Relationships between rumination time, metabolic conditions, and health status in dairy cows during the transition period

Abstract

The main objective of this experiment was to monitor the rumination pattern during the transition period in primiparous (PR) and pluriparous (PL) dairy cows and to investigate its relationships with metabolic conditions, milk yield, and health status. The study was carried out in an experimental free-stall barn and involved 32 Italian Friesian cows (9 PR and 23 PL) during the transition phase. The rumination time (RT) was recorded with an automatic system (HR-Tag), and data were calculated and summarized in 2-h intervals. Blood samples were collected during the transition phase to assess biochemical variables related to energy, protein, and mineral metabolism, as well as markers of inflammatory conditions and some enzyme activity. Daily milk yield, BW, nutritional condition, and health status were also recorded. The average RT before calving (-20 to -6 d) was 463 min/d in PR (range 270 to 620) and 522 min/d in PL (range 411 to 640). In the early lactation [15 to 40 d in milk (DIM)], the average RT was 504 min/d in PR (range 400 to 585) and 562 min/d in PL (range 414 to 685) and was positively correlated with milk yield (r = 0.36; P < 0.001). The RT reached the minimum at calving d (262 min/d in PR and 278 min/d in PL). Before calving the percentage of RT during the nighttime was 60% in PR and 62% in PL, whereas the values decreased after calving (55% in PR and 57% in PL). During the first weeks of lactation, PR showed a shorter RT than PL in the 2-h intervals that included milkings. Cows with reduced RT before calving maintained reduced RT after calving and suffered a greater frequency of disease than cows with greater RT in late pregnancy. Moreover, cows characterized by mild inflammatory conditions and without health disorders or only mild health disorders during the puerperium showed a greater average rumination time (over 520 min/d) during the first 10 d of lactation. Conversely, the decreased RT (450 min/d) during the first few days of lactation was observed in cows with subclinical diseases or health disorders. Cows affected by clinical mastitis during the trial showed a reduction of RT and a change in its variability already some days before the drug treatment. Our results suggest that the automatic measurement of RT is useful to predict calving time and to quickly obtain information on health status of the animals in a period as critical as the transition phase.

Post parturient neonatal behaviour and their relationship with maternal behaviour score, parity and sex in Surti buffaloes

“…Further, lower eating period in dams with low MBS might be due to more number of primiparous animals experienced more parturition stress. Results of this study indicated shortest rumination period during the early post calving stage which is supported by Soriani et al (2012) who reported decrease in rumination time on the day of calving. Further, Pahl et al (2014) observed depressed rumination in first 8 h of after calving.…”

Metabolic and biochemical changes in plasma of the periparturient rabbit does with different litter size

“…Moreover, the negative energy balance condition at the end of gestation could be worsened by the decrease of feed intake around the parturition (Xiccato, 1996) which induces hypoinsulinaemia in does (Brecchia et al, 2006), preventing the use of glucose as energy source and consequently the increase of lipid catabolism and NEFA concentrations (Rebollar et al, 2011). In our study, the plasma level of creatinine was higher before parturition and decreased after parturition likely due to muscle protein mobilization or catabolism as observed also in dairy cows (Bertoni et al, 1994;Soriani et al, 2012).…”

The Rumen as a Health Thermometer: Importance of Ruminal Function to the Metabolic Balance in Ruminants – Mini Review

“…Debates of how to predict and identify ill animals in a herd, and how to apply preventive veterinary practices are active topics of research [16]. After the indications that rumination behavior may be a promising indicator of metabolic conditions, new methods to measure and evaluate herd performance have typically focused on feeding comportment in ruminants [30]. Therefore, the introduction of a novel method to indirectly measure RT, evaluates vocal signs and allows automatic measurement of RT to analyze rumination behavior in different environments [13,22].…”

“…Therefore, the introduction of a novel method to indirectly measure RT, evaluates vocal signs and allows automatic measurement of RT to analyze rumination behavior in different environments [13,22]. Results of these studies found that cows with different health problems ruminate less then healthy cows, and therefore, there is a relationship between RT and metabolic conditions such as ketosis, hypocalcemia, and inflammatory blood markers around calving [13,14,22,30].…”