Relationship between dystocia and the lactation number, stillbirth and mastitis prevalence in dairy cows

Vida Juozaitiene,Arvydas Kardisauskas,Vytuolis Zilaitis,Modestas Ruzauskas,Judita Zymantiene,Ramūnas Antanaitis,Arunas Juozaitis

doi:10.2754/avb201786040345

Vida Juozaitiene, Arvydas Kardisauskas + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb201786040345

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Abstract

Successful management of lactating dairy cows needs to integrate the programs of herd reproduction and health. The objectives of this study was to determine the relationship of dystocia, stillbirths, and the prevalence of mastitis in dairy cow herds. A total of 559 304 Lithuanian Black and White dairy cows were evaluated in relation to calving ease and stillbirths. Moreover, 1498 cows from the aforementioned group were tested for the milk somatic cell count and the presence of udder microbiota in thepost partumperiod. The majority of extremely difficult births were estimated in primiparous and multiparous cows of lactations 6–8 (3.8–4.2% births) (P< 0.0001). Repeatability of dystocia was determined in 82.7% of cows in the following lactation (P< 0.0001). The stillbirth parturition rate was estimated to be 5.37% and shown to be the most important problem in the first calving compared to the second and subsequent calvings (P< 0.0001). Stillbirth was 11.2 × higher in cows with severely difficult calving compared to cows having no calving difficulties or slight calving difficulties (P< 0.0001). Dystocia significantly increased the somatic cell count (P< 0.05) and incidence of mastitis (P< 0.001), in particular mastitis caused byStreptococcus agalactiaeandStaphylococcus aureus.

Highlights

Successful management of lactating dairy cows needs to integrate the programs of herd reproduction and health
Studies revealed that the calving ease (CE) % of cows births evaluated by score 1 decreased according to lactation under the linear regression equation: y = -2.631x + 49.364; R2 = 0.9091; CE % evaluated by score 2 had tendency to increase in accordance with the following equation: y = 0.9417x + 12.5; R2 = 0.6539 (P < 0.0001)
The analysis showed that 35.3% of primiparous heifers required assistance while this index was 37.9–47 % in multiparous cows depending on their lactation

Summary

Introduction

Successful management of lactating dairy cows needs to integrate the programs of herd reproduction and health. Dystocia significantly increased the somatic cell count (P < 0.05) and incidence of mastitis (P < 0.001), in particular mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus. Kaya et al (2015) found that dystocia reduced milk production during lactation in primiparous Holstein cows. López de Maturana et al (2007) noticed that it is important to keep calving difficulties under control, especially in primiparous cows and to escape reduction of profitability in herds. Diseases, such as mastitis, metritis and retained placenta may negatively influence the reproductive performance in dairy cows (Rajala-Schultz and Gröhn 1998; Huszenicza et al 2005; Isobe et al 2014). In cases of mastitis caused by gram-negative bacteria, other reproductive disorders may occur, such as reduced oestrus expression and irregular cyclicity (Huszenicza et al 2005; Dobson et al 2007)

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