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.
Mehr
Prisca Kremer-Rücker,
Kathrin Weber,
Lea Lorenz,
Christine Schmidt,
Mirjam Lechner,
Kim F. Schubert,
Saskia Meier,
Armin Scholz
The welfare of dairy cows is becoming increasingly important. While diseases like mastitis and lameness are common ailments, injuries to the tail tip go largely unnoticed. The study aimed at investigating whether tail tip lesions, which are mostly described in beef cattle, also occurred on n = 5 dairy farms and, if so, what type and frequency? The study consisted of two phases. During the first part of the study tail tips of 78 dairy cows were examined over a period of six months; based on these results, we developed a training card on tail tip lesions in dairy cows, which was used in part two of the study to train further examiners to inspect four more flocks. In total, we collected n = 3587 tail records from n = 513 Holstein and n = 128 Simmental dairy cows. The overall frequency regarding all types of lesions ranged between 84.0 % (± 2.0) and 94.1 % (± 1.8) in Holstein herds and between 97.0 % (± 2.2) and 99.0 % (± 2.2) in Simmental herds. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of tail tip lesions in German dairy cows. We concluded that tail tip lesions might be a frequent yet unnoticed condition in German dairy cows.
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.
Schwanzspitzennekrosen bei Milchkühen - vielleicht sind es doch nicht Schieber und Spaltenboden? (2024) Vortrag auf der Vortragstagung der DGfZ und GfT am 18./19. September 2024 in Göttingen .
Objectives Tail tip lesions have been observed in fattening cattle with prevalences varying from 35 % to 76 %. These lesions include hairless areas of the tail tip, laceration and / or infection leading to inflammation of larger parts of the tail as well as necrosis. This often results not only in economic loss but has also adverse effects on animal health and welfare. While there are several studies on this issue in fattening cattle, data on tail tip lesions in dairy cows are scarce. However, own previous studies have shown that a variety of lesions on the tip of the tail also occur in dairy cows. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tail tip lesions in dairy cows. Material and methods A developed overview of different tail tip lesions in dairy cows and their manifestations was used to examine cows on six different German dairy farms. After shaving the tail in the region of the switch, cows were examined for the prevalence of 1) lesions on the very tip of the tail, 2) annular lesions, 3) hyperkeratosis, 4) swelling, 5) axis deviation, 6) thinning or 7) fibroma on the distal part of the tail. Examination was performed by one single person. All cows were kept in loose housing conditions on slatted or solid floors, with or without automatic scrapers. Herd sizes varied between 51 and 162 cows. A total of 500 Simmental or Holstein Friesian dairy cows were examined. To calculate the prevalence per lesion, the number of animals affected by the corresponding lesion or lesion manifestation was divided by the total number of animals examined. Mean prevalences were calculated per farm and for the total sample. Results Only one cow, out of all 500 examined cows, was free from the above mentioned lesions. 499 animals, however, were affected by at least one lesion. The most prevalent lesions were hyperkeratosis, ranging from 72.9 % to 97.3 % between herds (mean prevalence = 85.1 % ± 7.9) and swelling, with prevalences between 54.2 % and 95.9 % (mean prevalence = 73.4 % ± 18.3). Every lesion could be observed in every herd. The most severe manifestations of lesions at the very tip of the tail, according to our previously established overview, are bleeding or necrosis up to part loss of the distal part of the tail. We found bleeding or necrotic tail tips in four of the six farms, with prevalences ranging from 0.66 % to 26.03 % (mean prevalence = 8.36 % ± 11,39). Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first study to show prevalences of different tail tip lesions in Simmental and Holstein Friesian cows on German dairy farms. The high prevalence of the lesions in all farms evaluated, under different housing conditions and in both breeds, and the occurrence of severe manifestations such as bleeding or necrotic tail tips, may indicate an animal welfare problem that has apparently gone unnoticed until now. Further research is needed to assess whether this phenomenon occurs on other farms and in different regions and countries as well, and to elucidate the aetiology, pathogenesis and risk factors of the lesions observed.Funding: Parts of the research wer funded by the Tönnies Forschung, Rheda, Germany
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 …
Können mit Messverfahren anhand der Atemluft von Kühen während der Futteraufnahme Änderungen in der Stoffwechselgesundheit untersucht und die Methanemission geschätzt werden?
…
Wir verwenden Cookies. Einige sind notwendig für die Funktion der Webseite, andere helfen uns, die Webseite zu verbessern. Um unseren eigenen Ansprüchen beim Datenschutz gerecht zu werden, erfassen wir lediglich anonymisierte Nutzerdaten mit „Matomo“. Um unser Internetangebot für Sie ansprechender zu gestalten, binden wir außerdem externe Inhalte unserer Social-Media-Kanäle ein.