Lack of Association Between Calf Morbidity
and Subsequent First Lactation Milk Production
in 25 New York Holstein Herds
ABSTRACT
The association of owner-diagnosed
calfhood diseases with first lactation
milk production was evaluated using
data collected prospectively for 728 heif-
ers from 25 New York dairy herds. Cows
diagnosed with one or more Occurrences
of dullness, respiratory disease, or scours
within 90 d of birth had first lactation
milk production that was similar to that
of unaffected herdmates. Estimates for
the effects of dullness, respiratory dis-
ease, and scours on second test milk
production were -1.0, 1.0, and .4 kg/d,
respectively (adjusted for season and age
at calving, times milked per day, study
month of birth, sire PTA for milk
production, and the other two calfhood
diseases). Estimates for the effects on
305-d mature equivalent production were
-139, 123, and 158 kg for dullness,
respiratory disease, and scours, respec-
tively (adjusted for study month of birth,
sire PTA for milk production, and the
other two calfhood diseases). These
results were based on data for heifers
that were selected as replacements and
remained in the herd long enough to
have milk production recorded. There
was no significant detrimental effect of
owner-diagnosed calfhood disease on
first lactation milk production, but af-
fected heifers had higher mortality be-
fore calving and were less likely to enter
the milking herd.
Received October 12, 1994.
Accepted June 16. 1995.
'Current address: Department of Large Animal Clini-
cal Sciences, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of
Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg 24061.
1995 J Dairy Sei 78:2819-2830
L. D. WARNICK,' H. N. ERB, and M. E. WHITE
Department of Clinical Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(Key words: calfhood disease, first lacta-
tion, milk yield, morbidity)
Abbreviation key: DULL90 = dull, listless,
droopy eyes, or off feed 590 d of age, ME305
= 305-d mature equivalent milk production;
RESP90 = cough, runny nose or eyes, or
trouble breathing 190 d of age; SAMPM2 =
2nd test day milk production; SCOUR90 =
scours or diarrhea 190 d of age.
INTRODUCTION
Financial losses based on dairy calfhood
diseases potentially include death, treatment
costs, BW loss, delayed growth, and decreased
production of calves or milk. Decisions about
the value of disease prevention, disease treat-
ment, and the disposition of affected animals,
should be made after potential losses are
evaluated. This study provides information
about the effect of calfhood morbidity on first
lactation milk production.
Previous studies (2, 9) that related calfhood
diseases to subsequent milk production were
conducted in noncommercial dairy herds. A
long-term observational study of calves born
during an 8-yr period in two institutional herds
did not show an effect of calfhood diseases on
total first lactation milk production (2); cu-
mulative disease incidences prior to 4 mo of
age for respiratory, gastrointestinal, navel or
joint, and other diseases were 5.8, 3.3, 2.9, and
16.7%, respectively. Hatch et al. (9) reported
on the follow-up of a calfhood pneumonia
outbreak in a university dairy herd. Calfhood
pneumonia had no effect on first lactation
production among the 18 heifers that recovered
promptly compared with production of herd-
mates from the same sires. Two of 4 heifers
with chronic pneumonia were culled for low
production. Results from institutional herds
may not be applicable to commercial herds
2819
2820 WARNICK ET AL.

