Occurrence of subclinical metabolic disorders in dairy and beef cattle herds

Abstract

Feed intake often fails to meet the requirements of high yielding cows, which may induce subclinical or clinical metabolic disorders some weeks prior to and after parturition. The losses due to metabolic disorders involve decreased milk production, reproduction failures, and management related diseases such as lameness, mastitis etc., emergency slaughters and death of diseased animals. In order to reveal the subclinical metabolic disorders, complex and comprehensive metabolic profile test was applied at 76 largescale dairy herds with the population of approximately 42.000 Holstein-Friesian cows, aged 5-6 years on average in Hungary in 2010. In the present study groups were tested as following: Group I.: dry cows, 1−10 days prior to expected parturition (n=309); Group II.: cows 1−7 days after calving (n=256); Group III.: cows 8−30 days after calving, n=442); Group IV.: cows 31-90 days after calving (n=394); Group V.: cows 91−150 days after calving (n=166); Group VI.: cows >150 days after calving (n=83). The results of the present study are comparable to the figures have been surveyed in the previous 10 years and reported elsewhere (Brydl et al., 1997, 1998; Könyves et al., 2001; Brydl et al., 2003). Likewise to screening data of the previous years high incidence of energy imbalance, aciduria (subclinical acidosis), inadequate protein supply, carotene shortage, and inappropriate sodium and potassium supply was detected. In comparison with results of metabolic profile tests have been performed in previous years a moderate decrease in occurrence rate of some subclinical metabolic disorders can be seen in 2010 calendar year. The protein shortage was found to highest occurrence rate in beef herds.