Retrospective evaluation of milk production and culling risk following either surgical, toggle-pin suture or conservative treatment of left displaced abomasum in Chilean dairy cows

Abstract

AIMS To describe milk yield and culling risk in cows diagnosed with left displacement of abomasum (LDA) treated either conservatively, by right flank pyloric omentopexy, or rolling and toggling, compared with normal herdmates from four Chilean dairy herds. METHODS Historical records were obtained from four commercial dairy farms located in Central Chile for cows with a history of LDA between 2010 and 2012, and healthy herdmates. Cows with LDA were categorised into three groups: cows treated with right omentopexy (ST, n=58), cows treated by toggle suturing (TT, n=15) and cows treated conservatively (CT, n=56). Control cows (n=129) were selected from unaffected cows, matched by days in milk (DIM), parity and herd with affected cows. Groups were compared for risk of culling up to 300 DIM and for milk production up to 5 months of lactation using survival and Cox proportional hazard models and mixed models for repeated measures, respectively. RESULTS Compared with cows in the Control group, the risk of being culled up to 300 DIM was 9.1 (SE 0.62) times greater in ST cows, 10.4 (SE 0.68) times greater in TT cows, and 37.3 (SE 0.61) times greater in CT cows (p<0.01). In the first 5 months of lactation, compared with cows in the Control group, mean daily milk production was 23.3 (SE 1.5) kg less in ST cows, 15.3 (SE 1.6) kg less in TT cows, and 30.1 (SE 1.3) kg less in CT cows (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Cows in four dairy herds in central Chile diagnosed and treated for LDA produced significantly less milk and had a higher risk of culling than healthy herdmates. Although cows treated surgically or with toggle suture never recovered to the extent of healthy cows, they produced more milk than cows treated conservatively. However, the retrospective nature of the data, the inclusion of only four herds and the non-random allocation to treatments means that these conclusions cannot be extrapolated to the overall dairy cattle population in Chile.

Retrospective Evaluation of Method of Treatment, Laboratory Findings, and Concurrent Diseases in Dairy Cattle Diagnosed with Left Displacement of the Abomasum during Time of Hospitalization

“…In high-producing dairy cattle, left displacement of the abomasum (LDA) is a common disease [1,2], causing massive economic losses due to treatment costs, reduced milk yield, and a higher risk of culling [3]. About 85% to 91% of cases of LDA occur in the first 6 weeks after calving [4,5].…”

“…Treatment options adopt either a conservative approach, closed or open surgical procedures [4,6,7], or minimally invasive techniques [4]. Conservative treatment consists in casting the animal on its right side for several minutes [4,6] and rolling the animal slowly and clockwise in a 180 degree arc [3,7]. For Blind Tack/Toggle Pin, which is a closed procedure, the abomasum is sutured to the body percutaneously after rolling the cow [4,7].…”

Association between left-displaced abomasum corrected with 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy and milk production in a commercial dairy farm in Italy

“…Closed surgical techniques include percutaneous fixation by blind-tack suture or toggle-pin [ 7 ]. Percutaneous fixation is the most rapid technique but has the disadvantage that it is performed in a blind fashion by the veterinary surgeon, so there is a risk of stitching the wrong organ or of trapping abdominal contents within the “pexy” site [ 8 ]. The 2-step laparoscopy-guided fixation of the abomasum is a more recent technique [ 9 ] that combines the advantages of a traditional open surgical technique (good visual inspection, therapeutic safety) with the rapidity and shortened recovery times of percutaneous fixation methods [ 10 ].…”

“…An important issue to consider when deciding to correct LDA is the outcome following surgery, in particular the extent of milk losses attributable to the disease and its correction. In order to have an advantageous correction, the cow has to return to her previous level of productivity, avoiding further economic losses [ 8 ]. In the past decades several authors investigated the effects of LDA on milk production using different approaches to treat it and quantify milk losses [ 11 ].…”

Comparing survival times in cattle with a left displaced abomasum treated with roll‐and‐toggle correction or right pyloro‐omentopexy

“…Paper 2: Retrospective evaluation of milk production and culling risk following either surgical, toggle-pin suture or conservative treatment of left displaced abomasum in Chilean dairy cows2…”