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Oral treatment of ketosis with red wine in fresh Holstein cows reduces beta-hydroxybutyrate in blood and resolves ketosis better than treatment with propylene glycol
Villarroel, A., Mata, J.
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Objective
Treatment of fresh cow ketosis is an ongoing problem on dairy farms. Current treatment protocols lack efficacy, therefore new options are needed. The most effective treatments so far are all based on commercial alcohol products. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two natural alcohol products (red wine and ethanol) for the oral treatment of ketosis in fresh cows compared to two treatment protocols based on oral propylene glycol.
Materials and Methods
This was a clinical trial performed at a dairy farm in Oregon equipped with in-line milk component analysis (AfiLab®, Afimilk, Israel) and milk meters that automatically collected milking information on each cow 3 times per day, every day. Holstein cows between 4 and 30 DIM were flagged by the system if they had 3 consecutive milkings with a fat:prot ratio>1.4 and then confirmed by testing a venous blood sample for BHBA (beta-hydroxybutyrate acid) with a cow-side device (Precision XtraTM, Abbott, US). Cows were assigned to one of four treatment groups, stratified by lactation group (1st lact and 2+ lact). Treatment groups were (A) 2 L of red wine the first day followed by 1 L/day for 2 days, (B) 300 mL/day of propylene glycol for 3 days, (C) 2 L of ethanol the first day, followed by 1 L/day for 2 days and (D) on-farm drench protocol that provided 300 ml of propylene glycol in 20 L of water with a proprietary blend of electrolytes. A follow-up blood sample was tested the day after the last treatment (day 4).
Cows were randomly assigned to each group, and a minimum of 6 cows with complete data were to be enrolled per group. Changes in BHBA, milk production and milk components were evaluated and compared between the four treatment groups.
Results
Cows treated with wine had significantly larger decrease in BHBA (-0.69±0.37 mmol/L) compared to cows treated only with propylene glycol (-0.30±0.53 mmol/L) or only with ethanol (-0.10±0.37 mmol/L), but no difference with the on-farm drench protocol (-0.56±0.86 mmol/L). These changes resulted in the following proportions of cured cows after 3 days, defined as BHBA≤1.0 mmol/L: wine 57%, propylene glycol 25%, ethanol 36% and drench protocol 33%.
Conclusion
Overall, the proportion of cured cows was low in all groups demonstrating the insidious nature of ketosis in fresh dairy cows and the need for more research to find effective treatments. Oral treatment with wine resulted in the largest proportion of cows cured compared to all other treatments, along with the largest decrease in BHBA in blood, especially compared to oral propylene glycol. Oral treatment with wine resulted in similar decrease in BHBA but more cures than a custom on-farm drenching protocol that required extensive labor and could result in death due to drowning. Additionally, it is noteworthy that wine would be a simple and viable alternative for the treatment of ketosis in organic dairy farms.
Keywords: Ketosis, propylene glycol, ethanol, organic, dairy
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