• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.580-585
• /
• 2016

The objective of this study was to determine cow characteristics and farm management factors during the dry period associated with early postparturient intramammary infection (IMI) and subsequent clinical mastitis (CM). Data were collected three times: before drying off (P1), during the dry period (P2), and 5 to 14 days after calving (P3), using questionnaires and farm investigation. Milk samples were aseptically collected for bacterial identification at P1 and P3. Factors associated with IMI and CM were analyzed using multiple logistic regression models. The final model showed that IMI in early postpartum was significantly associated with full insertion of dry cow antibiotic, dry cows in barns with a combination of tie and free stalls, body condition score (BCS) in dry period and after calving, and milk yield before drying off. For IMI cows, factors significantly associated with clinical expression of mastitis were having daily barn cleaning, teat disinfected with alcohol before administration of dry cow therapy, BCS before drying off, milk yield before drying off, and days in milk at drying off. In conclusion, both cow and farm management factors are associated with the IMI rate and subsequent expression of clinical signs of mastitis in early postpartum cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.650-657
• /
• 2002

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of forage:concentrate ratios and feeding principles on milk yield, milk composition, body weight change, postpartum oestrus and feed cost. A total of 36 crossbred F1 cows (Holstein Friesian${\times}$Local Yellow) in the 8th week of lactation were used. In each experiment, animals were divided into three groups using a randomized block design according to the milk yield of the previous eight weeks. Cows were fed 30, 50 and 70% concentrate in the diet based on DM. In experiment 1 (Fc), cows were given the same amount of DM with constant ratios of forage and concentrate within treatments. In experiment 2 (Fa), cows were given the same constant amounts of concentrate as in experiment 1 and ad libitum forage. The forage consisted of a natural grass mixture based on 5 species of grasses with high nutritive values. There was no difference in total DM intake between treatments within experiments. However, cows fed forage ad libitum had higher DM intakes compared to cows fed constant forage (1.6, 4.5 and 9.5% for cows fed 70, 50 and 30% forage, respectively). Daily milk yield of cows fed forage ad libitum was higher than that of cows fed constant forage:concentrate ratio. Within experiment, milk yield was highest for cows fed 30% DM forage, followed by cows fed 50% and then cows fed 70% forage (11.17, 10.98 and 10.71 for the 30Fc, 50Fc and 70Fc cows; 11.73, 11.16 and 10.81 kg for the 30Fa, 50Fa and 70Fa cows, respectively). Decreased forage ratio in the diets resulted in decreased milk fat content and tended to increase milk protein. Increased concentrate ratio in the diet and feeding forage ad libitum increased body weight gain. The effect of forage:concentrate ratio on postpartum oestrus was not significant. The feed cost per kg milk produced was lowest for the cows fed 70% forage. It is concluded that increased ratio of concentrate resulted in increased body weight gain, milk yield, milk protein, and decreased milk fat. Feeding forage ad libitum increased feed intake, milk yield and body weight gain. The ratio of 50% forage is more suitable for milk production and animal condition, but in terms of feed cost and under the conditions of small dairy farmers, the 70% ad libitum forage feeding is recommended.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.339-343
• /
• 2011

This study determined the effects of twin birth on subsequent postpartum disorders, culling and reproductive performance, and its risk factors in dairy cows. Detailed data related to reproduction, health, and calving events, including dates of artificial insemination (AI) and calving, hormonal treatment prior to conception, cow parity, twin birth, retained placenta, metabolic disorders, and endometritis were collected from 1,717 individual calvings on 9 dairy farms. The incidence rate of twin birth was 3.4%. Gestation length was shorter in cows with twin birth ($270.6{\pm}2.0$ days) than cows giving birth to singletons ($279.5{\pm}0.2$ days, P < 0.01). The incidence of retained placenta (47.5 vs. 16.0%), metabolic disorders (18.6 vs. 3.8%) endometritis (62.7 vs. 28.2%), and culling rate (32.2 vs. 16.5%) was greater in cows with twin birth than in cows giving birth to singletons, respectively (P < 0.01). The hazard of pregnancy (adjusted hazard ratio, AHR) by 210 days in milk analyzed using Cox proportional hazards model was affected by calving season, in that the rate of pregnancy for cows calved during spring was less than for cows calved during winter (AHR = 0.80; P = 0.01); this was also true for endometritis (AHR = 0.46, P < 0.01). AHR was not affected by twin birth. Logistic analysis demonstrated that increasing the cow parity (P < 0.01) and hormonal treatment prior to conception (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 1.84, P < 0.05) increased the risk of twin birth. These results demonstrate that twin births are responsible for severe economic losses through the increased occurrence of postpartum disorders and culling; thus, appropriate management for the deleterious impact of twin birth, and/or reducing the risk factors by herd control regarding cow parity and the use of reproductive hormones prior to conception might be necessary.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.369-375
• /
• 2003

