Putting more Ma in your Maternity Noah Litherland 1 and Sabrina - PDF document

12/13/2017 Putting more “Ma” in your Maternity Noah Litherland 1 and Sabrina Portner 2 1 Dairy Youngstock Technical Specialist 2 Vita Plus Inter Summer 2017 (Senior at ISU) Why Focus on Maternity? • Classically overlooked and poorly understood area. • Lack of maternity management literature. • High impact area-affects both cow and calf. • Large source of variation. • Group housed nursery calves 1

12/13/2017 Today’s Approach • Sabrina Portner- Summer 2017 internship project • Large herd maternity data analysis (1,670 calving’s) • Latest (2017) Journal of Dairy Science research • Tips and tricks from top maternity managers 5- Key Areas 1. Managing pre-calving variables 2. Calving pen dynamics 3. Navel care 4. Colostrum management and feeding 5. Maternity team calibration Dairies Surveyed- 22 Farms Dairy Comp Dairy Comp Dairy Comp Dairy Comp • Minnesota (3) and Wisconsin (19) • ATP Swabs - All relevant equipment ATP Swabs ATP Swabs ATP Swabs • • Herd Size Ag Source Culturing – Colostrum, dry Ag Source Culturing Ag Source Culturing Ag Source Culturing • Average: 1,173 cows (lactating) • cow and calving pen bedding High: 4,000 cows • 3M Petri Film 3M Petri Film – Gram negative plate 3M Petri Film 3M Petri Film Low: 220 cows • • counts in colostrum • Milk Production Brix Refractometer – Colostrum IgG Brix Refractometer Brix Refractometer Brix Refractometer • • Average: 86.6 lbs. Calf Blood Samples Calf Blood Samples – Serum total protein Calf Blood Samples Calf Blood Samples • • High: 113 lbs. • Low: 57 lbs. Milk Production Holsteins • Average: 93.6 lbs. – High: 113 lbs. – Low: 75 lbs. – Milk Production Other Breeds • Average: 71.5 lbs. – High: 99 lbs. – Low: 57 lbs. – 2

12/13/2017 Similar milk production within Holstein herds Not able to use milk production to categorize maternity success 120 110 100 90 Lbs/head/day 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Individual Holstein Farms Alternative Analysis- by Herd Size Item <1,000 cows >1,000 cows Avg. milk yield, lb/d 87.5 86 Avg. herd size, cows 479 2007 Calving strategy Bedded Pack % 50 0 Just in time calving, % 50 100 Cow moved from group pen either at 1 st signs of calving or feet showing into individual pen to calve 3

12/13/2017 Managing Pre-calving Variables Gestation Length (GL) • Holstein (Norman et al., 2009) • Heifers (277.8 ± 5.5 d) • Cows (279.4 ± 5.7 d) • Factors influencing GL • Genetics, calf gender, singleton or twin, age of dam, and season of year. • Intermediate GL (274-281 d) optimized lifetime productivity, calving ease, and incidence of still-birth (Norman et al., 2011) • Cows with GL short or long had increased incidence of stillbirth, and dystocia compared with GL 274-281 d (Nogalski and Piwczyński, 2012). 4

12/13/2017 Hypothalamus-Adrenal-Pituitary Axis -Parturition is triggered by HPA-Axis the increase in fetal glucocorticoid concentration. -Signal of maturation is activation of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis (HPA-axis). Dam/daughter interactions impact GL • Hypoxemia (low oxygen) is a potent stimulus to increase activity of calf HPA-axis and results in parturition (Matthew and Challis, 1996). • Primiparous cows have less body capacity than multiparous cows, so space limitations can create fetal stress and early parturition. • Similarly, cows calving in heat stress have shorter gestation periods than cows calving in cool season. • Evaporatively cooled late gestation cows had GL 3.5 d longer than cows not receiving cooling (Tao and Dahl, 2014). • It is possible heat stress promotes maturation of the HPA-axis and shorter GL. (Vieira-Neto et al., 2017) 5

12/13/2017 Two California dairies (3,335 Primi- and 4,909 Multiparous cows) Impact of gestation length Average Short Long P-value Mean gestation, d 276 266 285 Range, d 270 to 282 256 to 269 283 to 296 Milk production, lb./d 84.8 80.7 83.0 < 0.01 (SEM = 0.67) Vieira-Neto et al., 2017 Herd survival of Holstein heifers born alive according to gestation length Vieira-Neto et al., 2017 6

12/13/2017 Prepartum Management by Herd Size Description <1,000 cows >1,000 cows Heifers Age 1st calving, mo. 23.6 22.7 Dry cow Days dry 54.9 54 Dry cow stocking density % 161.8 104.2 Hygiene score 1.2 1 # pen moves dry off - calving 2.6 3.1 Number of Pen Moves from Dry off to Calving Number of Pen Moves from Dry off to Calving Number of Pen Moves from Dry off to Calving Number of Pen Moves from Dry off to Calving Average: 2.86 High: 5 (2 farms) Low: 1 (1 farm) Does number or timing of Pen Moves impact on GL? Chebel et al., 2016 7

