Analysis of relationships between veterinary recorded production diseases and milk production in dairy cows

Abstract

Veterinary diagnoses were used to estimate the relationships between various disease frequencies and milk production of the cow and the herd. For the analysis, diseases were registered in a veterinary practice. Records of a total of 1686 German Simmental (DFV) cows and 2178 German Brown Swiss (DBV) cows were used in a least squares model with the following effects: breed, lactation number, month of calving, herd effects (disease frequency, milk production), milk production of the cow. Metabolic disease frequencies (ketosis, milk fever, all metabolic diseases) were related positively to 305-day milk yield of the cow and were significant for DBV ( r=0.07-0.12), but for DFV correlations were near zero ( r=0.02−0.04). For udder diseases (acute and chronic mastitis, injuries of the udder), the associations with 305-day milk yield were near zero. In reproductive disorders (retained placenta, endometritis, anoestrus, ovarian cysts), only the frequency of ovarian cysts had a significant positive correlation with 305-day milk yield of the cows in both breeds (DFV; r=0.08; DBV: r=0.13). With increasing herd milk production, disease frequencies decreased for metabolic and reproductive disorders. It can be concluded that increasing milk yield of the cows leads to an increase in the frequencies of certain diseases. However, better feeding and management in high producing herds counter-balanced the negative effect of high milk production of cows on disease occurrence.