because of differences in management, veteri- follow-up). Some heifers born in one herd
nary care, and economic decision making. calved and were milked at a second farm,
Prospective cohort studies in commercial managed by a different individual. These heif-
herds have provided disease incidence rates, ers were considered to be a separate herd for
temporal relationships of potential risk factors the analysis. With the division of that one
with disease occurrence, and estimates of long- herd, there were 25 herds included in the anal-
term effects of calfhood diseases. In a prospec- ysis of effects on milk production.
tive cohort study in southwestern Ontario, Calves were enrolled on the study from July
Canada (18). incidences of scours, pneumonia, 1983 through April 1985. Information on calf-
and death before weaning were 20, 15, and hood disease was recorded on all heifer calves
3.8%, respectively. Pneumonia was associated that lived >24 h and were intended to be kept
with an increased risk of death after 90 d, and as herd replacements. Diagnoses of the dis-
scours was associated with higher risks of eases were made by farmers according to the
calving after 900 d or of being sold (17). criteria explained by ambulatory clinicians or
Previous results from the cohort of calves used project personnel and listed on the data forms
for our study found incidence rates for scours (Figure 1). The clinical conditions of interest
within 14 d of birth, scours between 15 and 90 were dullness (defined as dull, listless, droopy
d of age, dull calf syndrome (dull, listless, off- ears, or off feed), respiratory disease (defined
feed), respiratory disease, and death within 90 as cough, runny nose or eyes, or trouble
d of 9.9, 5.2, 7.7, 7.4, and 3.5%, respectively breathing), and scours or diarrhea. Data forms
(5). Calfhood diseases were strongly associated were collected and checked for completeness
with one another and were often diagnosed for at 4- to 6-wk intervals by project personnel. As
the same calf on the same day (6). Respiratory calves matured, heifer breeding information
disease within 90 d of birth was associated and first lactation calving and health informa-
with increased age at first calving (4). tion were recorded at herd visits every l to 2
The objective of this study was to evaluate mo. The date and reason for exiting the study
the associations of common calfhood diseases were recorded for calves that died or were
(dullness, respiratory disease, and scours) with sold. Farm visits continued until a herd was
first lactation milk production in a sample of sold, moved from the area, or until January
commercial dairy herds. 1990.
Milk production records for this analysis
MATERIALS AND METHODS were obtained from DHI records retrieved
from the Dairy Records Processing Laboratory
Study Population and Data Collection
(Cornel1 University, Ithaca, NY). Production
records were matched to calfhood records by
The data for this study were collected from date of birth, metal ear tag number, barn name,
24 dairy herds near Ithaca, New York, begin- barn name of dam, dam registration number,
ning July 1983. The study population and calf- sire registration number, and date of first calv-
hood data collection methods were described ing. The combination of identifiers used varied
previously (5). Herds that met the following among farms, but most records were success-
criteria were selected for data collection: 1) fully matched on all available values. Six
regular herd health visits by clinicians from the calves appeared to match on one or two iden-
New York State College of Veterinary Medi- tification values, but were excluded from the
cine Ambulatory Clinic, 2) use of DHI, 3) AI analysis because multiple key DHI event dates
breeding except possibly after second service, were inconsistent with the paper record infor-
4) milking between 35 and 200 Holstein cows, mation. For other records with differences be-
and 5 ) the opinion of the ambulatory clinic tween DHI dates and paper record dates, the
veterinarian (and of the project technician if DHI dates were used for the analysis.
the farm had been on an earlier study of herd Milk ETA for the sires of heifers were
health) that the owner would be willing to take obtained from the Dairy Records Processing
part in the study. All herds invited agreed to Laboratory UDSA sire list (July 1993 evalua-
participate. Two of 26 original herds that had tion) for 634 of the heifers that had DHI
calfhood data collected went out of business mature equivalent milk production recorded.
before any study heifers calved and were not For 14 heifers of grade sires, 67 heifers of
included in the analysis (58 heifers lost to registered sires that were not listed in the
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78. No. 12, 1995
 CALFHOOD MORBIDITY AND MILK PRODUCTION 2821

herd DHI no. 1 1 I I I i 1 I i herd name ________ ~__.

HEIFER CALF ILLNESS AND TREATMENT SHEET

U)
dehydrated.
sunken eyes
scours. diarrhea

cough, runny nose or

I1I ,---I

eyes, trouble breathing

~ _ _

(please describe)

cut back or changed

milk or replacer
--__
fed scour fluids
______-.
fluids by needle

antibiotics by needle

fed antibiotics
___-
fed gut soothers
(like Pepto-Bismol)
other
(please describe)