12/13/2017 3 Stages of parturition ( Noakes et al., 2001; Jackson, 2004) Stage 1 - Opening of the cervix and the initiation of uterine contractions. Stage 2 -Dialation of the birth canal by amniotic sacs and ends with expulsion of the fetus. Stage 3 -Release of fetal membranes Evaluating calving behavior in 1 st calf heifers What to look for and when (Lange et al., 2017) (Germany) Tail raising Lying lateral w/ abdominal contractions Clear vaginal discharge Bloody vaginal discharge 8

12/13/2017 Electronic Prediction Standing time of Calving Titler et al., 2015 Lying time Steps Lying bouts Calving outside of normal working hours can put strain on labor and can also result in less supervision at calving. Feed close-up cows in the evening to skew calving time towards daylight hours? 9

12/13/2017 Feed close-up cows in the evening to skew calving time towards daylight hours? • Feeding close-up cows at 5:30 pm vs. 8:00 am increased daytime calving’s by 17% (72% of calving during daytime). (Clarke et al., 1983) • Others reporting similar effects: • Yarney et al., 1979; Lowman et al., 1981; Gleeson et al., 2007 • Physiology behind shift in calving time: • Behavioral shift in time of day standing (decreased intra-uterine pressure) • Rumen function - Frequency of rumen contractions decrease in the hours prior to calving. Increased rumen contractions associated with feeding might influence calving time. Calving Pen 10

12/13/2017 Calving Environment-by Herd Size Description <1,000 cows >1,000 cows Low = 50% % cows calving in maternity 91.8 92.5 Calving ease (1= no assistance; 4 = mechanical assistance) 1.26 1.88 Time to dystocia intervention, min. 80 72 High = 3 mil. Bedding culture calving pen, million cfu/g 1.7 1.8 Clean wheat straw = 22,000 cfu/g Distribution of time in calving pen before calving. Average = 50.5 minutes 800 700 Minutes in Maternity before calving 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 # cows Impressive consistency in calving time lapse 11

12/13/2017 Simple privacy accommodations Calf DOA rate • Dead on Arrival (DOA) • Average: 7% • High: 18.3% • Low: 4% • 2 yr. Old DOA • Average: 9.0% • High: 20% • Low: 5% 12

12/13/2017 DOA rate similar between herd sizes Description <1,000 cows >1,000 cows DOA, % 7.0 5.7 DOA 2 year olds, % 8.7 9.2 Twinning, % 6.0 4.8 What has been the level of calf DOA for each lactation group? 20% DOA in 1 st calf heifers, consider evaluating: 1. Age/size at breeding 2. Sire Selection-GL = lung development 3. Maternity management for 1 st calf heifers. 4. Decrease pre-calving stress (moves) 13

12/13/2017 Navel Care Umbilical infection • Occurring in 1.3% (Svensson et al., 2003) to 29.9% (Hathaway et al., 1993) of newborn dairy calves. • Besides the local infection and inflammation, bacteria can spread via blood into joints, lungs, kidneys causing health complications. • Increased risk for respiratory disease (Perez et al., 1990) • Decreased growth rate (Virtala et al., 1996) and increased mortality rate (Donovan et al., P1- Distal end of umbilical stalk 1998). P2-Base of umbilical stalk P3-Umbilical vein P5-Umbilical artery (Wieland et al., 2017) 14

12/13/2017 Umbilical cord care in calves (Wieland et al., 2017) Navel Guard 7% iodine tincture 2% Nolvasan P -value Umbilical infection, % 29.1 28.0 24.5 0.66 (41/141) (40/143) (34/139) Mortality rate, % 14.9 5.6 7.9 0.02 Postmorten exam-Scours 19/21 4/8 9/11 … • Calves of 1 st calf heifers had decreased odds of umbilical infection compared with calves of multiparous dams. • Heavier calves (2 lb. increase in birth BW) increased odds of umbilical infection marginally. • Calves with presence of umbilical cord at 2 days age had decreased odds of umbilical infection. Signs of umbilical infection • Positive pain response at palpation • Presence of a fistula (hole) in abdominal wall • Presence of discharge • Umbilical stalk larger than 1 inch in diameter and continued increase in swelling. Protocol for treatment (Weiland et al., 2017 Cornell University) Two dose of IM florfenicol, 20 mg/kg BW, 48 hr. One dose of Meloxicam, 1 mg/kg 15

12/13/2017 Umbilical infection-preventative measures • Maternity pen hygiene • Decreased residency time of the newborn calf in the maternity pen • Adequate colostrum management • Antiseptic umbilical cord care Colostrum Feeding and Management 16