Endometritis is linked to Low Energy
Inspire Cattle Solutions has noticed a new publication by Valdmann and others in the Vet Record last week. Cows with low IGF-1 levels 2 weeks before to one week after calving are 3.5-4.4 times MORE LIKELY to develop endometritis than those within normal limits.
Cows with endometritis in this study had an average time to conception of 197 days compared with 97 days for healthy cows! See this picture below:
Making sure that cows get adequate energy levels close to calving is essential for their well-being. Insulin-like growth factor one is a blood metabolic indicator of the energy balance around this time. Less than 74ng/ml was taken as a threshold below which was classed as negative energy balance. In this paper, Valdmann also shows that cows with a body condition score of 2.75 or below are 6.8 times MORE LIKELY to develop endometritis (they defined this by taking uterine cytobrush samples at >40 days post partum and seeing >8% of cells as neutrophils).
A great editorial by Martin Sheldon explains the article really well, so congratulations to this research group!