Metabolic monitoring on small and medium sized dairy farms in Emsland, Germany

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate metabolic analyses on small dairy farms regarding indications, realization, and results over 5years. In 793 serum samples (122 submissions from 53 farms) originating from cows of different lactation stages and from heifers, the parameters free fatty acids (FFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), cholesterol, urea, creatinine, glucose, total protein, albumin, bilirubin, liver enzymes, creatine kinase (CK), β-carotene, electrolytes and trace elements were analyzed. In 20% of cases, investigations were initiated to control for the metabolic status. Further reasons for laboratory diagnostics were consistent with the culling causes. FFA with 56.7% displayed the most frequent deviations from the normal range during the lactation ante partum. At 8weeks post partum (p.p.) it fell to 36-38% and later to <11%. The BHB deviations from the normal range exceeded 68% throughout the whole lactation. During the middle and late lactation, 40-50% of the measured urea concentrations were above the upper reference limit. Hypocalcemia occurred during the first week p.p. to 13.2% and hypophosphatemia to 6.6%. For CK, deviations from the reference value of 60.4-90.0% were determined. Selenium and copper deficiencies were present in approximately 15% of cases. Heifers more frequently displayed a copper deficiency (21.3%) than cows. β-carotene deficiency was measured ante partum at 50% and p.p. at 47.1-77.8%. Adverse deviations increased between 2006 and 2011 for FFS, urea, β-carotene, and selenium in correlation with a reduction in the milk price between 2009 and 2010. Deviations from the normal range for BHB, CK, cholesterol, calcium, and inorganic phosphate remained constant. On 80% of the farms, the metabolic status improved during the investigation period. Even on smaller farms, peripartal metabolic screenings enable early discovery of causes of the most common culling reasons and provide options for corrective action.