Assessment of the effects of intrauterine dextrose infusion on clinical cure rate, daily milk yield, and daily rumination in postpartum dairy cows diagnosed with clinical metritis.
J. Hamilton
Abstract:
M6
Assessment of the effects of intrauterine dextrose infusion on clinical cure rate, daily milk yield, and daily rumination in postpartum dairy cows diagnosed with clinical metritis.
J. Hamilton*1, A. A. Barragan1, E. Hovingh1, L. Byler1, M. Martinez1, S. Bas2, J. Zug3, S. Haan3. 1Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Penn State University University Park, PA, 2Phytobiotics Futterzusatzstoffe GmbH Bvd Villa Maria, C�rdoba, Argentina, 3Zugstead Farm Mifflintown, PA.
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of intrauterine dextrose (50%) infusion on clinical cure rate, daily milk yield and daily rumination time in dairy cows diagnosed with clinical metritis (CM). Cows (n = 351) from a dairy farm located in Pennsylvania were screened at 7 � 3 DIM using a Metricheck device to assess vaginal discharge. Cows that presented a fetid red-brownish watery vaginal discharge (n = 53) were classified as CM cows, blocked by parity and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: 1) CONV (n = 27): 2 injectable (SC) administrations of ceftiofur (6.6 mg/kg; Excede, Zoetis Inc.) 72 h apart; and 2) DEX (n = 26): 3 intrauterine infusions of dextrose (50%; 1 L/cow) 24 h apart. Furthermore, cows that presented a normal vaginal discharge at 7 � 3 DIM (i.e., dense clear discharge; healthy group; HLT; n = 27) were randomly selected and matched by parity to CONV and DEX cows. Cows were re-screened at 14 � 3 DIM and 21 � 3 DIM to assess clinical cure rate. Daily milk yield and rumination time data for the first 150 DIM were collected from on-farm computer records (SCR Dairy, Netanya, Israel). The data were analyzed using the MIXED and GLIMMIX procedures of SAS as a randomized complete block design. There was no difference in clinical cure rate at 14 � 3 DIM (CONV = 50.27 � 12.49%; DEX = 45.9 � 12.37%) and 21 � 3 DIM (CONV = 88.05 � 6.59%; DEX = 88.51 � 6.35%) between CONV and DEX groups. Overall, cows in the CONV and HLT groups tended to produce 3.41 kg/d and 3.71 kg/d more milk, respectively, compared with cows in the DEX group during the first 150 DIM (CONV = 43.46 � 1.22 kg/d; DEX = 40.04 � 1.18 kg/d; HLT = 43.75 � 1.20 kg/d). There was no difference in daily rumination time during the first 150 DIM between study groups (CONV = 564.29 � 8.21 min/d; DEX = 542.29 � 8.09 min/d; HLT = 553.94 � 7.98 min/d). The results from this study suggest that although intrauterine infusion of dextrose may achieve similar clinical cure rates as a conventional antibiotic treatment, the treatment may not be as effective at restoring milk production in CM cows.
Keywords: clinical metritis, intrauterine dextrose, milk yield.