The ultrasonography was performed in 77,924 subestrous dairy cows from 680 dairy farms at 57 districts. The cows were examined for confirmation of resumption of ovaries and uterus after 30 days postpartum, for early pregnancy diagnosis after 30 days post-insemination, confirmation of pregnancy at 8 month post-insemination, and for diagnosis of reproductive dysfunctions, respectively. The results of reproductive examination by ultrasonography in 77,924 dairy cows were ovarian disorders 35,452 (46.8%), uterine disorders 10,721 (13.8%), pregnancy and pregnant failure 24,044 (30.8%), adhesion of reproductive tracts 167 (0.2%), freematins 13 (0.01%) and others 6,527 (8.4%) cows, respectively. The 13,732 (49.6%) cows out of 27,694 cows were treated for silent heat or error of estrus detection, 3,473 (12.5%) cows for follicular cysts, 815 (3.0%) cows for luteal cysts, 606 (2.2%) cows for inactive ovaries, 4 (0.01%) cows for granulosa cell tumors, and 6,455 (23.3%) cows for endometritis, respectively. The indices of reproductive efficiencies before (2001-08-10) and after (2003-07-20) periodical examination of reproductive status were as follows; the mean intercalving interval were shortened from 471 days to 383 days, the mean interval calving to conception were shortened from 187 days to 99 days, the mean interval calving to first service were shortened from 105 days to 67 days, the mean cows showing heat by 60 days postpartum were increased from 33% to 89%, the mean conception rate to first service were increased from 43% to 68%, and the mean service per conception were shortened from 2.6 times to 1.8 times, respectively. These results suggest that periodical examination of reproductive status would be useful for the improvement of the reproductive performance in dairy cows.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.199-206
• /
• 2022

Postpartum diseases should be predicted to prevent productivity loss before calving especially in organic dairy farms. This study was aimed to investigate the incidence of postpartum metabolic diseases in an organic dairy farm in Korea, to confirm the association between diseases and prepartum blood biochemical parameters, and to evaluate the accuracy of these parameters with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for identifying vulnerable cows. Data were collected from 58 Holstein cows (16 primiparous and 42 multiparous) having calved for 2 years on an organic farm. During a transition period from 4 weeks prepartum to 4 weeks postpartum, blood biochemistry was performed through blood collection every 2 weeks with a physical examination. Thirty-one (53.4%) cows (9 primiparous and 22 multiparous) were diagnosed with at least one postpartum disease. Each incidence was 27.6% for subclinical ketosis, 22.4% for subclinical hypocalcemia, 12.1% for retained placenta, 10.3% for displaced abomasum and 5.2% for clinical ketosis. Between at least one disease and no disease, there were significant differences in the prepartum levels of parameters like body condition score (BCS), non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), total bilirubin (T-bil), direct bilirubin (D-bil) and NEFA to total cholesterol (T-chol) ratio (p < 0.05). The ROC analysis of each of these prepartum parameters had the area under the curve (AUC) <0.7. However, the ROC analysis with logistic regression including all these parameters revealed a higher AUC (0.769), sensitivity (71.0%), and specificity (77.8%). The ROC analysis with logistic regression including the prepartum BCS, NEFA, T-bil, D-bil, and NEFA to T-chol ratio can be used to identify cows that are vulnerable to postpartum diseases with moderate accuracy.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.391-396
• /
• 2002

cows, in order to suggest a means for the improvement of milk production. A total of 30 Holstein cows (3rd to 5th of parity) were used and assigned to two groups according This study investigated blood biochemical values between high and low yielding dairy to milk production levels at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days postpartum. Milk production of group A was less than an average of 27 kg/day and that of group B was an average of 30 kg/day. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture from each cow six times at 15 days before the anticipated calving date, within 12 hours postpartum (0 days) and at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days after calving. In serum mineral concentrations, group B was consistently higher than group A in both Mg and Ca. Inorganic phosphorus concentrations showed a little fluctuation between the groups at antepartum and at postpartum, but group B was significantly higher than group A at 15 and 30 days after calving (p < 0.05). In serum biochemical values cholesterol concentrations were consistently higher in group B except at 0 days. BUN and glucose concentrations did not differ between the groups. The concentration of vitamin A of group B was significantly higher than group A at 15 days before the anticipated calving date and at 15 days postpartum (p < 0.01), but at 30, 60 and 90 days postpartum vitamin A concentration of both groups were similar. Vitamin E concentration did not differ between the groups during the experimental period. Results of this study suggest that raising the levels of Mg, Ca, Pi and vitamin A in serum would be effective in increasing milk production of low producing cows.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.881-888
• /
• 2006

