Assessment of nutrition in dairy herds: Use of metabolic profiles

Between April 2006 and March 2011, the Dairy Herd Health and Productivity Service at the University of Edinburgh performed 2,980 metabolic profile tests from 1,203 separate farms throughout the UK on samples received from 42,734 individual cows. The results showed that 30% of cows in the first 50 days of lactation had 13-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB) levels greater than 1.0 mmol/l. 27% of cows.,in the last 10 days pre-calving had non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) values over 0.4 mmol/l, and 47% of cows had NEFA values over 0.7 mmol/l in the first 20 days of lactation. Recent research studies have shown that such elevated BOHB and NEFA results are associated with transition cow health problems, reduced milk production and fertility problems. However 30% of cows sampled within 10 days of calving and the first 20 days of lactation had normal energy parameters. In contrast, cows with low urea-N results (30% of samples) and poor mineral status (less than 10% of samples) were much less common. Metabolic profile blood testing can be used for the rapid identification of nutritional constraints, allowing them to be corrected before harmful effects on cow health and productivity occur.