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Epidemiology of hyperketonemia in first parity Holstein cows. Is subclinical ketosis a problem of fresh cows, only?
Valergakis, G.E.; Kougioumtzis, A...
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Objectives: Subclinical ketosis (SCK) is a common disorder of dairy cows, associated with several clinical diseases during the post-partum period. Although negative energy balance lasts on average up to 8-10 weeks, commonly recommended herd monitoring programs are mostly limited to the first 3 weeks of lactation. The objective of this study was to explore stage-of-lactation related epidemiologic parameters of SCK.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study was based on two data sets established for two published genetic studies. Data were collected on a large commercial free-stall dairy farm located in northern Greece. The first data-set (A) included β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) measurements from 362 primiparous Holstein cows that calved between January 2005 and July 2006 and the second (B) BHBA measurements from 287 primiparous Holstein cows that calved between January 2008 and April 2010. Management conditions were greatly improved during the second period (mainly regarding feeding and housing conditions during the transition period). On both time periods, all cows were blood-sampled weekly, during the first 13 weeks of their lactation. Blood was drawn from the coccygeal vein and samples were left to clot at room temperature for approximately 30 min and then centrifuged at 2,000 ×g. The serum concentration of BHBA was assayed with the use of an enzymatic kinetic method based on the oxidation of BHBA to acetoacetate by β-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase; a total of 8,437 samples were analyzed. Subclinical ketosis was defined as a BHBA concentration ≥ 1.2 mmol/L. Prevalence of SCK was calculated for each of the 13 weeks by dividing the weekly number of cows with SCK by the total number of cows tested. Incidence of SCK was calculated as the number of cows with at least one positive BHBA test result, either for the first 3 weeks of lactation (3W) or over the entire 13-week sampling period (OV). Median first positive BHBA test and number of repeated positive test results per cow were also calculated for 3W and OV.
Results: Prevalence of SCK in data-set (A) was 12.2%, 9.7%, 8.0%, 8.6%, 6.9%, 4.8%, 5.7%, 3.3%, 3.0%, 5.2%, 5.0%, 2.5% and 3.0% for the 13 weeks, respectively. Prevalence of SCK in data-set (B) was lower, at 2.1%, 3.5%, 2.8%, 4.9%, 3.5%, 2.1%, 1.4%, 3.1%, 1.7%, 0.3%, 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.0% for the 13 weeks, respectively. Incidence of SCK in da- ta-set (A) was 23.2% (84/362 cows) for 3W, while it was 46.7% (170/362 cows) for OV. Incidence of SCK in data-set (B) was 9.1% (26/287 cows) for 3W and 19.2% (55/287 cows) for OV. Median first positive BHBA test was at week1 and week2 for 3W and data-sets A and B, respectively; it was at week4 for OV for both data-sets. When overall incidence of SCK was high (data-base A) % of cows with ≥2 positive tests were also high, both in 3W and OV (42.9% and 39.4%, respectively). When overall incidence of SCK was lower (data-base B), cows with ≥2 positive tests was only 3.8% in 3W but a considerable 27.3% in OV.
Conclusion: Subclinical ketosis is present well beyond the first 21 days of lactation; actually, overall incidence doubles when the monitoring period extents to 13 weeks post-partum. Therefore, more than half of positive cows would be mis- classified as non-ketotic if monitoring was limited to the first 3 weeks of lactation. Testing cows for SCK during the post-fresh transition period may be useful in finding associations with clinical diseases prominent during the first month of lactation, like metritis and displaced abomasum. However, the effects of SCK on reproduction and milk yield would be better evaluated if monitoring continues beyond the post-partum transition period, especially when considering the remarkable presence of repeated positive tests.
Keywords: Dairy cow, subclinical ketosis.
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Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece, Thessaloniki, Greece;
Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece/ Scotland's Rural College/Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Thessaloniki, Greece;
Department of Livestock Health and Welfare, Institute of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
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