Medycyna Wet. 65 (9), 606-611, 2009
full text
Nowak T. A., Jakowski J. M., Olechnowicz J., Bukowska D.
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Effect of cows body condition during the periparturient period and early lactation
on fertility and culling rate
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The aim of the study was to determine the effect of body condition score (BCS) of cows during the last
weeks of pregnancy and in the first months of lactation on the incidence of postpartum complications. A total
of 528 cows were included in the study. No significant effect was found of BCS of cows ap on the incidence of
dystocia, corpus luteum pseudograviditatis, ovarian cysts, repeat breeders, infertility and the service period
(SP). In turn, BCS before calving had an effect on the incidence of the retention of the placenta, puerperal
metritis and clinical endometritis (MET), ovarian afunction (OA), the first service conception rate (FCR) and
pregnancy rate (PR). The pregnancy rate was 2.67 in the group of lean cows and this was higher (p £ 0.05)
than in the other groups of cows. The highest FCR of 46.3% was recorded in fat cows before calving (BCS
> 4.0). It was higher than in cows with BCS of 3.0 and 2.5 ap (p £ 0.01 and p £ 0.05, respectively). The lowest
FCR of 11.1% was recorded in the group with BCS of 2.0. The mean BCS of cows after calving was 2.52 and
its loss amounted to 0.74 points, i.e. 22%. Body condition loss did not have an effect on the frequency of
ovarian afunction, ovarian cysts, the percentage of repeat breeders and the length of service period. The
frequency of MET in the HBCL group was 29.5% and it differed significantly (p £ 0.05) from the frequency
of this complication in MBCL and LBCL groups. In the HBCL group OA was significantly more frequent
(at p £ 0.05) than in LBCL cows (8.7 vs. 2.1%), similarly as it was for corpus luteum pseudograviditatis (14.7
vs. 4.1%), while higher values were recorded both for FCR (41.4 vs. 37.3 in group II at p £ 0.05 and 32.6 in
group III at p £ 0.01) and pregnancy rate (2.24 vs. 2.05 at p £ 0.05 in group III and 2.06 at p £ 0.05 in group II).
In the analyzed population a total of 24.2% cows were culled. The higher the antepartum BCS of cows and
the higher its postpartum loss, the higher the risk of culling due to infertility and the total culling risk, as well
as the risk of death.
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Keywords: cows, body condition scoring (BCS), periparturient disturbances, fertility, culling rate
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