Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:24:57.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mastitis and the shape of the lactation curve in Norwegian dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2010

Fredrik Andersen ,
Olav Østerås ,
Olav Reksen  and
Yrjo T Gröhn
Fredrik Andersen*
Affiliation:
Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Olav Østerås
Affiliation:
Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Olav Reksen
Affiliation:
Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Yrjo T Gröhn
Affiliation:
Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
*
*For correspondence: fredrik.andersen@nvh.no
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An investigation of the shape of the lactation curve and the mastitis incidence was conducted to identify whether management interventions of the lactation curve constitute a potential for reducing incidence of mastitis at herd level. Lactation curves were estimated to describe the variation of daily milk yield during the 305-d lactation period in Norwegian Red cows. Associations between mastitis incidence at herd level and lactation curve characteristics such as production level at onset of lactation, magnitude and time of peak milk yield, and increase and decrease of milk yield rates were studied. Data from 250 303 lactations occurring during 2005 and 2006 from 14 766 herds were obtained from the Norwegian Dairy Herd Recording System. Besides veterinary treatments, the records included information on monthly test-day milk yields. The shapes of the lactation curves at herd level were parameterized using a modified Wilmink model in two separate mixed model analyses. In the first analysis a subset of lactations with no records of veterinary treatments was used. Lactation curves from herds with high (>0·31 cases/305-d lactation) and low (<0·07 cases/305-d lactation) herd mastitis incidence rate were parameterized and compared for three separate strata of parity. The result showed that high herd mastitis incidence rate was associated with a low intercept (P<0·05), a steep slope before peak milk yield (P<0·01) and a rapid decline after peak milk yield (P<0·01). In the second analysis a subset of high-yielding lactations with veterinary treatments of mastitis only and lactations with no records of veterinary treatment were compared. This was done to investigate whether the findings at herd level were also reflected at cow level. These results showed that lactation curves from lactations with mastitis cases were associated with a steep slope before peak milk yield (P<0·05) in second and later parities and a rapid decline after peak milk yield (P<0·01) in all three parity groups.

Keywords

Lactation curvedairy cowmastitis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Dairy Research , Volume 78 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 23 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appuhamy, JADRN, Cassell, BG, Dechow, CD, Cole, JB 2007 Phenotypic relationships of common health disorders in dairy cows to lactation persistency estimated from daily milk weights. Journal of Dairy Science 90 4424–4434CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appuhamy, JADRN, Cassell, BG, Cole, JB 2009 Phenotypic and genetic relationships of common health disorders with milk and fat yield persistencies from producer-recorded health data and test-day yields. Journal of Dairy Science 92 1785–1795CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bar, D, Gröhn, YT, Bennett, G, González, RN, Hertl, JA, Schulte, HF, Tauer, LW, Welcome, FL & Schukken, YH 2007 Effect of repeated episodes of generic clinical mastitis on milk yield in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 90 4643–4653CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradley, AJ 2002 Bovine mastitis: an evolving disease. Veterinary Journal 164 116–128CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, YM, Gianola, D, Heringstad, B & Klemetsdal, G 2004 Longitudinal analysis of clinical mastitis at different stages of lactation in Norwegian Cattle. Livestock Production Science 88 251–261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dekkers, JCM, Hag, JHT & Weersink, A 1998 Economic aspects of persistency of lactation in dairy cattle. Livestock Production Science 53 237–252CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dohoo, IR, Martin, SW & Meek, AH 1984 Disease, production and culling in Holstein-Friesian cows VI. Effects of management on disease rates. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 3 15–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gröhn, YT, Erb, HN, McCulloch, CE & Saloniemi, HS 1990 Epidemiology of mammary gland disorders in multiparous Finnish Ayrshire cows. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 8 241–252CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gröhn, YT, Wilson, DJ, González, RN, Hertl, JA, Schulte, H, Bennett, G & Schukken, YH 2004 Effect of pathogen-specific clinical mastitis on milk yield in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 87 3358–3374CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hagnestam, C, Emanuelson, U & Berglund, B 2007 Yield losses associated with clinical mastitis occurring in different weeks of lactation. Journal of Dairy Science 90 2260–2270CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halasa, T, Huijps, K, Østerås, O & Hojsgaard, S 2007 Economic effects of bovine mastitis and mastitis management: a review. Veterinary Quarterly 29 18–31CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hortet, P, Beaudeau, F, Seegers, H & Fourichon, C 1999 Reduction in milk yield associated with somatic cell counts up to 600 000 cells/ml in French Holstein cows without clinical mastitis. Livestock Production Science 61 33–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Landbruks- og Matdepartementet) 2002 Regulations related to marking, recording and reporting of animals (Forskrift om marking, registrering og rapportering av dyr) [http://www.lovdata.no/cgi-wift/ldles?doc=/sf/sf/sf-20020903-0970.html]Google Scholar
Mulligan, FJ, O'Grady, L, Rice, DA & Doherty, ML 2006 A herd health approach to dairy cow nutrition and production diseases of the transition cow. Animal Reproduction Science 96 331–353CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Østerås, O, Solbu, H, Refsdal, AO, Roalkvam, T, Filseth, O & Minsaas, A 2007 Results and evaluation of thirty years of health recordings in the Norwegian dairy cattle population. Journal of Dairy Science 90 4483–4497CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radostits, OM, Gay, CC, Blood, DC & Hinchcliff, KW 2000 Veterinary Medicine; A Textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses. London, UK: WB SaundersGoogle Scholar
Sandholm, M 1995 Udder oedema. In: The Bovine Udder and Mastitis. (Eds Sanholm, M, Honkanen-Buzalski, T, Kaartinen, L & Pyörälä, S) pp. 271–274. Helsinki, Finland: University of Helsinki, Faculty of Veterinary MedicineGoogle Scholar
Sölkner, J & Fuchs, W 1987 A comparison of different measures of persistency with special respect to variation of test-day milk yields. Livestock Production Science 16 305–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sviland, S & Waage, S 2002 Clinical bovine mastitis in Norway. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 54 65–78CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tekerli, M, Akinci, Z, Dogan, I & Akcan, A 2000 Factors affecting the shape of lactation curves of Holstein cows from the Baliksir province of Turkey. Journal of Dairy Science 83 1381–1386CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilmink, JBM 1987 Adjustment of test-day milk, fat and protein yield for age, season and stage of lactation. Livestock Production Science 16 335–348CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, DJ, González, RN, Hertl, JA, Schulte, H, Bennett, GJ, Schukken, YH & Gröhn, YT 2004 Effect of clinical mastitis on the lactation curve: A mixed model estimation using daily milk weights. Journal of Dairy Science 87 2073–2084CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolf, CA 2003 The economics of dairy production. Veterinary Clinics—Food Animal Practice 19 271–293CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, PDP 1969 Factors affecting persistency of lactation in cattle. Nature 11 307–316Google Scholar