Effect of postpartum metritis on production and health of dairy cows of Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces

Effect of postpartum metritis on production and health of dairy cows of Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19137/

Keywords:

Dairy cow, Metritis, Healt, Reproduction

Abstract

In order to investigate the consequences of metritis post-partum on dairy cattle´s productive and reproductive efficiency, health, and culling or death, records from the software of 6 dairy farms located in the provinces of Córdoba and Entre Ríos were studied. Two randomly chosen groups of 478 cows were compared: cows with metritis (PMG) and healthy control cows without metritis (HCG). Milk liters at 305 days (L/305), total milk production (TML), days in milk (DIM), open days (OD), insemination number (IN), calving intervals (CI), number of health disorders (HD) and culled, death or involuntary slaughtered cows were recorded. The parameters were taken in the lactation (FL) in which the metritis occurred in PMG or not in HCG, and in their corresponding subsequent lactations (LL) of the two groups. For the analysis of the variables, a generalized mixed linear model and the chi-square test and the Odds Ratio (OR) were used. Differences were found in FL (p<0.005) and LL (p<0.009) in L/305 production respectively, between the PMG (10584.2 l and 9917.5 l) and HCG (11296.8 l and 10840.8 l) groups. Regarding TML, in FL there were no significant differences (p<0.27) between groups, but in LL the TML was higher (p<0.005) in the HCG cows than in PMG. In the FL lactation, the OD, IN and CI of the HCG exceeded (p<0.001) those of PMG, but only a higher (p<0.02) PMG IN than HCG was found in LL. During the FL, infertility problems (p<0.001), abortions (p<0.001), mastitis (p<0.002) and ovarian cysts (p<0.002) were higher in PMG than in the HCG. In the LL, the number of cows with metritis (23,5 %) was higher (p<0.001) in the PMG than those in HCG (13.6 %). In the FL and LL, a greater number of cows (p<0.001) in the PMG had a higher probability of being culled or dead than those in the HCG, FL: OR= 5.34, CI 3.5 - 8.15 and LL: OR= 2.35, CI 1.73 - 3.18. The present study shows the damage caused by post-partum metritis on productive, reproductive and health indices of Argentinian´s dairy farms

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Published

2026-09-25

Issue

Section

Artículos de Investigación

How to Cite

Effect of postpartum metritis on production and health of dairy cows of Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces: Effect of postpartum metritis on production and health of dairy cows of Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces. (2026). Veterinary Science, 28, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.19137/