrease plasma haptoglobin concentration or most other biomarkers of inflammatory status (Tables 4 and 5). Nevertheless, salicylate administration clearly influences systemic metabolism in this scenario.…”

“…In either case, the overall metabolic profile changed in a manner similar to that observed during the treatment window by Farney et al (2013a). We also note that, although we have previously reported dramatic increases in milk yield following SS treatment (Farney et al, 2013b;Carpenter et al, 2016), the milk response was consistently delayed by 4 to 6 wk with no response during treatment. Because of the very invasive nature of the current study and the limited statistical power for productivity outcomes, we did not monitor longer-term milk yield responses in this case.…”

Analysis of hepatic transcript profile and plasma lipid profile in early lactating dairy cows fed grape seed and grape marc meal extract

“…by an increase of plasma cortisol [6, 66, 67]. The hypothesis that milk production is increased by an attenuation of inflammation has been confirmed in several studies in which supplementation of dairy cows with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during early lactation caused an increased milk yield [68–70]. The observed inhibition of ER stress and the parallel increase of milk yield by GSGME [13] is noteworthy regarding the relatively low amount of GSGME fed to the cows (1% of DM in the TMR).…”

Potential of plant polyphenols to combat oxidative stress and inflammatory processes in farm animals

“…Moreover, cows subjected to TNF‐α‐induced inflammation had an increased incidence of various diseases, such as ketosis, mastitis, respiratory diseases, metritis and milk fever (Yuan et al., ). Conversely, inhibition of the proinflammatory condition during the peripartal phase in dairy cows by early post‐partum treatment with non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs led to a significant increase in milk yield over the whole lactation period and caused a reduction in somatic cell count in milk being indicative of an improved udder health (Carpenter et al., ). According to these findings, investigations aiming to prevent the proinflammatory condition during the peripartal phase, either by optimization of feeding regimes pre‐partum (Khan et al., ; Zhou et al., ; Vailati‐Riboni et al., ) or by administration of potential antiinflammatory feed supplements (Gessner et al., ,b; Hashemzadeh‐Cigari et al., ; Winkler et al., ), are of great relevance.…”