Use of the Rumination Profile Through Collar Sensors for Mastitis Diagnosis in Dairy Cows

Authors

  • Ana Paula Schmidt Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Laura Valadão Vieira Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Antônio Amaral Barbosa Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Leonardo Marins Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Marcio Nunes Corrêa Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Francisco Augusto Burkert Del Pino Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Cássio Cassal Brauner Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Viviane Rohrig Rabassa Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Josiane de Oliveira Feijó Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
  • Eduardo Schmitt Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1900-3968

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22456/1679-9216.108269

Abstract

Background: Mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the mammary gland, mostly associated with bacterial infections. It is responsible for great economic losses due to decreased milk yield, discarded milk, milk composition alterations and treatment costs, besides it impairs the animal health and welfare. The rumination time is an important behavioral marker and its assessment can be used as an early diagnosis tool, which can improve cure rate. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity of behavior monitoring system collars in the diagnosis of mastitis and the average rumination time (RT) of Holstein cows during the healthy period and affected by the disease.

Materials, Methods & Results: The study was conducted on a commercial property located in the municipality of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The RT data from 39 multiparous Holstein cows with an average milk yield of 38.4 L/day was collected. RT monitoring was performed using C-Tech1 collars combined with CowMed® software, which assess behavior data from the animals and emits warning signals when it finds abnormalities in any parameter. In order to verify whether the animals were determined correlated with diseases, the sensitivity of the data was evaluated, when the system had given the alert to animals considered ill, they underwent to a further clinical evaluation performed by a veterinarian to confirm the diagnosis. From the diagnosis, the cows were divided into subclinical mastitis (SM) and clinical mastitis (CM) groups. SM was detected by the Californian Mastitis Test (CMT) and cows that were graded 1 (++), 2 (++) or 3 (+++) without the presence of any other clinical sign were assigned to the SM group. CM was assessed by observation of abnormalities in milk such as changes in color and consistency, as well as the presence of lumps, clots or blood; and clinical examination of the udder was performed for detection of hot, hard, swollen or painful quarters. Thereafter, variations in the mean RT between the healthy (15 days) and sick periods (days when there was an alert) were evaluated. For the identification of the etiological agents involved in the cases of CM, microbiological cultures were performed on Accumast® plates with milk samples, which were incubated at a temperature of 37°C and the diagnosis of the pathogens were performed after16 h of incubation. During the study, 57 cases of mastitis were observed, 42 were SM and 15 were CM. The sensitivity of the system, which is the ability to detect positive cases of the disease, was 73.8% for SM and 73.3% for MC. The RT of the animals were compared individually during the healthy period with the sick period and it was observed that SM reduced the RT by 5.33% whereas MC reduced the RT by 14.9%.

Discussion: The maximum RT values were lower during the disease period in relation to the period in which the animals were healthy, for both SM and CM, which is due to the fact that the disease is responsible for causing inappetence in animals, among other clinical signs, therefore, reducing feed consumption. The lowest variation in RT, between the healthy and sick period, was observed in cases of SM, which was already expected, since the clinical form tends to cause more discomfort to the animals. As for the main etiological agents involved in the clinical condition, Streptococcus agalactiae and S. uberis were detected. In view of the above, the evaluation of the mean RT of multiparous dairy cows was efficient in the predictive diagnosis of SM and CM up to 2 days before the onset of the disease. In addition, the variability of this result demonstrated that animals with subclinical cases presented less fluctuation in RT.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Ana Paula Schmidt, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Laura Valadão Vieira, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Antônio Amaral Barbosa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Leonardo Marins, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Marcio Nunes Corrêa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Francisco Augusto Burkert Del Pino, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Cássio Cassal Brauner, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Viviane Rohrig Rabassa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Josiane de Oliveira Feijó, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

Eduardo Schmitt, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia (PPGZ), Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel (FAEM), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.

