Body Condition Scoring (BCS) zur Kontrolle von Fütterungsfehlern bei Milchkühen im Biolandbau im Hinblick auf Risiken für die Eutergesundheit

Summary

Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is a simple method to control the energy supply of single dairy cows as well as for the entire herd. This is very important especially for organic herds due to limited resources of energy intake. Within an udder health pro-gramme regular BCS using a 5 point scale with 0.25 pt. steps is a good tool to detect feeding problems. The impact of fattened cows during dry time and meagre cows during lactation peak on metabolic health and fertility is known, but not the correlation between BCS and udder health. Within the extension programme “pro-Q” 530 dairy cows were scored at minimum twice during one lactation. The first time was 10 days before to 5 days after calving (BCS-1), the second time was in lactation up to day 100 (once or multiple investigation depending on visit frequency) using the lowest score during that time. Additionally the difference between these scores as a measurement for lipomobilization was calculated. These scores were compared to milk recording data (yield, protein, fat, urea) and the correlation to udder health (average logarithmic somatic cell count over the first 3 months after calving <100.000/ml “healthy”; or >100.000 ml “elevated”). The interrelationships between routinely milk records and udder health were poor. In contrast, first lactation cows showed a significant impact on udder health. “Healthy” cows had an average BCS in dry time of 3.06 compared to 3.25 in “CC elevated” cows (p<0.05). Furthermore, the difference between both scores were -0.52 in “healthy” and -0.23 in “CC elevated” cows, respectively (p<0.01). There were no significant effects in elder cows. Results indicate that the control and balance of body condition can be an important issue in udder health management. Especially in heifers farmers should avoid fattening during late pregnancy period.