Body condition loss in early lactation

InCalf's messages

The InCalf Book recommends monitoring body condition loss in early lactation. Some body condition loss in early lactation is normal but excessive loss will reduce reproductive performance substantially.
No more than 15% of the herd should lose more than one body condition score in early lactation and the average decrease in body condition score after calving should be less than 0.6. Specific recommendations to achieve these targets are detailed in the book. See pages 61-64 and 68-75 of The InCalf Book.

Body condition scoring has limitations – it isn’t practical to do every day, week or month and small changes in body condition over a short period are very difficult to detect. The InCalf Book therefore recommends seven quick checks to monitor herd nutrition and ensure that no undesirable body condition score losses are occurring.

What the current scientific literature says

Large negative energy balances and excessive body condition loss in the first 4-6 weeks of lactation reduce reproductive performance by delaying first insemination and reducing conception rates.

There are widespread concerns about effects of inadequate nutrition and energy imbalances in high-yielding dairy cows (Beam et al 1999; Butler 2000; Beever et al 2001; Lucy 2001). Despite this, remarkably few published studies have investigated associations between energy balance or body condition loss in early lactation and primary reproductive performance measures using substantial numbers of cows managed under commercial conditions. Calving to conception or intercalving intervals were not associated with body condition change in three studies (Jones and Garnsworthy 1988; Pedron et al 1993; Ruegg and Milton 1995) but other studies have found that extensive body condition loss was associated with prolonged intervals (Garnsworthy and Topps 1982; Ruegg et al 1992; Gillund et al 2001; Pryce et al 2001). Some of these associations were based on small numbers of cows but trends were consistent. Using meta analysis of results from five studies, body condition losses of more than 1 body condition score (1-5 scale) were associated with prolongation of calving to conception or intercalving intervals by 11 days (Lopez-Gatius et al 2003). Cows losing over 10% of body weight also have prolonged calving to conception intervals (Heinonen et al 1988).

Increased body condition loss occurs in association with high genetic merit (Buckley et al 2000; Pryce et al 2001; Snijders et al 2001) and cows with high proportions of Holstein-Friesian genes were thinner at the end of lactation (Kolver et al 2000). Accordingly, in observational studies, effects of body condition loss per se may be confounded by genetic differences. However in two studies, body condition loss remained associated with time to conception after adjusting for both genetic merit and strain (proportion of North American Holstein genes) (Pryce et al 2001; Buckley et al 2003).

Cows that do not conceive are excluded from these analyses, potentially weakening observed associations. Survival analysis makes better use of data as all cows including those that do not conceive contribute to the analysis. Using this technique and adjusting for milk yield, body condition loss has also been associated with delayed conception (Suriyasathaporn et al 1998).

Reduced reproductive performance due to excessive body condition loss appears to be due to both delayed first service and lower conception rates. Prolonged intervals from calving to first service have been observed amongst cows losing excessive body condition in most (Butler and Smith 1989; Suriyasathaporn et al 1998; Pryce et al 2001) but not all (Gillund et al 2001) studies. Excessive body condition loss has also been associated with reduced conception rates (Gearhart et al 1988; Butler and Smith 1989; Domecq et al 1997; Loeffler et al 1999; Gillund et al 2001; Pryce et al 2001; Dillon et al 2003; Lopez-Gatius et al 2003) and increased embryonic mortality rates (Silke et al 2002).

Reduced reproductive performance in cows that lose excessive body condition is likely to be due, in part, to effects of energy balance in early lactation. Body condition loss is greatest in early lactation when energy balance is most negative (Ferguson 1991). Energy balance nadir (the most severe daily energy deficit) and rate of recovery from this are associated with time to conception (Reist et al 2003). Less negative nadir and more rapid recovery were associated with reduced intervals to conception. The strong association between milk protein concentration and reproductive performance reported in the InCalf research is likely to be at least partly due to effects of energy balance. Milk protein concentration around 2-3 months after calving is associated with better (ie less negative) energy balance (Grieve et al 1986; Garvin 1999) and is negatively associated with blood ketone concentrations (Gravert et al 1986; Miettinen and Setala 1993; Duffield et al 1997) and serum non-esterified fatty acid concentrations (Garvin 1999).