 What do you want to do ?New mailCopy

References

Bingham O.C. 2002. The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis: pivotal citokynes involved in bone degradation and inflammation. The Journal of Rheumatology. 65(29): 3-9.

Beauchemin A.K. 2018. Invited review: Current perspectives on eating and rumination activity in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science. 101(6): 4762-4784. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13706.

Côrtes J.A. 1993. Epidemiologia: Conceitos e Princípios Fundamentais. São Paulo: Livraria Varela, pp.133-138.

De Boever J.L., Andries J.I., De Brabander D.L., Cottyn B.G. & Buysse F.X. 1990. Chewing activity of ruminants as a measure of physical structure - A review of factors affecting it. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 27(4): 281-291. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8401(90)90143-V.

Demeu F.A., Lopes M.A., Costa G.M., Rocha C.M.B.M. & dos Santos G. 2016. Efeito da produtividade diária de leite no impacto econômico da mastite em rebanhos bovinos. Boletim de Indústria Animal. 73(1): 53-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.17523/bia.v73n1p53.

Fitzpatrick C.E., Chapinal N., Petersson-Wolfe C.S., DeVries T.J., Kelton D.F., Duffield T.F. & Leslie K.E. 2013. The effect of meloxicam on pain sensitivity, rumination time, and clinical signs in dairy cows with endotoxin-induced clinical mastitis. Journal of Dairy Science. 96(5): 2847-2856. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2012-5855.

Gáspárdy A., Efrat G., Bajcsy A.C. & Fekete S.G. 2014. Electronic monitoring of rumination activity as an indicator of health status and production traits in high-yielding dairy cows. Acta Veterinaria Hungarica. 62(4): 452-462. https://doi.org/10.1556/avet.2014.026.

Kunkel E.J. & Butcher E.C. 2002. Chemokines and the tissue-specific migration of lymphocytes. Immunity. 16(1): 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1074-7613(01)00261-8.

Keefe G.P. 2012. Update on control of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae for management of mastitis. The Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice. 28(2): 203-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvfa.2012.03.010.

Kaufman E.I., Leblanc S.J.B., Mcbride W.T. & DeVries T.J. 2016. Association of rumination time with subclinical ketosis in transition dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science. 99(7): 5604-5618. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2015-10509.

King M.T.M., Dancy K.M., LeBlanc S.J., Pajor E.A. & DeVries T.J. 2017. Deviations in behavior and productivity data before diagnosis of health disorders in cows milked with an automated system. Journal of Dairy Science. 100(10): 8358-8371. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-12723.

King M.T.M., LeBlanc S.J., Pajor E.A., Wright T.C. & DeVries T.J. 2018. Behavior and productivity of cows milked in automated systems before diagnosis of health disorders in early lactation. Journal of Dairy Science. 101(5): 4343-4356. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13686.

Langoni H. 2013. Qualidade do leite: utopia sem um programa sério de monitoramento da ocorrência de mastite bovina. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira. 33(5): 620-626.

Langoni H., Guiduce M.V.S., Nóbrega D.B., Silva R.C.D., Richini-Pereira V.B., Salina A. & Guimarães F.D.F. 2013. Research of Klebsiella pneumoniae in dairy herds. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira. 35(1): 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-736X2015000100003.

Liboreiro D.N., Machado K.S., Silva P.R., Maturana M.M., Nishimura T.K., Brandão A.P., Endres M.I. & Chebel R.C. 2015. Characterization of peripartum rumination and activity of cows diagnosed with metabolic and uterine diseases. Journal of Dairy Science. 98(10): 6812-6827. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2014-8947.

Lopes M.A., Demeu F.A., Rocha C.M.B.M., Costa G.M., Franco Neto A. & Santos G.D. 2012. Avaliação do impacto econômico da mastite em rebanhos bovinos leiteiros. Arquivos do Instituto Biológico. 79(4): 477-483. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1808-16572012000400003.

