Todd F. Duffield

TL;DR: Testing for diagnostic criteria for clinical endometritis in postpartum dairy cows found no diagnostic criteria based on palpation of the uterus had predictive value for time to pregnancy, and survival analysis was used to derive a case definition of endomet arthritis based on factors associated with increased time toregnancy.

TL;DR: Serum BHBA concentrations at or above 1,200 micromol/L in the first week following calving were associated with increased risks of subsequent displaced abomasum and metritis, and the best threshold for predicting subsequent risk of clinical ketosis from serum obtained during wk 1 and wk 2 postpartum was 1,400 micromols/L.

TL;DR: In conclusion, subclinical endometritis, diagnosed by EC or US, was associated with reduced relative pregnancy rate and no diagnostic criteria based on transrectal palpation of the uterus had predictive value for risk of pregnancy.

TL;DR: Effective monitoring schemes for subclinical ketosis can be developed, however, and these may be useful in many herd health programs.

TL;DR: Strategic use of metabolic tests to monitor transition dairy cows should focus on NEFA in the last week prepartum and BHBA in the first week postpartum.