Current hypothesised mechanisms for effects of excessive negative energy balance and associated body condition loss on reproductive performance have been reviewed (Beam et al 1999; Butler 2000; Jorritsma et al 2003). The interval from calving to first ovulation was not related to the extent of negative energy balance in early lactation in several studies (Villa-Godoy et al 1988; Harrison et al 1990; Spicer et al 1990; Reist et al 2003). However in other studies, first post partum ovulation was delayed in cows that experience more severe daily energy deficits (Butler et al 1981; Senatore et al 1996; de Vries and Veerkamp 2000), greater body weight loss (Jonsson et al 1997) or greater body condition loss (Butler and Smith 1989; Reist et al 2000) in early lactation, or where energy balance nadir occurred later after calving (Canfield et al 1990; Canfield and Butler 1991; Zurek et al 1995). Elevated ketone concentrations soon after calving have also been associated with delayed onset of ovulation (Verkerk and Guiney 1999; Reist et al 2000) and time to conception (Francos et al 1997). In some circumstances, delayed onset of ovulation may result in delayed first service (Butler and Smith 1989) and hence delayed conception.

Effects of energy balance in early lactation on subsequent oestrus expression are less clear. Cows that lost excessive weight in early lactation had similar numbers of mounts to other cows when subsequently observed in oestrus but oestrus was shorter (Pennington et al 1986). Subsequent work found that cows in lower average energy balance in early lactation were less likely to exhibit oestrus at first post partum ovulation, relative to those in higher energy balance (Spicer et al 1990). However similar proportions of cows exhibited oestrus signs at second ovulation (Spicer et al 1990). In other work, although higher producing (Harrison et al 1989) and higher genetic merit (Harrison et al 1990) cows were less likely to be detected in oestrus than lower producers at the first few postpartum ovulations, energy balance in the first 1-2 weeks of lactation was not associated with time from calving to first observed oestrus nor to likelihood of oestrus detection amongst ovulating cows (Villa-Godoy et al 1988).

Mechanisms for effects of excessive negative energy balance in early lactation on conception rates are also poorly understood (Beam et al 1999; Butler 2000; Jorritsma et al 2003). Delayed first ovulation has been associated with reduced conception rates in most (Lucy et al 1992; Darwash et al 1997) but not all (Staples et al 1990) studies. Delayed onset of cycling post partum can result in less ovulations before first service, and cows that have one or more ovulations before first service have higher conception rates to that service (Thatcher and Wilcox 1973; Stevenson and Call 1983; Senatore et al 1996), even after accounting for increased time from calving to service (Macmillan and Clayton 1980). However extremely early post partum ovulation (elevated progesterone concentrations before day 21) is associated with reduced conception rates following services from 42 days after calving (Smith and Wallace 1998). After adjusting for both days to first ovulation and number of pre-service ovulations, energy balance was still negatively associated with conception rates (Senatore et al 1996), suggesting additional mechanisms are occurring. Abnormal ovarian function amongst cows in negative energy balance in early lactation may be mediated by insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), including IGF-1 (Taylor et al 2000). Excessive body condition loss in early lactation has also been associated with increased risk of early pregnancy loss (Lopez-Gatius et al 2002).

Excessive body condition loss during the dry period is also associated with increased incidences of retained foetal membranes and metritis (Kim and Suh 2003). Effects on primary measures of reproductive performance were not reported but these diseases are strongly associated with reduced reproductive performance.

Studies are required to identify dietary manipulations that reduce negative energy balance in early lactation and increase reproductive performance. Various diets both before and after calving did not have large effects on time to conception (McNamara et al 2003; Pushpakumara et al 2003) even though increased supplementation with concentrates from calving reduced negative energy balance (McNamara et al 2003). These studies had low statistical power for detecting effects on time to conception.

Compiled by Dr John Morton

References
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