Lopes B.C., Manzi M.P. & Langoni H. 2018. Etiologia das mastites: pesquisa de micro-organismos da classe Mollicutes. Veterinária e Zootecnia. 25(2): 173-179.

Müller R. & Schrader L.A. 2003. New method to measure behavioural activity levels in dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 83(4): 247-258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(03)00141-2.

Olde Riekerink R.G.M., Barkema H.W., Kelton D.F. & Scholl D.T. 2008. Incidence rate of clinical mastitis on Canadian dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science. 91(4): 1366-1377. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2007-0757.

Paudyal S., Maunsell F.P., Richeson J.T., Risco C.A., Donovan D.A. & Pinedo P.J. 2018. Rumination time and monitoring of health disorders during early lactation. Animal. 12(7): 1484-1492. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731117002932.

Petzer I.M., Etter E.M., Donkin E.F., Webb E.C. & Karzis J. 2017. Epidemiological and partial budget analysis for treatment of subclinical Staphylococcus aureus intramammary infections considering microbiological and cytological scenarios. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 148: 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2017.10.005.

Raeburn C.D., Sheppard F., Barsness K.A., Arya J. & Harken A.H. 2002. Cytokines for surgeons. The American Journal of Surgery. 183(3): 268-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9610(02)00781-X.

Reis E.M.B. & Lopes M.A. 2014. Métodos automatizados de diagnóstico de mastite em vacas leiteiras: uma revisão. Arquivos de Ciências Veterinária e Zoologia da UNIPAR. 17(3): 199-208. https://doi.org/10.25110/arqvet.v17i3.2014.4945.

Rodrigues T.P., Coelho M.G., Santos A.P., Costa I.S. & Cortez M.A.S. 2018. Bovine Mastitis- Influence in the Production, Composition and Industrial yield of Milk and Dairy products. Arquivos de Pesquisa Animal. 1(1): 14-36.

Scott P.R., Penny C.D. & Macrae A.I. 2011. Mastitis and teat Diseases. In: Cattle Medicine. London: Manson Publishing, pp.216-218.

Soriani N., Trevisi E. & Calamari L. 2012. Relationships between rumination time, metabolic conditions, and health status in dairy cows during the transition period. Journal of Animal Science. 90(12): 4544-4554.

Schirmann K., Weary D.M., Heuwieser W.N., Chapinal R.L.A., Cerri M.A.G. & Von Keyserlingk M.A.G. 2016. Short communication: Rumination and feeding behaviors differ between healthy and sick dairy cows during the transition period. Journal of Dairy Science. 99(12): 9917-9924. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2015-10548.

Stangaferro M.L., Wijma R., Caixeta L.S., Al-Abri M.A. & Giordano J.O. 2016. Use of rumination and activity monitoring for the identification of dairy cows with health disorders: Part III. Metritis. Journal of Dairy Science. 99(9): 7422-7433. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-11352.

Watt L.J., Clark C.E.F., Krebs G.L., Petzel C.E., Nielsen S. & Utsumi S.A. 2015. Differential rumination, intake, and enteric methane production of dairy cows in a pasture-based automatic milking system. Journal of Dairy Science. 98(10): 7248-7263. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2015-9463.

White R.R., Hall M.B., Firkins J.L. & Kononoff P.J. 2017. Physically adjusted neutral detergent fiber system for lactating dairy cow rations. I: Deriving equations that identify factors that influence effectiveness of fiber. Journal of Dairy Science. 100(12): 9551-9568. ttps://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-12765.

Published

2021-01-01

How to Cite

Schmidt, A. P., Vieira, L. V., Barbosa, A. A., Marins, L., Corrêa, M. N., Del Pino, F. A. B., Brauner, C. C., Rabassa, V. R., Feijó, J. de O., & Schmitt, E. (2021). Use of the Rumination Profile Through Collar Sensors for Mastitis Diagnosis in Dairy Cows. Acta Scientiae Veterinariae, 49. https://doi.org/10.22456/1679-9216.108269

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>