Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2025, 70(12):528-537 | DOI: 10.17221/122/2025-CJAS

Impact of puerperal disorders on early culling and milk production in Slovak Spotted dairy cowsOriginal Paper

Karolína Pálešová ORCID...1, Jozef Bujko ORCID...1, Nina Moravčíková ORCID...1, Hana Vostrá-Vydrová ORCID...2, Adrián Halvoník ORCID...1, Luboš Vostrý ORCID...2, Radovan Kasarda ORCID...1
1 Institute of Nutrition and Genomics, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
2 Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Puerperal diseases are major postpartum complications in dairy cattle and may compromise both survival and production performance. This study evaluated how specific puerperal diseases influence early culling risk and standardised 305-day milk traits in Slovak Spotted cows. A total of 792 animals were clinically assessed during early postpartum and classified as healthy or affected by ketosis, metritis, retained foetal membranes, parturient paresis, or by comorbid diseases, defined as the concurrent occurrence of two or more disorders. Logistic regression models indicated that ketosis was associated with the highest odds of culling compared with healthy cows (odds ratio = 2.23; P = 0.05). The multivariable model had a predictive discrimination of 0.75, as indicated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, suggesting moderate performance. After excluding the cows culled during the puerperium to avoid bias from incomplete lactation data, the dataset was restricted to 546 animals. Within this group, metritis was associated with the lowest 305-day milk yield, with an average decrease of 1 124 kg compared with healthy cows (P < 0.05). Protein content was slightly lower in cows affected by puerperal disease (P < 0.05), with no significant differences in milk yield, fat or lactose content, nor lactation persistency index. Parity and sire line still remained the primary determinants of variation in milk traits. The results can be used to support decision-making in herd health management and genetic improvement strategies aimed at enhancing cow longevity and production efficiency.

Keywords: cattle; dairy performance; lactation; postpartum; reproduction

Received: August 15, 2025; Accepted: December 4, 2025; Published: December 30, 2025  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Pálešová K, Bujko J, Moravčíková N, Vostrá-Vydrová H, Halvoník A, Vostrý L, Kasarda R. Impact of puerperal disorders on early culling and milk production in Slovak Spotted dairy cows. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2025;70(12):528-537. doi: 10.17221/122/2025-CJAS.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    Supplementary files:

