Risk Factors For, And Causes Of, Perinatal Calf Mortality And Implications For Calf Welfare

Abstract

The perinatal period is the most hazardous in the life of all animals. More than 60% of producers have reported that most of their calf mortality occurs at birth. Calf mortality represents economic losses to the dairy industry due to delayed genetic progress, fewer replacements available for voluntary culling of the lactating herd, and increased cost of replacement. The main causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality are, in descending order of importance, combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis, parturient trauma, hypoglobulinemia, congenital infections and deficiencies, and omphalophlebitis. This indicates that farmers and their veterinarians need to focus on calving management when investigating such problems and when attempting to reduce losses in herds with high rates of bovine perinatal mortality. This paper discusses both the risk factors for, and the ultimate causes of, perinatal mortality and their effects on perinatal calf welfare, an underdocumented topic.

Keywords

• calf welfare
• perinatal mortality
• dystocia

Project Number

yok

Risk Factors For, And Causes Of, Perinatal Calf Mortality And Implications For Calf Welfare

Abstract

The perinatal period is the most hazardous in the life of all animals. More than 60% of producers have reported that most of their calf mortality occurs at birth. Calf mortality represents economic losses to the dairy industry due to delayed genetic progress, fewer replacements available for voluntary culling of the lactating herd, and increased cost of replacement. The main causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality are, in descending order of importance, combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis, parturient trauma, hypoglobulinemia, congenital infections and deficiencies, and omphalophlebitis. This indicates that farmers and their veterinarians need to focus on calving management when investigating such problems and when attempting to reduce losses in herds with high rates of bovine perinatal mortality. This paper discusses both the risk factors for, and the ultimate causes of, perinatal mortality and their effects on perinatal calf welfare, an underdocumented topic.

Keywords

• calf welfare
• perinatal mortality

Supporting Institution

yok

Project Number

yok

Thanks

yok

References

1. Anderson, M.L. (2007). Infectious Causes of Bovine Abortion During Mid- to Late-Gestation, Theriogenology, volume 68, pp. 474-486.
2. Aydogdu, U., Yıldız, R., Guzelbektes, H., Coskun A. & Sen, İ. (2016). Cardiac Biomarkers In Premature Calves With Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Acta Veterinaria Hungarica, 64 1 38–46.
3. Benjaminsson, B.H. (2007). Prenatal death in Icelandic cattle, Acta Vet. Scand. 49 1 1–3.
4. Bicalho, R.C., Galvão, K.N., Cheong, S.H., Gilbert, R.O., Warnick, L.D. & Guard, C.L. (2007). Effect of stillbirths on dam survival and reproduction performance in Holstein dairy cows, J Dairy Sci. 90 2797- 803.
5. Bicalho, R.C., Galvão, K.N., Warnick, L.D. & Guard, C.L. (2008). Stillbirth parturition reduces milk production in Holstein cows, Prev Vet Med. 84 112-20.
6. Bleul, U. (2009). Respiratory distress syndrome in calves. Vet. Clin. Food. Anim. 25, 179–193.
7. Berglund, B., Steinbock, L. & Elvander, M. (2009). Causes of Stillbirth and Time of Death in Swedish Holstein Calves Examined Post Mortem, Acta Vet Scand. 44 111–20.
8. Chassagne, M., Barnouin, J. & Chacornac, J.P. (1999). Risk factors for stillbirth in Holstein heifers under field conditions in France: a prospective survey, Theriogenology, 51 1477–1488.

