Abstract
Dystocia has serious consequences for both mother and offspring. This study therefore aimed to identify risk factors for dystocia in vaginally delivered spring born beef calves in Great Britain (GB). Information on calving assistance, calf sex, birthweight, breed, twinning, dam parity and body condition score (BCS) was collected from 1131 calves across 84 GB farms. Variables were modelled against calving assistance as a binary response variable. Twins (Odds Ratio [OR] = 5.45), Charolais calves (OR = 3.24), calves from primiparous dams (OR = 5.75) and male calves (OR = 1.75) were at significantly increased risk of requiring calving assistance across all models. Calves born to cows classed as thin (BCS < 2.5/5) were identified in the univariate analysis and in one of the multivariate models (OR = 1.92) as having an increased likelihood of dystocia. Most beef herds have limited scope to manage cows on the basis of fetal gender and number. However, calf breed, dam body condition and management of primiparous dams can be manipulated to reduce the risk of dystocia and improve supervision. Poor body condition is a novel risk factor for dystocia in beef cows and worthy of further investigation.
Highlights
Dystocia has serious consequences for both the dam and her offspring
As the ROC curve analysis failed to produce an ideal threshold that could be used as a cut-off value, CWAWR values were divided into those sitting within the interquartile range, the upper quartile and the lower quartile for mixed model analysis
Dystocia increases the rate of stillbirths and neonatal mortality in calves and is an important risk factor for failure of passive transfer (FPT),[33] which increases the risk of mortality and infectious disease in early life.[55]
Summary
Dystocia has serious consequences for both the dam and her offspring. In cattle, there is a direct impact on the calf’s lifetime production and on the cow’s future in the herd. Methods: Information on calving assistance, calf sex, birthweight, breed, twinning, dam parity and body condition score (BCS) was collected from 1131 calves across 84 GB farms. Results: Twins (Odds Ratio [OR] = 5.45), Charolais calves (OR = 3.24), calves from primiparous dams (OR = 5.75) and male calves (OR = 1.75) were at significantly increased risk of requiring calving assistance across all models. Calves born to cows classed as thin (BCS < 2.5/5) were identified in the univariate analysis and in one of the multivariate models (OR = 1.92) as having an increased likelihood of dystocia. Poor body condition is a novel risk factor for dystocia in beef cows and worthy of further investigation
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