Energy deficiency or chronic ketosis in prepartum breeding cows
In order to describe a frequent syndrome in large livestock areas, characterized by weight loss and falls in prepartum cows, a trial involving two treatments during the last third of gestation was designed. One batch of cows received poor feeding (5% crude protein, CP; and 49% digestibility of dry matter, DMS) and another sufficient (12% CP; and 60% DMS, supplemented with bone ash and salt). The undernourished cows suffered a weight loss of about 7% and a decrease in body condition from 3 to 2. After the first dystocic calving and fall of a cow in this group occurred, the trial was suspended. No variations were observed in blood serum Ca, P, and Mg levels, but urinary composition differed greatly between groups. Throughout the trial, the normal feeding group maintained urinary pH values = 8; density = 1,005; Ca, 4 and Mg 1.5 mg / dL; and absence of ketone bodies. In contrast, the undernourished group lowered their urinary pH to 6.5 and increased density to 1.014, Ca to 27.6, and Mg to 9.88 mg / dL. Ketone bodies appeared at levels of 5 mg / dL, 60 days before parturition and rose to 15 and 100 mg / dL 30 days before parturition and in the vicinity of it, respectively. This clinical and biochemical picture is proposed as characteristic of antepartum ketosis in cattle. The analysis of the urine allows to differentiate this syndrome from others that induce downed cows.
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | spa |
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Asociacion Latinoamericana de Produccion Animal
1996
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.alpa.uy/index.php/ojs_files/article/view/2958 |
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