Path Analysis for Seven Postpartum Disorders of Holstein Cows

Abstract

Path analysis and multiple logistic regression with an extrabinomial variation error term (to account for herd) were used to model seven postpartum clinical disorders of dairy cows and factors related to the calf. Data were from 7761 lactation records from 34 commercial herds in the vicinity of Cornell University. Stillbirth increased the odds of developing metritis and retained placenta. The odds of developing dystocia and mastitis were lower when the sex of the calf was female. However, cows that twinned had increased odds of developing dystocia and retained placenta. Dystocia was related to an increase in the odds of retained placenta. Milk fever, dystocia, and ketosis each increased the odds of developing left-displaced abomasum. Postpartum periods with dystocia, retained placenta, or ketosis had increased odds of metritis. Two interaction terms involved parity: stillbirth for milk fever and retained placenta for ketosis. The extrabinomial variation error term contributed to the fit in all models.

Clinical Disorders in Holstein Cows: Incidence and Associations among Lactational Risks Factors

“…As it is seen from Table 3 no of the health disorder complexes was protective; this fact being in accordance with most studies analysing associations among diseases (Curtis et al 1983(Curtis et al , 1985Erb et al 1985;Bendixen et al 1988;Gröhn et al 1989Gröhn et al , 1990aGröhn et al , 1990bGröhn et al , 1994Gröhn et al , 1995Oltenacu et al 1990;Correa et al 1990Correa et al , 1993Klerx and Smolders 1997;Heuer et al 1999). Some papers occasionally mention lower incidence of a health disorder in individuals that suffered from and were treated because of a certain previous disease (Dohoo and Martin 1984;Bendixen et al 1987;Calavas et al 1996;Rajala and Gröhn 1998;Loeffler et al 1999).…”

“…Associations among health disorders in the current lactation have been widely studied in dairy cattle either as the main objective (Curtis et al 1983;Schukken et al 1988;Correa et al 1993;Massey et al 1993;Klerx and Smolders 1997;Rohrbach et al 1999) or more often as part of broader epidemiological studies evaluating also other potential risk factors (Dohoo and Martin 1984;Markusfeld 1987;Gröhn et al 1989Gröhn et al , 1990aGröhn et al , 1990bGröhn et al , 1994Gröhn et al , 1995Heuer et al 1999;Loeffler et al 1999).…”

Hyperketonemia and the impairment of udder defense: a review

“…Several factors including body condition score (BCS), serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), the fat/protein ratio in milk, and ketone bodies are signs of NEB [43,59,91]. In epidemiological studies, ketosis is associated with an increased risk of clinical mastitis [15,24,74]. However, it is not clear to date by what mechanism hyperketonemia interferes with udder defense.…”

Factors affecting dry matter intake prepartum in relationship to etiology of peripartum lipid-related metabolic disorders: A review

“…Incidence of clinical ketosis varies from 3.5 to 15% in the United States of America; estimated treatment cost is about $150 per case of clinical ketosis and annual treatment costs vary from $60 to 70 million nationwide (Littledike et al 1981). Ketosis typically occurs 21 to 28 d after parturition and increases the risk for displaced abomasum (53.5-fold), retained fetal membrane (16.4-fold), metritis (15.3-fold), and milk fever (23.6-fold) (Curtis et al 1985;Correa et al 1993). Moreover, elevated plasma ketones (greater than > 20 mg BHBA per deciliter) compromise immune potency through suppressing mitogenic response of lymphocytes (Targowski et al 1985;Franklin et al 1991;Sato et al 1994).…”