Dynamics of culling risk with disposal codes reported by Dairy Herd Improvement dairy herds

Abstract

The objective was to describe the dynamics of culling risk with disposal codes for Holstein dairy cows reported by herds enrolled in the Dairy Herd Improvement program. Dairy producers could report 1 of 9 possible disposal codes or forego reporting a code. After edits, 3,629,002 lactation records were available for cows calving between 2001 and 2006 in 2,054 herds located in 38 states primarily east of the Mississippi river. The distribution of culled cows by disposal code was estimated by parity, days after calving, pregnancy status, cow-relative 305-d mature equivalent milk yield, herd-relative 305-d mature equivalent milk yield, and season. Of all herds, 57% reported all 8 different disposal codes excluding the codes dairy purposes and reason not reported. Hazard (risk) functions were calculated by parity, from 1 to 520 d since calving for open cows and from 1 to 280 d since conception for pregnant cows. Annualized live culling rate and death rate (reported code was death) were 25.1 and 6.6%, respectively. The primary disposal code was died (20.6% of all culling), followed by reproduction (17.7%), injury/other (14.3%), and low production and mastitis (both 12.1%). The risk of culling with various disposal codes varied with stage of lactation. Died and reproduction were the most frequently reported codes for cows leaving the herd during early and late lactation, respectively. Early lactation was also a critical period for culling with the disposal codes injury/other and disease, and the risk increased with days after calving for the codes low production and reproduction. The risk of culling with the disposal code died showed the greatest seasonal pattern with increased risk of death in spring and summer. A negative association was found between annualized live culling and death rates within herds. Compared with open cows, pregnant cows had a lower risk of culling with all reported disposal codes. In addition, the risk of culling was lower in high-producing cows with all disposal codes. In conclusion, the risk for culling by disposal code varied by parity, stage of lactation, season, pregnancy status, and milk yield.

Use of rumination and activity monitoring for the identification of dairy cows with health disorders: Part I. Metabolic and digestive disorders

“…Metabolic and digestive disorders such as ketosis, displaced abomasum (DA), and indigestion are detrimental to cow well-being and farm profitability because they cause losses in milk production (Gröhn et al, 1998;Bareille et al, 2003;Edwards and Tozer, 2004), increase the risk of culling and death (Gröhn et al, 1998;Pinedo et al, 2010;Seifi et al, 2011), increase treatment costs (Kaneene and Hurd, 1990; Bartlett et al, 1995), and impair reproductive performance (Raizman and Santos, 2002;Ribeiro et al, 2013;Vercouteren et al, 2015).…”

Herd factors associated with dairy cow mortality

“…National Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) data (15 025 035 lactations in 45 032 herds) from 1995 through 2005, demonstrated an overall death frequency of 3.1% on a lactation basis (5.7% on a cow basis) with observed lactational death frequencies increasing from 2.0% in 1995 to 4.6% in 2005 (Miller et al, 2008). DHIA data from 2001 through 2006 representing 3 629 002 lactations in 2054 herds located in 38 states primarily east of the Mississippi river, demonstrated an annualized death rate of 6.6% (Pinedo et al, 2010). Similarly, USDA:APHIS:VS National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Dairy surveys have reported steady increases in cow mortality, from 3.8% of the January 1996 inventory, to 4.8% of the January 2002 inventory, and 5.7% of the January 2007 dairy cow inventory (USDA, 2007a).…”

Body traits, carcass characteristics and price of cull cows as affected by farm type, breed, age and calving to culling interval

“…The sale of cull cows, therefore, accounts for a significant share of the total monetary returns of dairy herds (Seegers et al, 1998). Dairy cows are culled for various reasons, such as failure to reproduce, injury, poor performance, disease events and age (Pinedo et al, 2010), and they are frequently disposed of without a finishing period. Hence, cull cows are characterised by large variations in live animal characteristics, carcass traits and market value due to differences in breed, age, stage of lactation and body condition (Vestergaard et al, 2007).…”