Relationships between body condition score change, prior mid-lactation phenotypic residual feed intake, and hyperketonemia onset in transition dairy cows

Abstract

Extensive efforts have been made to identify more feed-efficient dairy cows, yet it is unclear how selection for feed efficiency will influence metabolic health. The objectives of this research were to determine the relationships between residual feed intake (RFI), a measure of feed efficiency, body condition score (BCS) change, and hyperketonemia (HYK) incidence. Blood and milk samples were collected twice weekly from cows 5 to 18 d postcalving for a total of 4 samples. Hyperketonemia was diagnosed at a blood β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) ≥1.2 mmol/L and cows were treated upon diagnosis. Dry period, calving, and final blood sampling BCS was recorded. Prior mid-lactation production, body weight, body weight change, and dry matter intake (DMI) data were used to determine RFI phenotype, calculated as the difference between observed DMI and predicted DMI. The maximum BHB concentration (BHB) for each cow was used to group cows into HYK or not hyperketonemic. Lactation number, BCS, and RFI data were analyzed with linear and quadratic orthogonal contrasts. Of the 570 cows sampled, 19.7% were diagnosed with HYK. The first positive HYK test occurred at 9 ± 0.9 d postpartum and the average BHB concentration at the first positive HYK test was 1.53 ± 0.14 mmol/L. In the first 30 d postpartum, HYK-positive cows had increased milk yield and fat concentration, decreased milk protein concentration, and decreased somatic cell count. Cows with a dry BCS ≥4.0, or that lost 1 or more BCS unit across the transition to lactation period, had greater BHB than cows with lower BCS. Prior-lactation RFI did not alter BHB. Avoiding over conditioning of dry cows and subsequent excessive fat mobilization during the transition period may decrease HYK incidence; however, RFI during a prior lactation does not appear to be associated with HYK onset.

Effects of Body Condition Score Changes During Peripartum on the Postpartum Health and Production Performance of Primiparous Dairy Cows

“…The peripartum BCS and a series of changes, including the BCS at calving and the rate and degree of BCS reduction after calving, may indicate the increase of non-esterified fatty acids, possibility of postpartum diseases and differences in production performance. Studies have shown that the BCS of multiparous cows can be regarded as a prediction tool due to the strong association between the BCS and metabolic diseases, including hepatic lipidosis, ketosis, and abomasum displacement [11][12][13]. The main reason for this strong association is that weight loss over 50 kg due to improper prepartum feeding significantly inhibits DMI and milk production; meanwhile, high milk production and the consequent synthesis of milk fat result in a high degree of fat mobilization, causing cows to go through NEB [14].…”

Epidemiología de la cetosis en bovinos: una revisión

“…En el 2001 en un hato en Florida, se tomaron muestras de sangre y leche para determinar concentraciones de βHB de 300 vacas suplementadas con monensina ante parto, se definió cetosis subclínica cuando los valores de βHB en sangre fueran ≥1,0 mmol/L y en leche ≥ 200 μmol/L encontrándose una prevalencia global de cetosis subclínica del 20,4% sin diferencias significativas entre las tratadas con monensina y los controles, sin embargo, la prevalencia de la enfermedad a concentraciones ≥1,2 mmol/L y a ≥1,4 mmol/L fue solo del 8% y 4% 58 y la incidencia en los animales no tratados fue del 26,6%, similar a lo reportado por Rathbun et al, (2017), para quienes la incidencia en 570 vacas en Wisconsin fue del 19,7% 59 , resultados que difieren a lo encontrado en dos hatos en Nueva York y dos hatos en Wisconsin en el 2010, donde se determinó la concentración de βHB en sangre, entre el 3 al 16 día postparto estableciendo como positivas, vacas con valores ≥ 1,2 mmol/L; de las 1717 vacas incluidas en el estudio, el 43,2% fueron diagnosticadas al menos una vez con cetosis subclínica, con una variación en la incidencia entre hatos del 26 y 56% y un pico de incidencia a los cinco días en leche 35 , mientras que, en un estudio en 118 vacas en un hato comercial en Michigan, dentro de los primeros 5 a 17 días en leche, en el que se evaluó la concentración de βHB en sangre y en leche, se obtuvo una prevalencia del 33,1% y del 39,8% respectivamente 60 . Sin embargo, una prevalencia más baja se reportó en cinco hatos en Colorado en 446 vacas, determinada por las concentraciones de βHB en sangre y en leche, siendo del 12% durante los primeros 14 días posparto 61 .…”

The relationship between transition period diseases and lameness, feeding time, and body condition during the dry period

“…Increased liver inflammation has been linked to higher occurrence of TD (Bertoni et al, 2008). This may explain the observed association between body condition loss during the dry period and the occurrence of uterine diseases (Chebel et al, 2018) and SCK (Kaufman et al, 2016;Rathbun et al, 2017). Although the etiologies of infectious and metabolic diseases differ, it seems that DMI and body condition loss The relationship between transition period diseases and lameness, feeding time, and body condition during the dry period underpin some of the mechanisms that contribute to disease vulnerability.…”