9. Cutler, K.L. & Jones, I.G. (2003). The Trace Element Nutrition of Beef Suckler Cattle, Cattle Practice, 11 2 117-120.
10. Divers, T.J. (2008). Respiratory diseases. In: Rebhun, W. C. (ed.) Rebhun’s Diseases of Dairy Cattle. Elsevier, USA. pp. 79–131.
11. Gundelach, Y., Essmeyer, K., Teltscher, M.K. & Hoedemaker M. (2009). Risk factors for perinatal mortality in dairy cattle: Cow and foetal factors, calving process. Theriogenology, 71 901–909.
12. Hansen, M., Misztal, I., Lund, M.S., Pedersen, J. & Christensen, L.G. (2004). Undesired Phenotypic and Genetic Trend for Stillbirth in Danish Holsteins, Journal of Dairy Science, 87, 1477–1486.
13. Heins, B., Hansen, L. & Seykora, A. (2006). Calving difficulty and stillbirths of pure Holsteins versus crossbreeds of Holstein with Normande, Montbelairde and Scandinavian, Red. J. Dairy Sci. 89 2805–2810.
14. Holland, MD. and Odde, KG. (1992). Factors Affecting Calf Birth Weight; A Review, Theriogenology, 38 769-798.
15. Jawor, P., Stefaniak, T. & Mee, J.F. (2017). Immune and inflammatory biomarkers in cases of bovine perinatal mortality with and without infection in utero, Journal of Dairy Science, 100 2.
16. Mee, J.F. (1994). Resuscitation of Newborn Calves- Materials and Methods, Cattle Practice, 2 2, 97- 206.
17. Mee, J.F. (1999). Stillbirths- What Can You Do?, Cattle Practice, 7 3 277.
18. Mee, J.F. (2008). Newborn Dairy Calf Management, Veterinary Clinics of North America, Food Animal Practice, 24 1 1-17.
19. Mee, J.F., Berry, D.P. & Cromie, A.R. (2011). Risk Factors for Calving Assistance and Dystocia in Pasture-based Holstein-Friesian Heifers and Cows in Ireland, The Veterinary Journal, Elsevier, 187 189-194.
20. Mee, J.F. (2011). Bovine Neonatal Survival- Is Improvement Possible, WCDS Advances in Dairy Technology, 23 161-174.
21. Mee, J.F. & Szenci, O. (2012). Selected pathological causes of bovine stillbirth illustrated with photographic images, Mag. Allat. Lapja, 134 718–725.
22. Mee, J.F. (2013a). Why Do So Many Calves Die on Modern Dairy Farms and What Can We Do About Calf Welfare in the Future?, Animals, 3 1037-1057.
23. Mee, J.F., Grant, J., Sanchez-Miguel, C. & Doherty, M. (2013b). Pre-Calving and Calving Management Practices in Dairy Herds with a History of High or Low Bovine Perinatal Mortality, Animals, volume 3, pp. 866-881.
24. Mee, J.F., Sanchez-Miguel, C. & Doherty, M. (2013a). An International Delphi Study of the Causes of Death and the Criteria Used to Assign Cause of Death in Bovine Perinatal Mortality, Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 48 651-659.
25. Mee, J.F. (2013b). Impacts of Nutrition Pre-calving on Periparturient Dairy Cow Health and Neonatal Calf Health, 45th University of Nottingham Feed Conference, pp. 9-11.
26. Mee, J.F. (2014). Schmallenberg Virus as a Cause of Perinatal Mortality and Traumatic Dystocia in Dairy Herds, Cattle Practice, 22 2 290.
27. Mee, J.F., Sanchez-Miguel, C. & Doherty, M. (2014). Influence of Modifiable Risk Factors on the Incidence of Stillbirth/ Perinatal Mortality in Dairy Herds, The Veterinary Journal, Elsevier, 199 19-23.
28. Mee M. (2018). Perinatal Period Health: Part I. Calving Management. 1st International 5th Herd Health&Management Congress. Antalya /Turkey, 1-11.
29. Meijering, A. (1984). Dystocia and Stillbirth in Cattle- A Review of Causes, Relations and Implications, Livestock production Science, 11 2 143-177.
30. Meyer, C.L., Berger, P.J. & Koehler, K.J. (2000). Interactions among factors affecting stillbirths in Holstein cattle in the United States, J. Dairy Sci, 83 2657–2663.
31. Meyer, C.L., Berger, P.J., Koehler, K.J., Thompson, J.R. & Sattler, C.G. (2001). Phenotypic trends in incidence of stillbirth for Holsteins in the United States. Journal of Dairy Science, 84 515–523.
32. Norquay, R. (2017). Perinatal Losses in Beef Herds in Orkney: Assessing Incidence. Masters thesis.August, Glasgow.
33. Silva del Rio, N., Stewart, S., Rapnicki, P., Chang, Y.M. &Fricke, P.M. (2007). An observational analysis of twin births, calf sex ratio, and calf mortality in Holstein dairy cattle, Journal of Dairy Science, 90 1255–1264.
34. Steinbock, L., Nasholm, A., Berglund, B., Johansson, K. & Philipsson, J. (2003). Genetic effects on stillbirth and calving difficulty in Swedish Holsteins at first and second calving, J Dairy Sci. 86, 2228–35.
35. Svensson, C., Linder, A. & Olsson, S.O. (2006). Mortality in Swedish dairy calves and replacement heifers, Journal of Dairy Science, 89 4769–4777.
36. Sweetman, D., Armstrong, K., Murphy, J.F.A. & Molloy, E.J. (2012). Cardiac biomarkers in neonatal hypoxic ischaemia, Acta Paediatr, 101 338–343.
37. Szenci, O., Taverne, M.A.M. & Takács, E. (1989). A review of 126 Caesarean sections by blood gas and acid base status of the newborn calves, Theriogenology, 32 667–673.
38. Whitlock, B.K., Kaiser, L. & Maxwell, H. (2008). Heritable Bovine Fetal Abnormalities, Theriogenology, 70 3 535-549.
39. Waldner, C.L. & Blakley, B. (2014). Evaluating Micronutrient Concentrations in Liver Samples from Abortions, Stillbirths and Neonatal and Postnatal Losses in Beef Calves, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Information, 26 3 376-389.