Prepartum anti-inflammatory therapies in high-priority cow groups: effects on cow performance, health, and inflammatory and metabolic status
Open Access
- Author:
- Spring, Jacquelin
- Area of Honors:
- Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Adrian A Barragan, Thesis Supervisor
Robert John Vansaun, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Prepartum anti-inflammatory therapies
metabolic status
systemic inflammation
daily milk yield - Abstract:
- The objective of this study was to assess the effects of prepartum administration of anti-inflammatory therapies on body condition score (BCS), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentration, haptoglobin (HP) concentration, milk yield, milk components, rumination time, health and reproductive performance in dairy cows categorized as high-priority cow groups (i.e., nulliparous cows [NUL], over-conditioned cows [OVERC; ≥3.75 pts.]). At 14 days before the expected calving date, cows (PAR; n=170) and heifers (NUL; n=63) were blocked by BCS group (optimal=3-3.5 [OPT]; OVERC) and parity (NUL; PAR) and randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups: 1) ASA (n=78): receive one oral administration of acetylsalicylic acid (4 boluses; 480 grain/bolus); 2) MEL (n=76): receive one oral administration with meloxicam (1mg/kg of BW), or 3) PLC (n=77): receive one oral treatment with gelatin capsules filled with water. Body condition score was assessed, and blood samples were collected, weekly starting 1 week before treatment until 3 weeks after calving. Daily milk yields and daily rumination times were collected from on-farm computer records. Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) monthly test data were collected to assess milk yield, somatic cell counts, and milk components. Furthermore, health events, culling rate, and reproductive performance data were collected from on-farm computer records. The data were analyzed using MIXED, GLIMMIX, and LIFETEST procedures of SAS as a randomized complete block design. On average, NUL MEL cows produced 5.48 kg/d and 5.47 kg/d more milk from week 6 to week 21 of lactation compared to ASA NUL and PLC NUL cows, respectively. Similarly, there was a week by treatment by body condition group interaction (p=0.01), where OVERC cows treated with MEL produced more milk from week 10 to week 15 of lactation compared to ASA and PLC OVERC cows. Parous cows treated with ASA had lower BCS compared to PAR cows treated with MEL or PLC. A lower percentage of OVERC cows treated with ASA became sick in the first 60 DIM compared to MEL and PLC OVERC cows (ASA=23.88±7.26 %, MEL=46.36±8.57 %; PLC=46.74±8.53 %; p=0.04). These findings suggest that treatment with prepartum anti-inflammatory therapies may have positive effects on milk yield and postpartum health in high-priority cow groups, while it may not be recommended for other animal categories, such as parous cows. Larger studies are needed to strengthen reported associations between prepartum NSAID treatments and cow health and reproductive performance.