Livestock Production Science 65 2000 107–118 www.elsevier.com locate livprodsci
Concentrate feeding, dry-matter intake, and metabolic disorders in Danish dairy cows
a , b
¨ S. Østergaard
, Y.T. Grohn
a
¨ Department of Animal Science and Animal Health
, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bulowsvej 13, DK-
1870 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
b
Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences , College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853,
USA Received 3 May 1999; received in revised form 26 October 1999; accepted 2 November 1999
Abstract
Data from 3676 lactations of 1856 cows recorded during 12 years in three Danish research herds was used to study the associations between postpartum feeding, diseases, and feed intake. The diseases included four clinical metabolic disorders
diagnosed by veterinarians: decreased rumen motility, enteritis, ketosis, and left-displaced abomasum LDA. Because the feeds offered to and refused by cows were weighed individually for each cow, the actual concentrate dry-matter intake
DMI and roughage DMI were used. Weekly recordings of feed intake were available. Odds of metabolic disorders according to concentrate management in the early lactation were studied through three analyses. Effect of total concentrate
DMI was analysed for cows fed their concentrates mainly separately from roughage. Effect of concentrate DMI to total DMI ratio was analysed for cows that predominately were fed a total mixed ration TMR. Effect of percentage of the total
concentrate DMI that was fed with roughage was analysed for cows that did not have access to summer pasture. From these analyses it seems to be the early-lactation feeding of concentrates separately from roughage and not the concentrate to
roughage ratio within a TMR that is associated with increased odds of metabolic disorders. Through analyses of DMI in the weeks around the diagnoses, it was found that each disorder was associated with decreased total DMI, for at least the week
before and 2 weeks after diagnosis. The effect persisted more than 4 weeks in cows with ketosis and in primiparous cows with LDA. LDA and ketosis was associated with more weeks of ‘pre-clinical’ decreased DMI.
2000 Elsevier Science
B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords : Concentrate to roughage ratio; Dry-matter intake; Metabolic disorders; Diseases; Dairy cows
1. Introduction
Important management decisions for dairy cows
Corresponding author. Present address: Danish Institute of
concern the amount of concentrates to be fed and the
Agricultural Sciences, Research Centre Foulum, P.O. Box 50,
manner of their feeding. An important task in dairy
DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark. Tel.: 145-89-991-304; fax: 145-89-
herd management is to control the feed level or
991-500. E-mail address
: soren.ostergaardagrsci.dk S. Østergaard
energy intake,
by altering
the concentrate
to
0301-6226 00 – see front matter
2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. P I I : S 0 3 0 1 - 6 2 2 6 9 9 0 0 1 7 4 - 8
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S . Østergaard, Y.T. Grohn Livestock Production Science 65 2000 107 –118
roughage ratio in the feeds given to the cows. Energy complex into analyses of some underlying mecha-
is the nutrient for which intake is most closely nisms. Within homogenous feeding management
related to the level of milk production Bath, 1985 types, various feeding measures may be defined
and is, consequently, widely used in systems for independently of feed intake, such as the concentrate
predicting milk production Kaustell et al., 1997 to roughage ratio for cows fed a TMR. In this study,
and in relation to profitability in dairy herds Van- such measures were defined to be studied as potential
dehaar, 1998. Decisions relating to concentrate risk factors for diseases. By supplementing such
feeding also might affect metabolic and presumed analysis with an estimation of feed intake as a
feeding-related disorders Veenhuizen et al., 1991; disease specific function of day of diagnosis may
Geishauser, 1995; Gustafsson et al., 1995; Shaver, explain some of the ‘feeding–health’ complex. Con-
1997. Since, significant economic loss may be sequently, we addressed such analyses for decreased
associated with incidence of metabolic disorders rumen motility, enteritis, ketosis, and left-displaced
Kossaibati and Esslemont, 1997, the relationship abomasum LDA.
between feeding and diseases may be important for The purposes of this study were 1 to test
the production in a dairy herd. Unfortunately, the whether odds of metabolic disorders varied accord-
relationships between feeding of concentrates and ing to concentrate management in the early lactation,
metabolic disorders are poorly quantified — pre- and 2 to test whether metabolic disorders were
sumably because of the lack of detailed recording related to either DMI of concentrates fed separately
from the individual cow Østergaard and Sørensen, from roughages or total DMI, both, in the three
1998. weeks before and the 3 weeks after the clinical
Cows on the same diet including roughages ad diagnosis was made.
libitum, may differ in concentrate DMI and in concentrate to roughage ratio, due to variations in
feed preference, intake capacity, and presentation of
2. Materials and methods
