Importance of Body Condition Scoring in Dry Period of Dairy Cows
Published:February 19, 2020
Summary
Introduction In field conditions, body condition scoring has been accepted as most satisfactory tool for easy judgment of dairy animals for their energy status as compared to the laboratory methods like estimation of plasma NEFA, BHBA, glucose, urea, protein, etc. but they are laboratory methods which require a well-equipped lab facility, and it is expensive too. BCS is a method commonly used ...
The relationship between the body condition score in the dry period in dairy cattle and the formation of postpartum foot diseases such as the relationship between displaced abomasum, udder problems and ketosis should be emphasized.
celal izci your comments are appreciable. Stay tuned in coming days I will be uploading a complete detailed review on interrelationship between BCS and other physiological conditions of dairy animals
Wilder Ortiz Practically if we talk, it takes hardly 30-60 seconds to acess the BCS by a skilled person. In addition to this, BCS assessment is done fortnightly and monthly for growing and lactating animals respectively. So, it has large scale acceptability for a skilled person having little experience.
An important issue for dairy cattle. The relationship between dry period BCS and the formation of postpartum foot diseases should also be emphasized! What do you think about this?
Undoubtedly we should have deep consideration on this item. If the cows are drying with 3.25-3.5, it's ok and we have to keep it and prevent any losses up to close up pen and eventually calving. Although some refrencess suggest 0.25 increase in BCS from dry off to close up especially for thin cows, keeping 3.25-3.5 in these period is excellent. According to the recent article published in dairy science, cows that lost BCS in dry off pen, had increased odds of developing sub clinical ketosis and metrit. Besides changes in BCS around calving, associated with BCS in dry off pen.