Abstract #366

Section: Animal Health
Session: Animal Health IV
Format: Oral
Day/Time: Tuesday 3:30 PM–3:45 PM
Location: 303
# 366
Factors associated with subclinical hypocalcemia at calving on multiparous Jersey cows.
A. Valldecabres*1, J. A. A. Pires2, N. Silva-del-Río1, 1Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, University of California Davis, Tulare, CA, 2Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores, INRA, VetAgro Sup, Saint-Genes-Champanelle, France.

The objective was to evaluate factors associated with calcemic status at calving on 527 multiparous Jersey cows from 2 commercial dairies. Study variables included: lactation number (Lact; continuous, or 2, 3, ≥ 4); previous lactation 305-d mature equivalent milk production (Pr305ME) and somatic cell count (PrSCC); calving body condition score (BCS; ≤ 2.5, 2.75, ≥ 3) and locomotion score (LS; ≤ 2, 3, ≥ 4); calf number, sex, and stillbirth; and dry period length (dDry). Blood samples for serum Ca analysis were collected from the coccygeal vessels 3 h 14 min (±2 h 04 min) after calving. Previous lactation information and calving outcomes were obtained from DairyComp305 herd records. Based on serum Ca concentration at calving cows were classified as hypocalcemic (SHC; Ca ≤8.5 mg/dL; n = 347) and normocalcemic (NC; Ca >8.5 mg/dL; n = 180). Associations among variables were studied using spearman rank correlations and mixed models for continuous, and chi-squared and exact fisher tests for categorical data (CORR, MIXED, GLIMMIX and FREQ procedures of SAS). A significant positive correlation was observed between Lact and BCS, and both were negatively correlated with serum Ca concentration at calving. Cows with SHC had greater (P < 0.001) Lact (3.6 vs. 2.7), frequency of Lact ≥4 (40.4 vs. 14.4%), dDry (68.8 vs. 64.6 d), and BCS (43.4 vs. 58.2%, 31.2 vs. 27.7% and 25.4 vs. 14.1% for BCS ≤2.5, 2.75 and ≥3, respectively; P = 0.02[N1]) than NC cows. Twinning rate was higher for SHC than NC (5.8 vs.1.1%; P = 0.01). The frequency of male calves (n = 98) was higher for SHC than NC cows (22.4 vs. 14.0%, P = 0.02), however, sexed semen was selectively used on both dairies and these results may derive from herd reproductive management. There was no association of Pr305ME, PrSCC, LS at calving or frequency of stillbirth with calcemic status. These complex associations among SHC, Lact, BCS, dDry, twinning and calf sex, could be used for the decision-making concerning prophylactic SHC treatment at calving.

Key Words: Jersey cow, hypocalcemia