Effect of monitoring the onset of calving by a calving alarm thermometer on the prevalence of dystocia, stillbirth, retained fetal membranes and clinical metritis in a Hungarian dairy farm.

Choukeir, Ali and Kovács, Levente and Szelényi, Zoltán and Kézér, Fruzsina Luca and Albert, Ervin and Abdelmegeid, Mohamed and Andela, Baukje and Aubin-Wodala, Mária and Buják, Dávid and Szenci, Ottó (2020) Effect of monitoring the onset of calving by a calving alarm thermometer on the prevalence of dystocia, stillbirth, retained fetal membranes and clinical metritis in a Hungarian dairy farm. Theriogenology, 145. pp. 144-148. ISSN 0093-691X

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Abstract

The objective of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of an intravaginal thermometer in the field prediction of the second stage of labor and to determine its impact on the health of dams and newborn calves. Holstein cows (n¼241) were randomly selected about 5 (mean±SD: 4.7±2.0) days before the expected date of calving and the thermometerwas inserted intothe vagina. Another 113 cattle served as controls. There was no false alarm during the experiment. The risk of dystocia (Score >1) was 1.9 times higher, the prevalence of stillbirth was 19.8 times higher, the risk of retained fetal membranes (RFM) was 2.8 times higher and the risk of clinical metritis was 10.5 times higher in the control group than in the experimental group. The prevalence of stillbirth was 7 times higher in cows with dystocia compared to cows with eutocia. The presence of dystocia and stillbirth increased the risk of RFM 4 and 5 times, respectively. The occurrence of RFM increased the risk of development of clinical metritis with a 22 times higher odds. The results indicate that the use of calving alert systems not only facilitates controlling the time of parturition and providing prompt and appropriate calving assistance but also decreases the number of dystocia cases and improves reproductive efficiency, postpartum health of the dam and newborn calf survival.

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