This study was conducted to investigate effects of maternal genetic potential and parity with pre- and postpartum periods on body weights, body condition score (BCS) and blood metabolites in relation to physiological stress and nutritional metabolism in Hanwoo cows. Also, this study was designed to develop effective husbandry technique for Hanwoo cows concerning of pre- and postpartum periods, and to get basic data for it. Forty five cows were allocated into two groups, 24 cows with high maternal genetic potentials and 21 cows with low maternal genetic potentials. The average parity of experimental cows with high and low maternal genetic potentials were 2.83±1.63 and 3.00±1.77, respectively. The growth performances such as body weights, average daily gain (ADG) and BCS were not different between two groups regardless of maternal genetic potential. However, pre- and postpartum periods had effects on the growth performances (p<0.05). Parity had no effects on ADG and BCS (p>0.05), but effect on body weight of cows (p<0.05). The metabolites of physiological stress such as neutrophil, hematocrit and cortisol, and nutritional metabolites such as albumin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), triglyceride, and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations in blood of cows were affected by pre- and postpartum periods in a large scale, while those were partially affected by maternal genetic potential. However, among the metabolites in blood, only neutrophil and triglylceride concentrations were affected by different parity of cows. Therefore, the present study suggests that nutritional intake and digestion are affected by physiological stress due to the parturition, and it should need to consider different husbandry technique based on the maternal genetic potential, and pre- and postpartum periods of cows.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.59 no.12
• /
• pp.26.1-26.8
• /
• 2017

Background: The change in size and weight of the female reproductive organs during gestation and birth might be affect the perineal muscles and this condition in dairy cow not been reported. This study aimed to assess the ultrasonographic image of coccygeus muscle in 11 inseminated dairy cows with different gestational ages and postpartum. Methods: Gestational age was calculated based on the record of artificial insemination and confirmed by using transrectal brightness mode ultrasonography. Perineal hair between the sacrum and ischium bones was shaved along 3-5 cm before being ultrasound. The images of perineal area were obtained by transcutaneous ultrasound using a 5.0 MHz transducer. The thickness and intensity of the coccygeus muscle were measured and analyzed by gestational status and postpartum to show the differences. Results: The results showed that the thickness of coccygeus muscle increased with the increase in gestational age. Muscle intensity only increased at young gestational age. However, it decreased with the increase in gestational age (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The ultrasound image of coccygeus muscle was affected by gestational status, thus this method may be used as one of the new methods of indirect gestational detection on dairy cows.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.2.1-2.6
• /
• 2021

The reproductive tracts have an intimate relationship with reproduction because there are bacterial communities that can affect reproductive health. The differences in the bacterial community of periparturient dairy cows were investigated. Vaginal and fecal samples were collected seven days before and after calving, and DNA was extracted to sequence the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA genes. In the postpartum vaginas, operational taxonomic units, Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson were decreased, and phyla Fusobacteria and Bacteroidetes were increased. In summary, bacterial abundance can affect the periparturient biological differences in dairy cows, suggesting a susceptibility to infection within one week after calving.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.1268-1273
• /
• 2003

Sixty postpartum lactating Friesian cows in 3 treatments at a commercial dairy farm were used to study the effect of using progesterone supplementation with GnRH and PGF2$\alpha$ synchronization with and without timed AI on fertility during summer. Cows in treatment1($Tr_1$) and treatment2 ($Tr_1$) were fitted with progesterone releasing intravaginal device (PRID) device and injected with 10 g GnRH agonist on $51{\pm}3$ d postpartum (pp). Seven days later, PRID was removed and cows received 25 mg PGF2$\alpha$. Two days later, $Tr_1$ cows received another injection of 10 g GnRH and timed AI 16-20 h later. Control cows received only 25 mg PGF2$\alpha$ $58{\pm}3d\;pp$. $Tr_2$ and control cows were AI at detected estrus. Serum progesterone for all cows was determined on days of injection, AI and 21, 23 and 28 d postinsemination. Pregnancy rates from first AI based on serum P4 concentrations on d 21, 23 and 28 postinsemination (50, 40 and 35%) and that based on rectal palpation 40-45 d postinsemination (30, 15 and 15% for $Tr_1$, $Tr_2$ and control cows, respectively) did not differ among the three groups. Whereas, pregnancy rate at 120 d pp for $Tr_1$ (65%) was higher (p<0.05) than that in $Tr_2$ (30%) or control (30%). The overall pregnancy rate was not significantly different (90, 90 and 75% for $Tr_1$, $Tr_2$ and control, respectively). Days open for cows in $Tr_1$ ($100.3{\pm}9$) was less (p<0.03) than that in $Tr_2$ ($130.9{\pm}9$) or control ($135.1{\pm}10$). Results indicate that using PRID device with Ovsynch program had significantly increased pregnancy rate and decreased days open compared to AI at detected estrus after synchronization with GnRH, PRID and PGF2$\alpha$ or synchronization with one injection of PGF2$\alpha$.