Estimating the economic impact of subclinical ketosis in dairy cattle using a dynamic stochastic simulation model

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the economic impact of subclinical ketosis (SCK) in dairy cows. This metabolic disorder occurs in the period around calving and is associated with an increased risk of other diseases. Therefore, SCK affects farm productivity and profitability. Estimating the economic impact of SCK may make farmers more aware of this problem, and can improve their decision-making regarding interventions to reduce SCK. We developed a dynamic stochastic simulation model that enables estimating the economic impact of SCK and related diseases (i.e. mastitis, metritis, displaced abomasum, lameness and clinical ketosis) occurring during the first 30 days after calving. This model, which was applied to a typical Dutch dairy herd, groups cows according to their parity (1 to 5+), and simulates the dynamics of SCK and related diseases, and milk production per cow during one lactation. The economic impact of SCK and related diseases resulted from a reduced milk production, discarded milk, treatment costs, costs from a prolonged calving interval and removal (culling or dying) of cows. The total costs of SCK were €130 per case per year, with a range between €39 and €348 (5 to 95 percentiles). The total costs of SCK per case per year, moreover, increased from €83 per year in parity 1 to €175 in parity 3. Most cows with SCK, however, had SCK only (61%), and costs were €58 per case per year. Total costs of SCK per case per year resulted for 36% from a prolonged calving interval, 24% from reduced milk production, 19% from treatment, 14% from discarded milk and 6% from removal. Results of the sensitivity analysis showed that the disease incidence, removal risk, relations of SCK with other diseases and prices of milk resulted in a high variation of costs of SCK. The costs of SCK, therefore, might differ per farm because of farm-specific circumstances. Improving data collection on the incidence of SCK and related diseases, and on consequences of diseases can further improve economic estimations.

Estimating the combined costs of clinical and subclinical ketosis in dairy cows

“…Quantifying the losses due to ketosis will enable veterinarians and farmers to make more informed decisions regarding the prevention and treatment of the disease. Some studies compared the economic consequences of various treatment strategies [7][8][9], whilst many more studies estimated the economic consequences of SCK and CK [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Raboisson et al [11] and Mostert et al [12] estimated average costs for a cow with SCK at €257 and €130 respectively.…”

“…These differences are probably due to the use of other model types and also different assumptions and input values. For instance, Raboisson et al [11] developed a static model, while Mostert et al [12] developed a dynamic model and thus simulated milk production, reproduction and culling over time. Also, the studies modeled the effect of SCK on culling differently.…”

“…Also, the studies modeled the effect of SCK on culling differently. In Mostert et al [12] the culling of cows was only possible at day 30 of lactation, which probably resulted in an underestimation of the culling costs. Van Soest et al [13] estimated the costs of ketosis at €21 per cow per year.…”

Genetic selection for bovine chromosome 18 haplotypes associated with divergent somatic cell score affects postpartum reproductive and metabolic performance

“…Schuberth, 2 and Ch. Kühn 6,11 diseases also show metabolic disorders (Raboisson et al, 2014;Vercouteren et al, 2015;Mostert et al, 2018), and several authors have demonstrated the connection between the capacity of immunological defense strategies and metabolic regulatory mechanisms (Overton and Waldron, 2004;Roche et al, 2017;Wankhade et al, 2017). In the future, it will be important to reconcile economic efficiency and ethical requirements by breeding cows that are high-yielding as well as healthy and long-lived.…”

Dependencies Between Cattle Breed and Profitability of Raw Milk Production

“…Increased costs of milk production result also from the incidence of metabolic diseases. Based on their investigations conducted in Holland Mostert et al (2018) reported that subclinical ketosis and the related health conditions generate average annual costs per 1 case amounting to EUR 130 (ranging from EUR 39 to EUR 348).…”