Im Rahmen von TINCa Dairy II sollen die Pathogenese der vor allem schwerwiegenden Veränderungen der Schwanzspitzen bei Milchkühen explizit untersucht und eventuelle Zusammenhänge mit dem Milch-Metabolom analysiert werden.
Das Projekt baut auf den Erkenntnissen aus dem Vorgängerprojekt TINCa Dairy I auf, in dem es um die Verbesserung des Tierschutzes und der Tiergesundheit in der Milchviehhaltung durch Untersuchungen zu Prävalenz und Ätiologie von Schwanzspitzenveränderungen bei Milchkühen ging.
Bislang konnte die genaue Pathogenese der Läsionen noch nicht beschrieben werden. Vorangegangene Untersuchungen haben gezeigt, dass die Veränderungen der Läsionen eine hohe Dynamik aufweisen und so ein Nachvollziehen der Entstehung und/oder der Abheilung bisher nicht möglich war. Durch die engmaschigen Untersuchungen der Läsionen in diesem Projekt, soll dies geklärt werden.
There is an increasing focus on animal health in research, and a growing public interest in transparent animal welfare practices. Several indicators are already used to assess animal health. Recently, the health of the tail tip has gained attention in animal welfare studies. Previous research suggests that circulatory problems may cause alterations in the tail tip. The aim of this case study was to evaluate if tail tip temperature, measured using infrared thermography, can be used as an indicator of animal health and if visible or palpable alterations in the tail tip are associated with the tail temperature. We also compared the results with known animal health indicators using a cluster analysis. This study was conducted on a dairy farm in Germany. Data from 530 observations of 351 Holstein Friesian cows were collected over a 14-month period. The variables included the minimum, maximum, and average tail tip temperature; multiple tail tip alterations; the somatic cell score (SCC); the rectal temperature score; ruminal health indicators; the locomotion score; the body condition score (BCS); milk performance test results; and the sum of the claw diagnosis score. We used cluster analysis to identify patterns among these variables, resulting in the formation of four distinct clusters. The analysis revealed that the claw diagnosis score followed by tail tip temperature had the strongest influence on cluster categorization, suggesting their notable influence on animal health. In the case study, cows with good performance and no obvious health problems showed unaltered and warm tail tips (non-standardized average temperature of 31.55 °C), whereas lower tail tip temperatures and altered tail tips tended to be associated with udder and claw issues, reduced rumen filling, and indications of potential health restrictions. Overall, a change in tail tip temperature was observed, supporting the previously hypothesized circulation issues. In addition, the correlations between the tail tip condition and several health traits in dairy cows suggest that the tail tip can be considered as an animal health indicator, and this issue warrants further investigation.
This review summarises the most relevant literature on tail necrosis in cattle, with a particular focus on dairy cows. Tail inflammation and necrosis is a widespread phenomenon that has been recognised as affecting entire herds since the early 1970s. Initial reports from various European countries described a new health issue affecting beef cattle, with prevalence rates reaching 100% and severely impairing animal welfare. A review of the literature shows that, since these initial reports, the focus has remained relatively consistent on internal causes relating to feed-related rumen acidosis in beef cattle, since the clinical manifestation is pathomorphologically similar to microcirculatory disorders in the tail tip. In addition to internal causes, the review summarises other factors that have been discussed, such as housing conditions (e.g. slatted floors), stocking density, and trauma. While reports of tail injuries in cows are common, with dislocated vertebrae in the middle section of the tail often being described, lesions at the tip of the tail have become increasingly prevalent in recent literature. Comparing these lesions with those described in beef cattle in the context of tail inflammation and necrosis suggests that they are likely to represent the same phenomenon despite different terminology being used for their description. Although the aetiology of tail inflammation and necrosis is diverse and often remains to be elucidated, the incidence of the clinically diagnosed tail lesions is increasingly reported in dairy cow as well as in beef cattle. Given the animal welfare implications of this diagnosis, various hypotheses regarding the pathogenesis and predisposing factors for tail lesions are discussed, and suggestions for intervention strategies are addressed.
Tail tip inflammation is a well-known and widespread problem in fattening bulls. In addition to housing conditions, the main causes are thought to be the influence of feeding in the form of lack of structure or mycotoxin contamination. Recent studies show that dairy cows are also affected by alterations of the tail tips. In a first phase of our studies, different types of alterations in the invertebrate tail end of dairy cows were described. Based on these observations, dairy cows from numerous other farms were examined. Prevalences of up to 99% were found on all farms. Histopathologic examination of the tail ends of affected cows at slaughter revealed coagulation necrosis in deeper layers with undamaged epidermis. Coagulation necrosis occurs as a result of circulatory disturbances and could therefore be a possible cause of the observed changes. These results are in accordance with previous findings on the pathogenesis of hemorrhagic tail lesions, since thermographic examinations of the tail ends have shown that there is a clear correlation between the surface temperature of the tail ends, animal health, and the frequency of alterations at the tail end. Studies in calves have also shown that they were born with intact tail tips. However, weekly scored calves showed a strong accumulation of bloody lesions at the tail tips after dehorning in the third week of life, as well as after other triggers such as weaning from milk or first feeding of a cow TMR. In addition, significant correlations were found between the occurance of tail tip alterations in dairy cows and the day of lactation, number of parturitions, body condition and milk components. Thus, a purely traumatic origin caused by treads from other animals, manure scrapers or slatted floors seems rather unlikely. In principle, severe lesions such at the tail tip can be expected to be painful and represent, among other things, a potential source of infection and therefore, represent an animal welfare issue. Studies from Denmark or New Zealand also describe similar changes with high prevalences. Severe alterations, including (auto-)amputation of parts of the tail, may therefore be a worldwide phenomenon with an internal cause in high yielding cows.
Current studies are investigating the suitability of examining the tail tip for specific lesions to assess the metabolic health of animals. Lesions on the tail tip of dairy cows may be caused by circulatory disturbances as a result of systemic inflammatory processes. Metabolomic approaches are used to detect and quantify pro-inflammatory metabolite profiles in biological samples to better understand metabolic inflammation in humans and animals. In dairy cows, changes in plasma and milk metabolite profiles have been associated with ketosis, heat stress and mastitis. Systemic inflammatory conditions have been described in dairy cows with increased metabolic load, particularly in the liver, especially during calving and early lactation. To further investigate the potential relationship between these tail tip lesions and metabolic health, milk samples were collected during the early stages of lactation. The tail tip of 51 dairy cows were examined on a weekly basis for the presence of lesions during the entire lactation period. In addition, milk samples were collected on the 14th day of lactation (+/- 1 day) to test the hypothesis that milk metabolites can be used as indicators of systemic inflammation. Milk metabolite profiling was performed using MxP Quant 500 kit (Biocrates, Innsbruck). The results of this study indicated that 56.9 % of the cows exhibited a bleeding lesion at the tail tip during the study period. In 31.4 % of the cows, a loss of a tail part due to auto-amputation was recorded. A comparison was made of cows with bleeding lesions between day 14 a.p. and 80 p.p. with cows without such lesions. Metabolite profiles in milk differ only in the concentration of sarcosine (p<0.0108) with higher values in cows with bleeding lesions. In other studies, an increase in sarcosine levels in the plasma of cows was detected following a LPS challenge. Although single metabolites appear to be associated with tail tip lesions, the milk metabolome determined by MxP Quant 500 kit is not useful to predict metabolic health in association with tail tip lesions.
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Medienbeiträge
Prisca Kremer-Rücker
Was die Schwanzspitze aussagt (2026) Elite online - Magazin für Milcherzeuger .
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