Preventive strategies and risk factors for milk fever in Danish dairy herds: A questionnaire survey

Survey on the occurrence of milk fever in dairy cows and the current preventive strategies adopted by farmers in New South Wales, Australia

“…(median incidence, 3.7%; 7 range, 1.6-5.4% 13 ) and lower than reported in other countries, including a 5% median incidence in Denmark, 12 3% in Ireland, 6% in the United States and 6.3% in the United Kingdom. 14,15 Holsteins were the predominant breed used by NSW farmers.…”

“…12 Secondly, all variables that differed significantly between the low-and high-incidence farms (P < 0.10) were fitted into a multivariable logistic regression model and backwards stepwise elimination of variables was performed to determine significant management risk factors associated with a difference between the two groups. Firstly, a descriptive analysis of all the data was completed and a comparison of variables between farms with low or high incidence of MF was performed using a T-test for continuous variables.…”

“…As the data were not normally distributed, a threshold of 3% was used to classify the farms into low or high incidence of MF, based on the population median MF incidence of 3% and on previous studies conducted in Australian 7 and Danish dairy herds. 12 Secondly, all variables that differed significantly between the low-and high-incidence farms (P < 0.10) were fitted into a multivariable logistic regression model and backwards stepwise elimination of variables was performed to determine significant management risk factors associated with a difference between the two groups. Only variables significant at P < 0.05 in the likelihood ratio test were retained in the final model.…”

Relationship between incidence of milk fever and feeding of minerals during the last 3 weeks of gestation

“…Other studies have also shown that prophylactic treatment is as high in herds with milk fever problems as in herds with no milk fever problems (Hansen et al, 2007). It is well documented that milk fever frequency increases with age (Rajala-Schultz et al, 1999;Reinhardt et al, 2011).…”

“…Where no mineral analysis had been carried out on the silage, the farmers were offered a free analysis at a commercial laboratory, and three agreed to send in silage samples. All farmers were also asked about the use of prophylactic treatment with oral Ca around calving for prevention of milk fever, which, together with alterations in the diet and restricted milking, is the most common way to prevent milk fever (Hansen et al, 2007). To verify the absence of milk fever in control herds with no recorded veterinary treatments, all farmers were asked to estimate the number of milk fever cases during the previous year and during the previous three years.…”