Metabolic profiles in early postpartum cows: results from a routine veterinary laboratory
Saskia van der Drift*, Ant Koopmans, Laurie Bruinsma, and Deon van der Merwe Royal GD, Arnsbergstraat 7, 7418 EZ Deventer, The Netherlands
* Presenting author
Aim of the study
Metabolic profiling of early postpartum cows is used to assess the occurrence of metabolic diseases and to evaluate transition management in a dairy herd. The objective of this research was to present results from two years of testing metabolic parameters in early postpartum cows based on samples submitted to a routine veterinary laboratory.
Materials & Methods
• In the Netherlands, veterinarians can submit serum samples from early postpartum cows to the veterinary laboratory of Royal GD (Deventer, the Netherlands) for analysis of a specific set of metabolic parameters.
• These metabolic parameters include non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), phosphate (P), and urea, which are analyzed on clinical-chemistry analyzers using enzymatic or colorimetric methods.
• The following results between January 2022 and December 2023 were selected from the laboratory database: 1) submissions consisting of three or more samples per farm (herd screening) 2) submissions consisting of a single sample per farm (individual cases)
• The dataset contained 628 cow records from 131 separate herd submissions and 110 cow records from individual submissions (Figure 1).
• Cut-off values for NEFA, BHBA (subclinical ketosis), Ca (hypocalcemia), P (hypophosphatemia), and Mg (hypomagnesemia) were based on earlier studies. Urea results were evaluated against the reference interval of the laboratory.
• Descriptive statistics were performed using Statistix Version 8.0.
Results
• Descriptive statistics for metabolic parameters based on herd submissions (3 to 14 samples per farm) or individually submitted samples are shown in Table 1.
• The proportion of results outside the cut-off value for each metabolic parameter is shown for herd screening samples and individual samples in Table 1 and Figure 2.
Conclusions
• Metabolic profiling of early postpartum cows is useful for herd screening purposes and for diagnostic purposes in individual cows; results of metabolic serum parameters should be evaluated accordingly.
• The generally higher incidence of results outside the cut-off values observed in individual animal samples is probably because individual submissions are typically from animals with health problems.
Herd screening
Early postpartum cow samples submitted between Jan 22 – Dec 23
Figure 1. Design of the study
Analysis of metabolic parameters
Individual cases
Data analysis
Herd screening: n = 628 (113 farms) Individual cases: n = 110
Table 1: Descriptive statistics for concentrations of NEFA, BHBA, calcium (Ca), phosphate (P), magnesium (Mg), and urea in serum of 628 cows from 131 herds (submissions for herd screening purposes consisting of ≥3 samples per farm) and in serum of 110 cows from individual submissions (individual cases) based on samples from early postpartum cows sent to the laboratory of Royal GD from January 2022 to December 2023, including cut-off values and proportion of results outside the cut-offs.
% Results outside cut-off value
NEFA ( ≥ 0.60 mmol/L)
BHBA ( ≥ 1.20 mmol/L)
Ca ( ≤ 2.10 mmol/L)
P (<1.20 mmol/L)
Mg ( ≤ 0.78 mmol/L)
Urea (<2.6 mmol/L)
Urea (>6.3 mmol/L)
Herd screening Individual cases
Figure 2: Percentage of results outside the cut-off value for several metabolic parameters in serum of 628 cows from 131 herds (submissions for herd screening purposes consisting of ≥3 samples per farm; green bars) and in serum of 110 cows from individual submissions (individual cases; blue bars) based on samples from early postpartum cows sent to the laboratory of Royal GD from January 2022 to December 2023.
