Aspirin could help reduce stress, improve milk production after calving

Dairy cows that received a short course of anti-inflammatory medication after calving had lower metabolic stress and produced more milk than untreated cows, new research showed.

Stress and inflammation related to calving can increase the incidence of diseases such as mastitis, an infection of the udder, and clinical metritis, a bacterial infection of the uterus that can affect up to 40% of postpartum animals, said Dr. Adrian Barragan, an assistant professor in Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

“Decreasing this inflammation and stress could be a potential strategy for preventing disease in early lactation, improving the welfare and performance of dairy cows, and reducing disease-related costs for producers,” said Barragan, the lead researcher on the study.

The research team studied 246 cows at a family-owned dairy farm in central Pennsylvania, from calving through lactation. The treatment group received two treatments with aspirin, the first within 12 hours after birthing and the second 24 hours later.

“We found that cows treated with the proposed anti-inflammatory strategy had lower metabolic stress 14 days after calving and a lower incidence of clinical metritis, compared to untreated cows,” Barragan said. “Also, treated cows that had given birth more than once, known as multiparous cows, produced 3.6 more pounds of milk per day during the first 60 days in milk compared to their untreated counterparts.”

Researchers say the strategy they tested could be more easily adopted by producers than previously studied treatment strategies.

These strategies involved nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which were also found to reduce inflammation and increase milk production. But those studies involved time-consuming interventions requiring extra labor, according to Penn State. Additionally, treatment length and intervals, ensuring accurate individual drug dosage, and available methods of administration could make these strategies difficult to implement in modern dairy operations.

More information on the new research is available from Penn State News.