NYSCVM 1983

Figure 1. Calfhood disease and treatment data collection form

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78, No. 12, 1995

2822 WARNICK ET AL.
USDA summary, and 13 heifers with unknown
sires, the deviation in milk production was
assigned a value of 0. This estimate was possi-
bly conservative, but was probably near the
appropriate value. A sensitivity analysis for
this assumption was c a n i d out by comparing
the results from models with missing sire PTA
for milk production set at -227, 0, 227, and
454 kg. (These values correspond to -500, 0,
500, and lo00 lb. The mean sire PTA for milk
production for heifers with sires on the USDA
list was 508 lb.) The calfhood disease
parameter estimates and standard errors did not
change significantly in these alternative
models.
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics, variable distributions,
and associations between pairs of variables
were assessed using SAS (15). The general
linear models procedure was used for prelimi-
nary fixed-effects models. The analysis of the
effects of calfhood disease on milk production
was done using the mixed procedure (UNIX
version 6.09) (14).
The effects of the occurrence of dullness
(DULL90), respiratory disease (RESI"), or
calf scours or diarrhea (SCOUR90) on first
lactation milk production were considered.
Heifers were coded as affected for a particular
condition if it was diagnosed at least once
within 90 d of birth. Milk production was
measured as 305-d mature equivalent produc-
tion (ME305)for all heifers that calved and
had ME305 calculated by DHI. In addition, the
association with second test milk production
(SAMPMZ) was estimated. Mixed linear
models that designated herd and the disease by
herd interactions as random effects were used
to estimate disease effects on milk production.
Other terms in the models were chosen based
on prior information about their relationships
with milk production and potential associations
with calfhood disease status. Interactions
among the three diseases were evaluated by
testing the three-way and two-way interaction
terms among the three calfhood disease varia-
bles. Sire was not included as a random factor
in this study because only about half of the
sires represented had more than one offspring
in the sample; therefore, observations were too
few to estimate the effect of sire. Instead, the
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78. No. 12, 1995
disease effects were adjusted for the effect of
sire by including the sire PTA for milk as a
fixed covariable. The study month of birth was
calculated as the number of months between
July 1, 1983 and the date of birth of the heifer.
This value was included to adjust for the in-
crease in potential for milk production over the
2 yr that calves were entered on the study.
The following model was used to estimate
disease effects on ME305:
yi,~, = ME305 (kilograms),
CY = intercept,
hi = random effect of herd (i = 1,2,....2 3 ,
dj = fixed effect of DULL90 Cj = 1 or 2),
rk = fixed effect of RESP90 (k = 1 or 21,
SI = fixed effect of SCOUR90 (1 = 1 or
m, = interval from beginning of study to
birth (months),
p, = sire PTA for milk production (kilo-
grams),
(hd)ij = random effect of the herd x
DULL90 interaction,
(hrhk = random effect of the herd x E S P 9 0
interaction,
@)il = random effect of the herd x
SCOUR90 interaction, and
eijklm = residual error.
Analyses of projected ME305 often exclude
cows with DIM below a certain value (usually
about 100 d), so that ME305 estimates that are
based on only one or two milk weights do not
influence the results. A scatter plot of ME305
by complete lactation DIM for this study sug-
gested that the variability of ME305 was simi-
lar across total DIM. The variances for ME305
for five, 3-mo complete lactation DIM
categories were calculated. The ratio of vari-
ances for the most extreme categories was 2.3;
when five outlier values were excluded, the
ratio was only 1.6. Although the variance for
ME305 for cows with lactations of 590 d was
higher than later groups, we thought variance
was similar enough to include these cows in
the analysis.
 CALFHOOD MORBIDITY AND MILK PRODUCTION 2823
The model for evaluating effects on extremely low residual values, and, for the
SAMPM2 was as follows: SAMPM2 model, there was one distinct out-
lier. The results were checked after the outliers
Yijklmno = were excluded for each model. The variance
estimates were slightly lower than, and the
effect estimates similar to, the models using
the complete data files. The results presented
where are from the models using all observations.
Approximate one-sided confidence intervals
of the form (lower bound, -) were calculated
Yijklmno = SAMPM2 (kilograms),
a = intercept, for the disease effect estimates. The following
hi random effect of herd (i = 1, 2, . . formula was used to find the lower bound: b -
. , 23, S W ) x ta, df, where b is the parameter esti-
d.1 = fixed effect of DULL90 (j = 1 or mate, SE(b) is the approximate standard error
of the parameter estimate, and ta, df is a value
21,
rk = fixed effect of RESP90 (k = 1 or from the t distribution. The degrees of freedom
were estimated by the mixed procedure and
21,
s1 = fixed effect of SCOUR90 (l= 1 represent I - 1, where I is approximately the
or 2), number of random effect (herd) levels that
fm = fixed effect of season of calving contain both values of the fixed effect cor-
(m = 1, 2, 3, or 4), responding to b (14).
xn = fixed effect of times milked per Power functions were plotted for each calf-
day (n = 1 or 2), hood disease and each outcome (a = .1). The
functions were calculated for one-sided
a,= age at calving (months),
mo = interval from beginning of study hypothesis tests for detrimental effects of calf-
to birth (months), hood disease on milk production. The hypothe-
Po = sire PTA for milk production sis tests had the form Ho: (3 2 0 versus HA: /3 <
(kilograms), 0, where 0 was the true effect of a particular
(hd)ij = random effect of the herd calfhood disease on milk production. The
x DULL90 interaction, power function is the probability of rejecting
@)ik = random effect of the herd the null hypothesis as a function of the
x RESP90 interaction, parameter, (3). The power functions were
@)il = random effect of the herd calculated assuming the SE(b) estimated from
x SCOUR90 interaction, and this sample would be similar for various values
eijklmno = residual error. of 0. The following formula was used for the
calculations:
Each random term in the models (herd,
disease x herd interactions, and residual error)
was assumed to be independently and normally
distributed with a mean of 0. Levels within the
same term were assumed to have the same where c is the cutoff from the t distribution for
an a-level test, b is the parameter estimate for
variance. Also, the covariance among pairs of
different random effects was assumed to be 0.
0, and df is the number of degrees of freedom
associated with the estimated standard error
The model assumptions were assessed by plot-
ting the model residuals against explanatory (3).
variables and predicted values and by plotting
normal probability of the residuals and predic- RESULTS
tions for the random effect levels [residual The occurrence RESP90, SCOUR90,
plots against explanatory variables were from DULL90 had no significant adverse effect on
fixed effects models using the general linear first lactation milk production among heifers
models procedure of SAS (15)l. For the that survived, were kept as replacements, and
ME305 analysis, there were six outliers with remained in the herd long enough to have milk

