Home / / Cattle

Multidisciplinary approach for dairy cow longevity

Multidisciplinary approach for dairy cow longevity
Author: Dairy Global
Publish date: Tuesday. July 24th, 2018

According to Wageningen University, appropriate management of dairy cows in the peripartum period improves the ability of cows to adapt effectively to lactation and leads to better health and increased longevity.

In a review paper, recently published in CAB Reviews, leading European scientists, including scientists of Wageningen University and Wageningen UR Livestock Research, advocate for a multidisciplinary approach to understand and manage adaptation to a new lactation aiming at an improvement of cow welfare and longevity.

Enhancing longevity by reducing involuntary culling and consequently increasing productive life and lifetime production of dairy cows is not only a strategy to improve farm's profit, but is also related to improved animal welfare and feed efficiency. High rates of involuntary culling in dairy cows are mainly attributed to fertility problems, mastitis and locomotive disorders.

Biological mechanisms are metabolic adaptation, oxidative stress, immune function and inflammation, and feed intake capacity. Although relationships between these mechanisms become increasingly clear, these relationships are complex and not yet completely understood. Appropriate management of dairy cows in the transition period can facilitate cows to adapt to a new lactation.

Nutritional and management strategies to support adaptation are divided into strategies to restrict energy intake in the dry period, to improve energy intake in early lactation, to repartition energy between milk and body tissue, and strategies to support fat or carbohydrate metabolism. The success of various strategies however is often hampered by the complexity of interactions and high between-cow variation. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to understand these complex interactions.

The publication in CAB Reviews resulted from two workshops, sponsored by BASF (Germany) and organised by some of the authors in Dummerstorf, Germany (2012) and Piacenza, Italy (2013). Topic of both workshops was 'Metabolism and immune function of high-yielding dairy cows.'


Related news

Mycotoxins in dairy – an underestimated problem Mycotoxins in dairy – an underestimated problem

The term mycotoxins refers to a large, diverse group of chemical substances, all produced by different fungi but with very different toxic effects

Thursday. July 19th, 2018
Where does your lysine end up and what does it cost? Where does your lysine end up and what does it cost?

Increased protein costs and environmental concerns related to excessive nitrogen excretion have forced dairy nutritionists to alter ration formulation

Saturday. July 21st, 2018
Application of heat stress knowledge in dairy Application of heat stress knowledge in dairy

As heat stress occurs much earlier and more prominent with high producing dairy cows, the need to focus on heat stress increases

Monday. July 23rd, 2018