    Download file122-2025-CJAS_ESM_final.pdf

    File size: 536.41 kB

    References

    1. Bicalho MLS, Santin T, Rodrigues MX, Marques CE, Lima SF, Bicalho RC. Dynamics of the microbiota found in the vaginas of dairy cows during the transition period: Associations with uterine diseases and reproductive outcome. J Dairy Sci. 2017 Apr;100(4):3043-58. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Bondan C, Folchini JA, Guimaraes L, Noro M, Zanella R, Alves LP, Fontanelli RS, Gonzalez F. Milk yield and composition in dairy cows with post-partum disorders. Arq Bras Med Vet Zootec. 2021 May;73(3):639-46. Go to original source...
    3. Cainzos JM, Andreu C, Guadagnini M, Rijpert-Duvivier A, Duffield T. A systematic review of the cost of ketosis in dairy cattle. J Dairy Sci. 2022 Jul;105(7):6175-95. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Carvalho MR, Penagaricano F, Santos JEP, DeVries TJ, McBride BW, Ribeiro ES. Long-term effects of postpartum clinical disease on milk production, reproduction, and culling of dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2019 Dec;102(12):11701-17. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Dubuc J, Duffield T, Leslie K, Walton J, LeBlanc S. Risk factors for postpartum uterine diseases in dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2010 Dec;93(12):5764-71. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Dubuc J, Denis-Robichaud J. A dairy herd-level study of postpartum diseases and their association with reproductive performance and culling. J Dairy Sci. 2017 Apr;100(4):3068-78. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Espiritu HM, Faruk M, Lee HW, Pioquinto J, Lee SS, Cho YI. Subclinical hypocalcemia across lactation stages reflects potential metabolic vulnerability in Korean Holstein cows. Vet Sci. 2025 May 19;12(5):495. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Figueiredo CC, Merenda VR, de Oliveira EB, Lima FS, Chebel RC, Galvao KN, Santos JEP, Bisinotto RS. Failure of clinical cure in dairy cows treated for metritis is associated with reduced productive and reproductive performance. J Dairy Sci. 2021 Jun;104(6):7056-70. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Ghasemi A, Zahediasl S. Normality tests for statistical analysis: A guide for non-statisticians. Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Apr 20;10(2):486-9. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Gilbert RO. Management of reproductive disease in dairy cows. Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract. 2016 Jul;32(2):387-410. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Ha S, Kang S, Han M, Lee J, Kim H, Park S. Predicting ketosis during the transition period in Holstein Friesian cows using hematological and serum biochemical parameters on the calving date. Sci Rep. 2022 Jan 17;12(1):853. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Huang Y, Zhang B, Mauck J, Loor JJ, Wei B, Shen B, Wang Y, Zhao C, Zhu X, Wang J. Plasma and milk metabolomics profiles in dairy cows with subclinical and clinical ketosis. J Dairy Sci. 2024 Aug;107(8):6340-57. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Lean I, Golder H, LeBlanc S, Duffield T, Santos J. Increased parity is negatively associated with survival and reproduction in different production systems. J Dairy Sci. 2023 Mar;106(3):2167-72. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. LeBlanc S. Review: Relationships between metabolism and neutrophil function in dairy cows in the peripartum period. Animal. 2020 Mar;14(Suppl_1):44-54. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Mann S, McArt J, Abuelo A. Production-related metabolic disorders of cattle: Ketosis, milk fever and grass staggers. In Pract. 2019 May;41(5):205-19. Go to original source...
    16. Molina-Coto RE, Lucy MC. Uterine inflammation affects the reproductive performance of dairy cows: A review. Agron Mesoam. 2018 May-Aug;29(2):449-68. Go to original source...
    17. Pedregosa F, Varoquaux G, Gramfort A, Michel V, Thirion B, Grisel O, Blondel M, Prettenhofer P, Weiss R, Dubourg V, Vanderplas J, Passos A, Cournapeau D, Brucher M, Perrot M, Duchesnay E. Scikit-learn: Machine learning in Python. J Mach Learn Res. 2011 Oct;12:2825-30.
    18. Piccardi M, Romero G, Veneranda G, Castello E, Romero D, Balzarini M, Bo GA. Effect of puerperal metritis on reproductive and productive performance in dairy cows in Argentina. Theriogenology. 2016 Mar 15;85(5):887-93. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. Ribeiro ES, Gomes G, Greco LF, Cerri RLA, Vieira-Neto A, Monteiro PLJ Jr, Lima FS, Bisinotto RS, Thatcher WW, Santos JEP. Carryover effect of postpartum inflammatory diseases on developmental biology and fertility in lactating dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2016 Mar;99(3):2201-20. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    20. Rilanto T, Reimus K, Orro T, Emanuelson U, Viltrop A, Motus K. Culling reasons and risk factors in Estonian dairy cows. BMC Vet Res. 2020 Jun 1;16(1):173. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Santschi DE, Lacroix R, Durocher J, Duplessis M, Moore RK, Lefebvre DM. Prevalence of elevated milk beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations in Holstein cows measured by Fourier-transform infrared analysis in Dairy Herd Improvement milk samples and association with milk yield and components. J Dairy Sci. 2016 Nov;99(11):9263-70. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Schneider H, Segelke D, Tetens J, Thaller G, Bennewitz J. A genomic assessment of the correlation between milk production traits and claw and udder health traits in Holstein dairy cattle. J Dairy Sci. 2023 Feb;106(2):1190-205. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Seabold S, Perktold J. Statsmodels: Econometric and statistical modeling with Python. In: van der Walt S, Millman J, editors. Proceedings of the 9th Python in Science Conference; 2010 Jun 28 - Jul 3; Austin, TX. 2010. p. 92-6. Go to original source...
    24. Sepulveda-Varas P, Weary DM, Noro M, Keyserlingk MAG. Transition diseases in grazing dairy cows are related to serum cholesterol and other analytes. PLoS One. 2015 Mar 25;10(3):e0122317. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    25. Sheldon I, Owens S. Postpartum uterine infection and endometritis in dairy cattle. Anim Reprod. 2017 Jul-Sep;14(3):622-9. Go to original source...
    26. Song Y, Loor JJ, Li C, Liang Y, Li N, Shu X, Yang Y, Feng X, Du X, Wang Z, Liu G, Li X. Enhanced mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the mammary gland of cows with clinical ketosis. J Dairy Sci. 2021 Jun;104(7):6909-18. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    27. Tufarelli V, Puvaca N, Glamocic D, Pugliese G, Colonna MA. The most important metabolic diseases in dairy cattle during the transition period. Animals (Basel). 2024 Mar 6;14(5):816. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    28. Vergara CF, Dopfer D, Cook NB, Nordlund KV, McArt JA, Nydam DV, Oetzel GR. Risk factors for postpartum problems in dairy cows: Explanatory and predictive modelling. J Dairy Sci. 2014 Jul;97(7):4127-40. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    29. Virtanen P, Gommers R, Oliphant TE, Haberland M, Reddy T, Cournapeau D, Burovski E, Peterson P, Weckesser W, Bright J, van der Walt SJ, Brett M, Wilson J, Millman KJ, Mayorov N, Nelson ARJ, Jones E, Kern R, Larson E, Carey CJ, Polat I, Feng Y, Moore EW, VanderPlas J, Laxalde D, Perktold J, Cimrman R, Henriksen I, Quintero EA, Harris CR, Archibald AM, Ribeiro AH, Pedregosa F, van Mulbregt P. SciPy 1.0: Fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python. Nat Methods. 2020 Mar;17(3):261-72. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    30. Xi WF, Jiang QW, Yang AM. Using stepwise regression to address multicollinearity is not appropriate. Int J Surg. 2024 May;110(5):3122-3. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    31. Zavadilova L, Kasna E, Krupova Z, Klimova A. Health traits in current dairy cattle breeding: A review. Czech J Anim Sci. 2021 Jul;66(7):235-50. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content