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78. No. 12, 1995

2824 WARNICK ET AL.

TABLE 1. Continuous variables for heifers that calved in 25 New York Holstein herds.
Variable (no.)
-X SD Minimum Median Maximum
ME305.1 kg 728 8349 1707 230 8268 14,04I
2nd test day milk, kg 697 26 5 10 26 42
First calving age, mo 789 30 5 20 28 54
Month of study born, mo 789 11 6 0 12 22
Sire PTA for milk, kg 686 231 304 -1101 20 1 1017
'305-d Mature equivalent milk production.

production measured. It is important, however, to be lower for heifers affected by calfhood

to consider heifers that were lost from the disease (Table 4). This difference was most
study in interpreting these results. extreme for heifers that had DULL90 or
Of the 1171 heifers in the original cohort RESP90. The lower percentage that calved
(3, 16 were lost from the study for unknown appeared to result mostly from increased mor-
reasons before the collection of production tality among affected calves. Also, for calves
data. Two of the herds in the original cohort with RESP90, the percentage sold for dairy use
were not included in the analysis because they was higher than for those without RESP90.
went out of business before any of the heifers These descriptive results were not adjusted for
entered in the study (n = 58) had calved. Six potential confounding factors or analyzed
additional heifers were excluded because of statistically as part of this study. In a previous
extreme discrepancies between data retrieved analysis of these data, dullness, respiratory dis-
from DHI and data collected from farm ease, and scours before 15 d of age increased
records. Of the remaining 1091 heifers, 728 the risk of death within 90 d of birth, and
(66.7%) had ME305 available from DHI. dullness was associated with increased rnortal-
Sixty-one (5.6%) had a calving date recorded ity after 90 d of age, but there was no statisti-
but no production data, 153 (14.0%)were sold
before calving as dairy replacements for other
herds, 59 (5.4%) were sold for beef, and 76
(7.0%) died before calving. Fourteen heifers TABLE 2. Distribution of categorical variables among
study heifers with 305-d mature equivalent milk produc-
(1.3%) had paper records, but no calving date tion recorded in 25 New York Holstein herds.]
was recorded, no matching DHI record was
found, and no reason was recorded for leaving Variable2 (no.) (%)
the herd. The SAMPM2 production was avail- Season of calving
able for 697 (63.9%)of the heifers, which was 1 (Dec to Feb) 217 29.8
less than the number for ME305 because some 2 (Marto May) 163 22.4
3 (Jun to Aug) 124 17.0
ME305 estimates were based on just one test 4 (Sep to Nov) 224 30.8
day milk weight. Times milked per 24 h
Descriptive statistics for continuous varia- 2 615 84.5
bles and distribution of categorical variables 3 113 15.5
DULL90
for heifers that calved are shown in Tables 1 1 (21 Occurrence 190 d) 39 5.4
and 2. The minimum, median, and maximum 0 (No occurrence) 689 94.6
herd values for percentage of calves enrolled RESP90
that calved in the study herds, number of study 1 (21 Occurrence 190 d) 37 5.1
0 (No occurrence) 69 1 94.9
heifers calved, percentage of those that calved SCOUR90
and were affected with each calfhood disease, I (21 Occurrence 190 d) 94 12.9
age at first calving, milk production, and sire 0 (No occurrence) 634 87.1
PTA for milk production are shown for the 25 lDisease categories are not mutually exclusive.
herds in Table 3. *DULL90 = Dull, listless, droopy ears, or off feed;
The percentage of heifers that survived and RESF90 = cough, IUMYnose or eyes, or trouble breathing;
were kept in the herd as replacements tended and SCOUR90 = scours or diarrhea.

