Identification of Risk Factors for Lameness Detection with Help of Biosensors

Ramūnas Antanaitis, Vida Juozaitienė, Gediminas Urbonavičius, Dovilė Malašauskienė, Mindaugas Televičius, Mingaudas Urbutis, Karina Džermeikaitė and Walter Baumgartner
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Ramūnas Antanaitis: Large Animal Clinic, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Vida Juozaitienė: Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio 58, LT-44248 Kaunas, Lithuania
Gediminas Urbonavičius: Department of Animal Breeding, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Dovilė Malašauskienė: Large Animal Clinic, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Mindaugas Televičius: Large Animal Clinic, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Mingaudas Urbutis: Large Animal Clinic, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Karina Džermeikaitė: Large Animal Clinic, Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės Street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Walter Baumgartner: University Clinic for Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: In this study we hypothesized that the lameness of early lactation dairy cows would have an impact on inline biomarkers, such as rumination time (RT), milk fat (%), milk protein (%), milk fat/protein ratio (F/P), milk lactose (L, %), milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, body weight (BW), temperature of reticulorumen content (TRR), pH of reticulorumen content (pH), and walking activity (activity). All 30 lame cows (LCs) used in this experiment had a score of 3–4, identified according to the standard procedure of Sprecher et al. The 30 healthy cows (HC) showed a lameness score of one. RT, milk fat, MY, milk protein, F/P, L, milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, and BW were registered using Lely Astronaut ® A3 milking robots each time the cow was being milked. The TRR, cow activity, and pH of the contents of each cow’s reticulorumen were registered using specific smaXtec boluses. The study lasted a total of 28 days. Days “−14” to “−1” denote the days of the experimental period before the onset of clinical signs of lameness (day “0”), and days “1” to “13” indicate the period after the start of treatment. We found that from the ninth day before the diagnosis of laminitis until the end of our study, LCs had higher milk electrical conductivity in all udder quarters, and higher milk fat to protein ratios. On the 3rd day before the onset of clinical signs of the disease until the day of diagnosis, the milk fat of the LC group was reduced. The activity of the LCs decreased sharply from the second day to the first day after treatment. RT in the HC group tended to decrease during the experiment. pH in LCs also increased on the day of the appearance of clinical signs.

Keywords: lameness; inline biomarkers; fresh dairy cows (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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