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. 1986 Jun 1;27(2):209–222. doi: 10.1186/BF03548165

An Epidemiological and Genetic Study on Registered Diseases in Finnish Ayrshire Cattle

III. Metabolic Diseases

En epidemiologisk och genetisk undersökning au sjukdomsdata från finsk Ayrshire boskap. III. Metaboliska sjukdomar

Yrjö Gröhn 16,26,✉, Hannu Saloniemi 16,26, Jouko Syväjärvi 16,26
PMCID: PMC8189371  PMID: 3799398

Abstract

The epidemiology of clinical ketosis, hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia was examined. In addition, the genetic variability of ketosis and parturient paresis was investigated. The data set consisted of the lactation records of 70,775 Finnish Ayrshire dairy cows. Each cow was under observation for 2 days before and for 305 days after calving. Lactation incidence rates (%) were: ketosis 6.0, parturient paresis 3.8, non-parturient paresis 0.6, hypomagnesaemic tetany, outdoor 0.6, and indoor 0.2. These diseases formed 22 % of all first treatments by veterinarians during farm visits. 92 % of the cases of ketosis occurred with 8 weeks of parturition, with the highest occurrence 3–5 weeks after calving. Four % of cases of parturient paresis occurred before, and 45 % within 24 h after calving. When cases were categorized by month of calving the risk of ketosis was higher during indoor feeding (October-April) than during outdoor feeding (May-September). The risk of parturient paresis did not significantly vary with month of calving. The occurrence of ketosis increased with parity up to the 4th and decreased thereafter. The occurrence of parturient paresis increased with parity. Both the increase in herd milk yield and the increase in individual milk yields were positively associated with the occurrence of ketosis and parturient paresis. The cows with a history of the reproductive tract infection had a higher risk of contracting ketosis. Heritability estimates for ketosis in various parity groups were from 1.6 % to 4.1 % on the binomial scale (corresponding to 7.3 %–14.4 % on the normal scale), and for parturient paresis from 3.5 to 10.5% (corresponding from 18.3 % to 27.4 %). The genetic correlation between ketosis and parturient paresis, and these and current milk production for all material were insignificant.

Keywords: disease documentation, heritability, ketosis, parturient paresis, nοn-parturient paresis, hypomagnesaemic tetany, dairy cows

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Pol. Lic. Juni Palmgren for advice on logistic regression, and the Agricultural Data Processing Centre for supplying computer facilities for statistical analysis.

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