Prepartum feeding behavior is an early indicator of subclinical ketosis

Abstract

Cows diagnosed with subclinical ketosis (SCK) after calving are at increased risk of developing other diseases and compromised reproductive performance. The objective of this study was to determine whether changes in feeding and social behaviors during the transition period were associated with SCK during the week after calving. Feeding behaviors of 101 Holstein dairy cows were monitored from 3 wk before to 3 wk after calving. Ten otherwise healthy animals were identified as having SCK by serum beta-hydroxybutyrate levels >or=1,000 micromol/L taken during wk +1. These animals were matched by parity with 10 healthy animals. During the week before calving and the 2 wk after calving, animals with SCK had lower dry matter intake, had fewer visits to the feeder, and spent less time at the feeder than healthy animals. For every 10-min decrease in average daily time spent at the feeder during the week before calving, the risk of SCK increased by 1.9 times. During the same week, a 1-kg decrease in average daily dry matter intake increased the risk of SCK by 2.2 times. The largest increase in risk of SCK was associated with a 1-kg increase in the change in average daily intake from wk -2 to -1. During the week before calving, animals with SCK initiated fewer displacements at the feed bunk compared with animals that remained healthy after calving. The results of this study provide evidence that time spent feeding, dry matter intake, and social behavior play an important role in transition cow health. These results indicate that special consideration should be given to management and social factors that can negatively affect dry matter intake and feed bunk attendance during the transition period.

Prepartum and postpartum nutritional management to optimize fertility in high-yielding dairy cows in confined TMR systems

“…Cows that developed metritis (Hammon et al, 2006; Huzzy et al, 2007) or ketosis (Goldhawk et al, 2009) after calving had lower DMI or reduced feeding behavior before calving. Lower prepartum DMI per se likely is not causative, because individually fed cows restricted to 80% of their energy requirements (fed in two meals daily) did not have greater occurrence of metritis or ketosis (Dann et al, 2005 and Douglas et al, 2006;Janovick et al, 2011).…”

“…Cows that developed metritis (Hammon et al, 2006;Huzzy et al, 2007) or ketosis (Goldhawk et al, 2009) Optimize BCS The role of excessive BCS in contributing to transition problems and impaired subsequent reproduction is well established and has been discussed by many authors (Drackley et al, 2005;Garnsworthy et al, 2008;Roche et al, 2013). Cows with excessive body lipid reserves mobilize more of that lipid around calving, have poorer appetites and DMI before and after calving, have impaired immune function, have increased indicators of inflammation in blood and may be more subjected to oxidative stress (Contreras and Sordillo, 2011).…”

Reference values for biochemical analytes in Mexican dairy farms: interactions and adjustments between production groups

“…Serum concentration of β-HBA has been recently used to discriminate cows affected by subclinical ketosis from healthy cows. The cutoff points used for this purpose vary between 1 and 1.4 mM (Duffield et al, 2009;Goldhawk et al, 2009). In the present study, three high-producing cows and two low-producing cows presented β-HBA concentrations above 1.2 mM.…”

Relationship between β-hydroxybutyrate and the fat: proteína de leche durante la lactancia temprana en vacas lecheras

“…where: To discriminate between healthy herds and herds affected by SCK a critical cutpoint of 1 mM of BHBA was determined (Goldhawk et al 2009, Kinoshita et al 2010. Ten cutoff points between 0.9 to 1 mM were employed to identify the best values for sensitivity and specificity under the logistic regression model (PROC LOGISTIC; SAS, 2001).…”