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78. No. 12, 1995

 CALFHOOD MORBIDITY AND MILK PRODUCTION 2825
TABLE 3. Herd-level descriptive statistics for 25 New York Holstein herds.
Herd measurement Minimum Median Maximum
Heifers enrolled at birth that remained in the herd and calved, % 18 76 91
Number of study heifers that calved 11 28 63
Affected by calfhood disease among those that calved,' %
DULL90 0 4 27
RESP90 0 5 18
SCOUR90 0 8 46
Median calving age, mo 24 27 44
Mean 305-d mature equivalent milk, kg 6526 807 1 10,190
Mean 2nd test day milk, kg 21 26 30
Mean sire PTA for milk, kg 15 249 494
'DULL90 = Dull, listless, droopy ears, or off feed <90 d of age; RESF90 = cough, runny nose or eyes, or trouble
breathing S90 d of age; and SCOUR90 = scours or diarrhea 190 d of age.

cally significant association between calfhood an effect when in fact there was none. The
morbidity and being sold after 90 d of age (5, power calculations showed that, at OL = .1, the
7). power of a sample of this size would be about
Point estimates and one-sided confidence 1.70 for detecting a true population difference
intervals for the effect of calfhood diseases on between normal and affected heifers of -500
milk production, adjusted for potential con- kg of ME305. For SAMPM2 the power at ac =
founding variables, are shown in Tables 5 and .1 would be 2.75 for a detrimental effect of
6. Among the heifers that survived, were kept -2.0 kg for each of the calfhood diseases. The
as replacements, and had DHI milk production power was greatest for SCOUR90 because of
recorded, there were no significant adverse the larger number of affected heifers and there-
effects of individual or combinations of calf- fore a smaller standard error estimate than for
hood diseases within 90 d of birth on ME305 the other diseases.
or SAMPM2. If a criterion for statistical sig-
nificance had been used for inclusion of ex-
planatory variables, then these models could
have been simplified further. The directions of
estimates for the effects of the other explana-
tory variables in the models were as expected.
Parameter estimates for month of birth since
the beginning of the study and sire PTA for
milk were positive for the ME305 and
SAMPM2 models. In the SAMPM2 model,
estimates for the effects of calving age and
three times daily milking were positive, and
the production was lowest for heifers calving
June to August and highest for those calving
December to May.
Power functions for detection of the effects
of the three calfhood diseases of interest on
first lactation ME305 and SAMPM2 are shown
-loo0 -800 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600
in Figures 2 and 3. A relatively liberal a value Differencein ME305 (kg)
was chosen because this study is the first
follow-up of calfhood disease effects on
production in commercial herds. We consi-
- DULL90 + RESP9O + SCOUR90

Figure 2. Power function for detection of adverse

dered it more serious at this stage to fail to effects of dullness (DULL90). respiratory disease
detect a true detrimental effect of calfhood (RESF90). and scours (SCOUR90) within 90 d of birth on
diseases than to conclude falsely that there was 305-d mature equivalent milk production for Q = .I.

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78, No. 12, 1995

2826
2826 WARNICK ET
WARNICK ET AL.
AL

DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
m

~18 ~§ '" 00
oo~
"'V>
-V> '"
0\ ~
j Heifers that had experienced calfhood dis-
eases were expected to have lower first lacta-
!-' ~
13 tion milk production. Other associations, such
~
as increased age at calving for heifers with
§ calfhood respiratory disease (4) (4) or decreased
II
likelihood of
of calving <900 d of of age for heifers
c: • ~
-:"1 C"-!~ "<"': &
calf scours (17), showed that calfhood
that had calf
~
~

~ diseases might have long-term consequences.

