Episode 343 - The Hidden Cost of Cow Health: Why It Pays to Look Beyond ‘Sick or Not - UMN Extension's The Moos Room

About this episode

This episode discusses the hidden costs of cow health and the importance of tracking health costs for better genetic selection and farm profitability.

Spring may be slow to arrive in Minnesota, but research season is heating up. In this episode of The Moos Room , Brad revisits a large Minnesota-based study exploring the true cost of health events in dairy cows —and why tracking cost , not just disease incidence, could transform genetic selection and farm profitability. Using data from thousands of Holstein cows across multiple herds, the team found that health costs are heavily concentrated in the first 30 days of lactation , when cows face metabolic stress from calving and high milk production. However, issues like lameness and mastitis continue to accumulate costs throughout the lactation, especially in older cows. In fact, total health costs more than double from first to later lactations , reflecting wear, immune fatigue, and management differences. A key takeaway: management determines cost, but genetics influence risk . While some high-cost conditions (like reproductive disorders) are difficult to improve genetically, others—such as mastitis and metabolic disease—show stronger heritability. The breakthrough insight is that total health cost itself is moderately heritable (~0.25) —much higher than traditional “sick vs. not…

People in this episode

Host: Brad

Topics covered

• cow health
• dairy farming
• genetic selection
• farm profitability
• health costs
• lactation
• metabolic stress

Keywords

• cow health
• dairy cows
• genetic selection
• health costs
• lactation
• metabolic disease
• mastitis
• reproductive disorders

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Minnesota Extension

Places: Minnesota, Holstein

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