Integrated Livestock Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80523, USA.
J Dairy Sci. 2010 Jan;93(1):373-86. doi: 10.3168/jds.2009-2296.
Dairy cow mortality levels in the United States are excessive and increasing over time. To better define cause and effect and combat rising mortality, clearer definitions of the reasons that cows die need to be acquired through thorough necropsy-based postmortem evaluations. The current study focused on organizing information generated from postmortem evaluations into a monitoring system that is based on the fundamentals of conceptual modeling and that will potentially be translatable into on-farm relational databases. This observational study was conducted on 3 high-producing, commercial dairies in northern Colorado. Throughout the study period a thorough postmortem evaluation was performed by veterinarians on cows that died on each dairy. Postmortem data included necropsy findings, life-history features (e.g., birth date, lactation number, lactational and reproductive status), clinical history and treatments, and pertinent aspects of operational management that were subject to change and considered integral to the poor outcome. During this study, 174 postmortem evaluations were performed. Postmortem evaluation results were conceptually modeled to view each death within the context of the web of factors influencing the dairy and the cow. Categories were formulated describing mortality in terms of functional characteristics potentially amenable to easy performance evaluation, management oversight, and research. In total, 21 death categories with 7 category themes were created. Themes included specific disease processes with variable etiologies, failure of disease recognition or treatment, traumatic events, multifactorial failures linked to transition or negative energy balance issues, problems with feed management, miscellaneous events not amenable to prevention or treatment, and undetermined causes. Although postmortem evaluations provide the relevant information necessary for framing a cow's death, a restructuring of on-farm databases is needed to integrate this level of detail into useful monitoring systems. Individual operations can focus on combating mortality through the use of employee training related to postmortem evaluations, detailed forms for capturing necropsy particulars and other relevant information related to deaths, and standardized nomenclature and categorization schemes. As much as anything, the simple act of recognizing mortality as a problem might be the most fundamental step toward controlling its progression.
美国奶牛死亡率过高且呈上升趋势。为了更好地定义因果关系并应对不断上升的死亡率，需要通过彻底的基于尸检的死后评估来获得更清楚地了解奶牛死亡的原因。本研究专注于将来自死后评估的信息组织到一个监测系统中，该系统基于概念建模的基础，并且可能转化为农场关系型数据库。本观察性研究在科罗拉多州北部的 3 个高产生商业奶牛场进行。在整个研究期间，对每个奶牛场死亡的奶牛，兽医进行了彻底的死后评估。死后数据包括尸检结果、生命史特征（例如出生日期、泌乳次数、泌乳和生殖状态）、临床病史和治疗以及操作管理的相关方面，这些方面可能会发生变化，并且被认为是不良结果的组成部分。在此研究中，进行了 174 次死后评估。将死后评估结果进行概念建模，以便在影响奶牛和牛的因素网络中查看每一次死亡。制定了分类描述了可能易于进行绩效评估、管理监督和研究的功能特征的死亡率。总共创建了 21 个死亡类别和 7 个类别主题。主题包括具有可变病因的特定疾病过程、疾病识别或治疗失败、创伤事件、与过渡或负能平衡问题相关的多因素失败、饲料管理问题、无法预防或治疗的杂项事件和未确定的原因。虽然死后评估提供了为奶牛死亡构建框架所需的相关信息，但需要对农场数据库进行重构，以便将此详细信息集成到有用的监测系统中。单个操作可以通过与死后评估相关的员工培训、用于捕获尸检细节和其他与死亡相关的相关信息的详细表格以及标准化的命名法和分类方案来专注于对抗死亡率。认识到死亡率是一个问题，这可能是控制其进展的最基本步骤。
