A field study to determine the prevalence, dairy herd management systems, and fresh cow clinical conditions associated with ketosis in western European dairy herds

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, major management systems, and fresh cow clinical conditions associated with ketosis in western European dairy herds. A total of 131 dairies were enrolled in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom during 2011 to 2012. A milk-based test for ketones (Keto-Test; Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co. Ltd., Nagoya, Japan; distributed by Elanco Animal Health, Antwerp, Belgium) was used for screening cows between d 7 and 21 after calving and ketosis was defined as a Keto-Test ≥100µmol/L. Study cows were observed for clinical disease up to 35d postcalving. Multivariate analysis (generalized estimating equation logistic regression) was performed to determine country, farm, management, feed, and cow factors associated with ketosis and to determine associations between ketosis and fresh cow diseases. Thirty-nine percent of the cows were classified as having ketosis. The herd average of ketosis was 43% in Germany, 53% in France, 31% in Italy, 46% in the Netherlands, and 31% in the United Kingdom. Of the 131 farms, 112 (85%) had 25% or more of their fresh cows resulting as positive for ketosis. Clinical ketosis was not reported in most farms and the highest level of clinical ketosis reported was 23%. The risks of ketosis were significantly lower in Italy and the United Kingdom compared with France, the Netherlands, and Germany. Larger herd size was associated with a decreased risk of ketosis. The farms that fed partially mixed rations had 1.5 times higher odds of ketosis than those that fed total mixed rations. Cows that calved in April to June had the highest odds of ketosis, with about twice as high odds compared with cows that calved in July to September. The cows that calved in January to March tended to have 1.5 times higher risk of ketosis compared with cows that calved in July to September. The odds of ketosis in parity 2 and parity 3 to 7 was significantly higher (1.5 and 2.8 times higher, respectively) than the odds of ketosis in parity 1. The odds of ketosis was significantly smaller in parity 2 compared with parity 3 to 7. Ketosis was associated with significantly higher odds of all common fresh cow conditions: metritis, mastitis, displaced abomasum, clinical ketosis, lameness, and gastrointestinal disorders. Odds of ketosis in cows having had twins or dystocia were not increased, whereas higher odds of ketosis were observed in cows with milk fever or retained placenta.

Scientific Opinion on the assessment of dairy cow welfare in small‐scale farming systems

“…Risk factors for metabolic diseases Table 15 reports the results from the literature review about risk factors for metabolic diseases. Ketosis was found to be higher in cold versus warm seasons, and in older cows versus younger cows (Berge and Vertenten, 2014). The prevalence of subclinical ketosis in certain European countries was 21.8 % (Suthar et al, 2013), and was higher in organic farms (Abuelo et al, 2014) …”

“…Large herds were found to be at a low risk of ketosis (Berge and Vertenten, 2014), but at a high risk of displaced abomasums or clinical ketosis (Stengärde et al, 2012). Herds in small free stall and tie-stall barns were similar in both performance and health (Simensen et al, 2010).…”

“…Risk factors for reproductive disorders Table 16 reports the results from the literature review about risk factors for reproductive disorders. The primary risks are primiparity, twin calves, male calves and a high weight of calves at birth (Atashi et al, 2012) Proximate risks related to animal include dystocia, twin calves, retained placenta (Benzaquen et al, 2007;Dubuc et al, 2010;Hossein-Zadeh and Ardalan, 2011), stillbirth, abortion, prolapsed uterus (Galvao, 2012) and ketosis (Berge and Vertenten, 2014). In Wisconsin, USA, metritis incidence is lower in organic (average herd size 200 cows) than in conventional farms (average herd size 75 cows) (Pol and Ruegg, 2007).…”

Epidemiología de la cetosis en bovinos: una revisión

“…Cetosis clínica La prevalencia de la cetosis clínica en un estudio europeo entre hatos de diferentes países fue del 1,6%, siendo mayor en Alemania (3,5%) e Italia (2,4%), definida por signos clínicos (disminución en la producción de leche, pérdida notoria de condición corporal, disminución del consumo de alimento, constipación, entre otros), en ausencia de otra entidad 52 , resultados similares a los de otro estudio también en Europa donde la prevalencia fue del 3,7%, definida por el mismo criterio que la anterior más una prueba semicuantitativa positiva a cuerpos cetónicos en orina o leche 36 y a lo reportado por Saborío-Montero y Sánchez, (2013), para quienes la prevalencia fue del 3,51% en Costa Rica (βHB en sangre ≥2,9 mmol/L) 53 . Seifi et al, (2011) reportaron una incidencia del 3,7% 54 , similar a McArt et al, (2012), para quienes la incidencia durante los primeros 16 días en leche fue del 3,02% 35 .…”

“…Nielen et al, (1994) reportaron una prevalencia del 14% en Países Bajos en un estudio realizado en 185 vacas de 18 hatos diferentes, durante los primeros 60 días en leche 33 , siendo inferior a la reportada en un estudio longitudinal realizado entre el 2011 y 2012 en Alemania, Francia, Holanda, Italia y Reino Unido, en el cual se incluyeron 131 hatos dentro de los primeros 7 a 21 días postparto, hallando una prevalencia global del 39%, siendo más baja en Reino Unido (31%) y más alta en Francia (52%) 52 , sin embargo, en el 2011 en 5884 vacas de 593 hatos en Croacia, Alemania, Hungría, Polonia, Portugal, Serbia, España y Eslovenia, entre el 2 y 15 días posparto, se estableció una prevalencia del 21,8%, siendo mayor en Italia (36,6%) y menor en Croacia (14,8%) 36 . En cuanto a la incidencia de la enfermedad, en un estudio retrospectivo en Escocia, se analizaron datos de 3586 lactancias en vacas Holstein, encontrado una incidencia global del 4,9%, siendo solo del 0,6% en novillas y del 6,5% vacas multíparas 8 .…”