Rumination time as a potential predictor of common diseases in high-productive Holstein dairy cows

Abstract

We examined the hypothesis that rumination time (RT) could serve as a useful predictor of various common diseases of high producing dairy cows and hence improve herd management and animal wellbeing. We measured the changes in rumination time (RT) in the days before the recording of diseases (specifically: mastitis, reproductive system diseases, locomotor system issues, and gastroenteric diseases). We built predictive models to assess the association between RT and these diseases, using the former as the outcome variable, and to study the effects of the latter on the former. The average Pseudo-R 2 of the fitted models was moderate to low, and this could be due to the fact that RT is influenced by other additional factors which have a greater effect than the predictors used here. Although remaining in a moderate-to-low range, the average Pseudo-R 2 of the models regarding locomotion issues and gastroenteric diseases was higher than the others, suggesting the greater effect of these diseases on RT. The results are encouraging, but further work is needed if these models are to become useful predictors.

Berberine inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines by suppressing TLR4-mediated NF-ĸB and MAPK signaling pathways in rumen epithelial cells of Holstein calves

“…During low ruminal pH, gram-negative bacteria are lysed more rapidly, increasing the concentration of LPS in the rumen (Khafipour et al ., 2011). It has been reported that intramammary infections caused by E. coli are more easily identified because they are characterized by a severe inflammatory response, including sudden shock, sepsis, and often death, caused by the releasing of LPS (Moretti et al ., 2017). The ruminal epithelium is continuously exposed to high level of LPS in cows with SARA.…”

Effects of on-farm supplemental feeding of probiotic <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> on milk production in lactating dairy cows under tropical conditions

“…The extent of heat stress is determined by a temperature-humidity index (THI) (Armstrong, 1994). In general, physiological changes in heat-stressed cows include impaired rumen function (Bernabucci, 2012), decreased rumination time (Moretti et al, 2017) and feed intake (Wheelock et al, 2010) resulting in decreased milk production, reproductive efficiency and immune functioning. The initial heat stress (environment THI > 72) and moderate heat stress (environment THI > 80) induce panting, increased respiratory rate, lower feed intake, lower production performance, reduced fertility and increased early embryonic death (Jian et al, 2015).…”

Comparing regression, naive Bayes, and random forest methods in the prediction of individual survival to second lactation in Holstein cattle

“…In dairy science, machine learning has been used successfully to predict a whole range of different traits, such as mastitis (Kamphuis et al, 2010;Ebrahimie et al, 2018), methane production (Zheng et al, 2016), and milk production (Gianola et al, 2011). However, despite the advantages of machine learning, other recent studies have used traditional linear methods to predict disease risk (Moretti et al, 2017), methane production (Engelke et al, 2018), and milk production (Wallén et al, 2018).…”