Invited review: Body condition score and its association with dairy cow productivity, health, and welfare

Abstract

The body condition score (BCS) of a dairy cow is an assessment of the proportion of body fat that it possesses, and it is recognized by animal scientists and producers as being an important factor in dairy cattle management. The scale used to measure BCS differs between countries, but low values always reflect emaciation and high values equate to obesity. The intercalving profile of BCS is a mirror image of the milk lactation profile. Cows lose condition for 50 to 100 d postcalving, because of homeorhetic changes that occur in the somatotropic axis and the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin, and the upregulation of lipolytic pathways in adipose tissue. Management and feeding have little effect on early postcalving BCS loss (wk 1 to 4 postcalving) until the natural period of insulin resistance has passed and the somatotropic axis has recoupled. There is evidence, however, that management and diet can influence the timing of recoupling of the somatotropic axis and the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin, and gene expression differences in adipose tissue 30 d in milk confirm an effect of energy intake on lipogenic enzymes. The BCS in which a cow calves, nadir BCS, and the amount of BCS she loses postcalving are associated with milk production, reproduction, and health. Body condition score may also be a valid indicator of animal welfare, but further research is required to determine the effect of BCS and BCS change on how a cow "feels." Although the actual strength of the association may vary, there is relative consistency in the associations among calving and nadir BCS, and BCS change on milk production, postpartum anestrous, the likelihood of a successful pregnancy and days open, the risk of uterine infection, and the risk of metabolic disorders. For many production and health variables, the association with BCS is nonlinear, with an optimum calving BCS of 3.0 to 3.25 (5-point scale); lower calving BCS is associated with reduced production and reproduction, whereas calving BCS >/=3.5 (5-point scale) is associated with a reduction in early lactation dry matter intake and milk production and an increased risk of metabolic disorders. Ongoing research into the automation of body condition scoring suggests that it is a likely candidate to be incorporated into decision support systems in the near future to aid producers in making operational and tactical decisions.

An individual reproduction model sensitive to milk yield and body condition in Holstein dairy cows

“…It is longer for primiparous than for multiparous cows . GHP occurrence and low BCS in early lactation affect CFO (Opsomer et al, 2000;Roche et al, 2009). The choice was made to randomly draw CFO in a normal distribution around a mean value adjusted for the above factors instead of calculating it deterministically, in order to better represent the strong variability of CFO between cows.…”

“…The probability of conception at a given insemination is influenced by the level of body reserves (Roche et al, 2009). Cutullic et al (2012) showed that the level of BCS at nadir affected this probability.…”

“…Both of these factors are known to affect reproduction (Roche et al, 2009;Friggens et al, 2010), a proportion of these effects being directly attributable to genetic selection (Boichard et al, 2002;Berry et al, 2003). More precisely, each step of the reproductive process appears to be affected either by MY level and dynamics or by the level of energy balance and body reserves or both (Friggens et al, 2010;Cutullic et al, 2011).…”

New phenotypes for new breeding goals in dairy cattle

“…As already mentioned, it could be used to predict carcass cut yields. In live animals, a trait of special interest is body condition score (Bewley et al, 2008;Halachmi et al, 2008) because of its association with productivity, health, longevity and welfare (Roche et al, 2009). Imaging can accurately detect and measure angularity, and intensive work in this field is currently being carried out.…”

Evaluation of blood and milk oxidative status during early postpartum of dairy cows

“…The transition period is particularly critical to health, productivity and fertility of dairy cows (Leroy and Vanholder, 2008;Roche et al, 2009). In the last months of gestation, the cow experiences a reduction in dry matter intake (DMI), which continues even after calving (Grummer et al, 2004), whereas the late foetal growth, parturition and the onset of lactation imply a dramatic increase in energetic demands (Taylor et al, 2003).…”