Abstract
BackgroundLeft displacement of the abomasum (LDA) is a condition of dairy cows that causes huge economic losses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of LDA after on-farm correction by the 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy on milk production based on 305-d milk yield on a commercial dairy farm in Italy.The study was performed between January 2011 and January 2014 on 58 Holstein Friesian cattle with left displacement of the abomasum in a commercial dairy farm in the farmland of Ozieri, Sardinia (Italy). Each cow underwent a 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy performed by the same veterinarian. Each case was matched with a control herdmate by age, parity and calving date. Cows with LDA and healthy control cows also had a similar 305-d milk yield in the previous lactation. Data on milk production were collected using a dairy herd management software programme (Afimilk®, Afimilk Ltd., Israel). The 305-d lactation yield was obtained from the sum of daily milk yields for each cow. An unpaired Student’s t-test was used to compare changes in milk production, mean fat and protein percentage of cases and controls before and after surgical procedure.ResultsData from 4 cows were excluded from the analysis due to post-surgical complications. 54 cases and 54 control cows participated in the study. We found that milk production significantly decreased from a baseline of 12,295 ± 1690 kg to 11,165 ± 1989 kg in the affected lactation. Conversely, a significant increase was observed for mean fat and protein percentage during lactation in case cows.ConclusionsIn the present study cows with left displacement of the abomasum corrected with 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy produced less milk than their control herdmates. Each case and control pair in the present study came from the same farm in order to eliminate farm to farm differences in management, housing, season, etc. However, this limits the validity of our data to the specific situation described here.
Highlights
Left displacement of the abomasum (LDA) is a condition of dairy cows that causes huge economic losses
To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on 305 day milk yield following LDA correction using the 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy performed by the same veterinarian, in farm settings, on cows coming from the same farm and free from other observable concurrent diseases than LDA
LDA was associated with decreased milk production during the affected lactation, which is in accordance with the results of several other studies [2, 15,16,17,18,19,20,21]
Summary
Left displacement of the abomasum (LDA) is a condition of dairy cows that causes huge economic losses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of LDA after on-farm correction by the 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy on milk production based on 305-d milk yield on a commercial dairy farm in Italy.The study was performed between January 2011 and January 2014 on 58 Holstein Friesian cattle with left displacement of the abomasum in a commercial dairy farm in the farmland of Ozieri, Sardinia (Italy). Other studies evaluated milk losses due to LDA in cows treated with the 2-step laparoscopy-guided abomasopexy [6, 10, 12]. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on 305 day milk yield following LDA correction using the 2-step laparoscopic abomasopexy performed by the same veterinarian, in farm settings, on cows coming from the same farm and free from other observable concurrent diseases than LDA
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