Cows and Aspirin?

Introduction:

Another day and another ache or pain? Today we are going to discuss how we can potentially help cows avoid these aches and pains…even while we may be having them ourselves. I am also going to tell you about the importance of sitting down and playing a game of cards!

What’s new in dairy science?

Providing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to dairy cows has become a question I get more often as data suggests supplying them after calving may increase milk yield. One caveat before I jump into the data: there is not an approved source of Aspirin for use in dairy cattle - see the FDA letter here - Dear Veterinarian Letter regarding use of aspirin products in lactating dairy cattle | FDA.

Some recent investigations from Penn State and Dr. Adrian Barragan took a slightly different approach. They investigated how NSAID provisions 14 days prepartum affected specific groups of cows, like over-conditioned cows, during the rest of their lactation.

Providing aspirin had little effect on milk yield of cows during lactation but what I found most interesting is that providing aspirin to over-conditioned cows (BCS ≥ 3.75 on a 5-point scale) reduced the proportion of over conditioned cows who experienced a disease in the first 60 days of lactation. 24% of aspirin-treated over-conditioned cows had some kind of illness in early lactation while 47% of the placebo treated over-conditioned cows had some kind of illness in that same period.

In cows with less than 3.75 body condition, the results were statistically similar but the group means were a ways apart. This suggests that targeted prepartum aspirin therapy may reduce disease but this study was small relative to its ability to investigate disease incidence and its difficult to draw clear conclusions when making a lot of comparisons like how treatment affected cows with different BCS.

They also investigated the effects of prepartum meloxicam administration. If you’re curious, I suggest you dive into the text of this on-farm experiment.

Read it here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-24913

Leadership, Growth and Development?

I assume many of you reading this segment of Some Udder Thoughts do so for some kind of professional advancement or growth. We are usually chasing some great task or endpoint to a journey. Maybe you want to get in shape and you’re up everyday going to the gym. Maybe you’re trying to get a promotion so you’re continuing your education or getting a new certification. Or maybe you’re trying to write a book. In the midst of this never-ending “chase”, we can lose the things that are most important.

Recently, I had the chance to present at the Minnesota Nutrition Conference which was great. I caught up with some mentors of mine (shout out to Barry Visser!), but most of all it gave me the chance to get back to where I am from and see some family.

During that time, I went to see my Grandma who just turned 93 years old! The bonus to the visit was that my Aunt’s and Uncles were there too….and we did what Krogstad’s always do. We played a game of cards; the game for this particular afternoon was “Three-thump”. We sat, played, laughed, caught up with each other, and just enjoyed each other’s company. These moments are what I call “perfect moments” because they come together on accident, no one has any agenda or goal, we’re all just there to be with each other. There was no other reason to play cards than to just be with each other. It was the most restorative hour I’d had in quite some time and it 100% is a memory I’ll cherish.

Visit your family, play the game of cards, eat the extra piece of pie, and enjoy the people you love. Perfect moments are so very rare and its our job to cherish them when they arrive!

Final thoughts:

Care for your cows and yourself this week! Have a wonderful start to fall and enjoy the crisp cool air that may be coming your way – maybe even with a game of cards.

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