Dynamics of clinical symptoms of damage to the shin of newborn Ukraini-an red dairy breed under industrial exploitation conditions

Abstract

The analysis of the data of the 5-year monitoring of the visual (in points) examination of the firstborns (n = 1113) of the newly created Ukrainian red milk (URD) breed for the assessment of the clinical condition of the lateral surface of the lower leg under the conditions of unharnessed keeping on rubber mats is presented. An increase in the number of cows with damage to the epithelium of the leg skin (“gateway of infection”) along the chronological axis (2018–22), namely: from 33.88 ± 3.97 % to 55.95 ± 5.94 % (P < 0.01). Pronounced inflammatory phenomena (purulent-necrotic) in the area of the tibial joint increased by 15.05 % (P < 0.01), and symptoms of severe damage to all tissues of the tibial area with signs of lameness increased from 0.96 ± 0.96 % to 4.11 ± 0.95 % (P < 0.05). The dynamics of the increase in the symptom complex of shin pathologies in firstborns showed a positive correlative relationship with the growth of milk productivity (in 2018, the average milk yield for 305 days of lactation was 6999.13 kg, and in 2020 – 8947.25 kg). Still, the trend of increasing clinical damage to firstborns' shins remained even after the drop in productivity in 2021 to 7995.00 kilograms of milk. The analysis of the results of the study showed a tendency to decrease the adaptive properties of young cows of the URD breed, which probably can be connected with a high degree of Holsteinization of the population of the newly created breed, during which the negative microevolutionary consequences of the rapid transformation of the genotype were manifested, which require further research.

Keywords

• dairy cows; urd breed; tibial joint; clinical diagnosis; adaptation.