Diseases of Dairy Animals | Non-Infectious Diseases: Fatty Liver

Abstract

Moderate-to-severe fatty liver is diagnosed with high frequency in dairy cows around the time of parturition. The condition has been linked to a reduction in voluntary feed intake, imbalance of energy needs relative to supply, and mobilization of adipose tissue in excess of the fatty acid oxidative capacity of liver. Although fatty liver is transitory in nature, it can lead to other related metabolic disorders such as ketosis, which have more severe consequences for cow health and milk production. Several feeding management strategies, dietary enrichment strategies, and pharmacological interventions have been used to successfully reduce the incidence, severity, and degree of fatty liver in transition dairy cows. Despite advances in managing fatty liver in dairy cows, the biology underlying the development of fatty liver is not completely understood. The application of high-throughput ‘omic’ approaches (genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic) to the study of fatty liver has provided new clues in this regard and will likely lead to identification of improved strategies to reduce the incidence rate, severity, and duration of fatty liver in dairy cows.