Abstract #M291

# M291
Differences in rumination time, lying time, and rectal temperature between cows with and without metritis, ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia.
I. C. Tsai*1, L. M. Mayo1, A. E. Stone1, B. A. Wadsworth1, J. M. Bewley1, 1University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.

The objective of this study, conducted at the University of Kentucky Coldstream Dairy from June 2014 to January 2015, was to quantify differences in rumination time, lying time, and rectal temperature between cows with and without metritis, ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Precision dairy farming technologies used for these measurements included: SensOor (Agis Automatisering, Harmelen, the Netherlands) which measured ear movement, feeding time, rumination time, and ear skin temperature; Track-a-Cow (ENGS, Hampshire, UK) which measured lying time and time at the feed bunk; and Precision Xtra (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois) which measured blood β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA). Ten days before due date, technologies were assigned to cows. Blood serum samples were collected on 3, 7, 14, and 21 DIM and sent to the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for calcium analysis. The GLM procedure of SAS (Version 9.3, Cary, NC) was used to evaluate factors affecting metritis, ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Mean rumination time, lying time, and rumen temperature were calculated for the first 21 DIM. Average lying time percent for cows with subclinical hypocalcemia (63% ± 8%) was greater than for cows without subclinical hypocalcemia (57% ± 9%; P < 0.002). Average rectal temperature of metritis cows (39.13 ± 0.22) was higher than for cows without metritis (37.75 ± 0.29; P ≤ 0.05). No differences in rumination time were observed between cows with or without metritis, ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Precision dairy farming technologies could be useful for detecting metritis, ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia.

Key Words: transition period, metabolic disease, precision dairy farming technology