Administration of acetylsalicylic acid after parturition in lactating dairy cows under certified organic management: Part I. Milk yield, milk components, activity patterns, fertility, and health

Abstract

Parturition is a natural process that gradually progresses from one stage to the next. However, around 5% of dairy cows will experience dystocia, which is considered to be a painful and stressful event. Studies have reported positive effects on cow performance and welfare after treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs during the first postpartum days. The objectives were to assess the effects of acetylsalicylic acid administration after calving on (1) milk yield and components, (2) daily activity patterns, (3) reproductive performance, and (4) health in lactating dairy cows under certified organic management. Cows from 3 organic herds were enrolled. Within 12 h after parturition, cows were blocked by parity and calving ease and randomly assigned to 2 treatments:(1) aspirin (ASP; n = 278), in which cows received 4 consecutive treatments every 12 h with acetylsalicylic acid (100 mg/kg; 2 boluses) or (2) placebo (PLC, n = 285), in which cows received 4 treatments every 12 h with gelatin capsules (2 capsules) filled with water. Daily milk yield for the first 30 d in milk (DIM) and monthly milk yield, fat, protein, and somatic cell count (SCC) data from the first 5 Dairy Herd Improvement Association tests were collected. Activity patterns were measured using activity data loggers in the first 7 DIM. Clinical disease events (60 DIM) and fertility data were collected from on-farm computer records. Statistical analysis was performed using the MIXED (milk yield, components, and activity), LIFETEST (fertility), and GLIMMIX (health) procedures of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Overall, ASP cows produced 1.82 kg/d more milk than PLC cows during the first 30 DIM. Interestingly, cows that experienced dystocia and received ASP produced 4.48 kg/d more milk compared with cows in the PLC group that experienced dystocia. Cows treated with ASP had lower somatic cell count during the first 5 Dairy Herd Improvement Association tests. There were no differences in daily lying time, lying bouts, and lying bout duration between the ASP and PLC groups. However, cows in the ASP group had 587,64 steps/d more compared with PLC cows. In addition, ASP cows tended to require fewer days (ASP = 113.76 ± 4.99 d; PLC = 125.36 ± 4.74 d) and needed fewer services (ASP = 1.86 ± 0.21 services; PLC = 2.19 ± 0.24 services) to become pregnant compared with PLC cows. There were no differences in clinical disease events between treatments. Results from this study suggest that treating cows with ASP after calving may help improve milk yields and udder health, increase activity, and enhance fertility in dairy cattle under certified organic management.

Effects of postpartum acetylsalicylic acid on uterine diseases and reproductive performance in dairy cattle

“…Other authors (Bertoni et al, 2004), who treated cows with injectable lysine acetylsalicylate for 5 d after calving, reported that treated cows had improved rates of pregnancy at first service. Similarly, Barragan et al (2020a) reported that cows treated with 4 doses of oral boluses of acetylsalicylic acid every 12 h after calving tended to require fewer days and required fewer services to conceive compared with placebo cows. Therefore, to elucidate the actual effects of anti-inflammatory treatment after calving on disease prevention and cow fertility, more research is warranted.…”

“…The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) after calving aimed at improving welfare and performance of dairy cows has been widely investigated in recent years. Although several authors reported fairly similar results regarding milk yield in cows treated with these drugs after calving (Farney et al, 2013b;Carpenter et al, 2016;Barragan et al, 2020a), their effects on disease prevention and reproduction are more inconsistent. For instance, Newby et al (2017) reported that cows treated immediately after calving and 24 h later with flunixin meglumine had higher incidence of retained fetal membranes (RFM) and metritis.…”

“…On the other hand, studies that assessed the effects of postpartum NSAID administration on cow reproductive performance reported no effects (Meier et al, 2014), negative effects (Farney et al, 2013b), or positive effects (Bertoni et al, 2004;Barragan et al, 2020a). For instance, Meier et al (2014) found no effect of early (1-5 d after calving) or late (19-23 d after calving) postpartum anti-inflammatory treatment (i.e., carprofen) on conception or pregnancy rates.…”

“…Medical Imaging, Loveland, CO) at 50 ± 10 DIM for assessment of CE [defined as the presence (>3 mm diameter) of abnormal fluid (i.e., hyperechoic fluid); Barlund et al, 2008]. Body condition score and subclinical ketosis assessment was described elsewhere (Barragan et al, 2020a). Measures of reproductive performance parameters (i.e., DIMC, SPC, PFS, ABRT), as well as data regarding incidence of clinical diseases in the first 60 DIM diagnosed by farm personnel (a complete disease list, including disease definition and incidence, can be found in Barragan et al, 2020c), were obtained from the on-farm computer records.…”

Effects of sodium salicylate and time postpartum on mammary tissue proliferation, gene transcript profile, and DNA methylation

“…In fact, cows in the upper quartile for inflammatory markers during the first 4 wk of lactation produced 20% less milk than cows in the lowest quartile (Bertoni et al, 2008). Antiinflammatory treatment in early lactation reduced inflammatory markers (Trevisi and Bertoni, 2008), increased milk yield in multiparous cows (Farney et al, 2013b;Carpenter et al, 2016), and decreased SCC (Carpenter et al, 2016;Shock et al, 2018;Barragan et al, 2020).…”