~I~
::J g -<'1
- -<'1 -=:;
~e..
U
However, in this study there was no significant
independent association of of calfhood disease
status with first lactation milk production. This
v~
0

result agrees with a report from two institu-

'Ci
tional dairies that found no relationship
relationship be-
~
'<t'-
oOv1 -'"
..rori
r-- r--
..rori
~

N N
~0>0 tween health status of
milk production (2).
of the calf and subsequent
(2). Another study (9) also
:.§ failed to find a decrease
decrease in milk production
is~I~g v; ....
N v; 0'"
N v; '"
NV><'1
j.,
e!
n among heifers from a university dairy that had
recovered quickly fromfrom calfhood pneumonia.
::c Several factors
Several factors related to this study
study needed
g
] 138
considered when the results were inter-
to be considered
preted. The calfhood diseases
preted. diseases considered
inter-
considered were
"'I~ ~"': 0\ r--
"''''
~6
v; v; Mv1 Mv1 vi
'i
"0
~ ~
5B
diagnosed by the person who cared for the
diagnosed
calves. The classification
calves. classification had the advantages
advantages
::c ~I~ 8 syndromes that were
"0 .,., of being based on clinical syndromes
~
til ~
V>-,;- <'1~ '" <'1
V>

~ recognized and of interest to farmers farmers (16).

(16).

~ 000 0\<'1
i
$j
~
Also, the disease
Also, disease definitions

clinical definitions
clinical
definitions were not overly
complicated. One disadvantage
complicated.
definitions included
included disease
overly
disadvantage was that the
disease occur-
occur-
r--:~
:q
~'~
NM
,5
:t:t N- :!~ 88
IIII

~
!
~
~18
til ~
"'0
-:!
O\'<t'
-r<'l
<'10
N=:;

~.,
~6
;; 1'O~\
-

:a ...~
I ~~
'" 0
i
' \\
\\
\
.s8
r--", 00'" i ~ .8

1
"'00
0 v) v) Mv) .nV'i II ~ ~
-; ;$'"
ui8
o ~ VI
o ~ \\\ \ \
'\~\
u

~~ a~li .,.,'" ~ I:! Jl .6t \ \

=c ~ 1
<'100 O\N
~
V> v; v;
\\\
~~\
... 0 0
o '-= ..
"§ ~ g c: 0 \ \

~
...
'<;
~
VI
e~
c.. ~
a. .4 \

\\\
<'1r-- r<'l oc ., ~ c..
.c I~ ~~
"''''
~~ g~ g '8 g
.2
§ ~N ~ ~ _ -e
- <;~ =' c vr
~ '" oI ---'---+---+-+----+-. ~.
~ ~~I i
u I j
> ~
I •
0\0\
r<'l00
r-- 0\
;t;~ g
r<'l ' "
., '6 ~ -4
-4 -3
-3 -2
-2 -1-1 00 11 22
:~ '" § if..: Difference
Differenceinin2nd
2ndtest
testday
day milk
milk(kg)
(kg)
_ 2l '3
8- ~ = ClII
is i!
<
~
& ~
,
-DUll90
~DULL90 - SCOUR90
RESPSO - SCOUR90
RESP90

:1 8-
8
~ .J
~
.J .s ~
'2>
~ ~
s_0~_08
!5 -II
:: ~
~ s'Ci
g
Q ~
'CI
...
Figure 3.3. Power
Figure
effects
effects of
Power function
function for
for the
dullness (DULL90),
of dullness
the detection
detection of
(DULLW), respiratory
adverse
of adverse
respiratory disease
disease
~ ~
- N
(RESM), and
(RESP90). scours (SCOUR90)
and scours (SCOUR90) within
within 90 90 dd of
of birth
birth on
on
a:a Cl c=: til
.... 0
8 2nd test
2nd test day milk production
day milk for CtCY == .1.
production for .1.

Journal of Dairy
Journal of Dairy Science
Science Vol.
Vol. 78.
78, No,
No. 12.
12, 1995
1995
 CALFHOOD MORBIDITY AND MILK PRODUCTION
TABLE 5. Mixed linear model estimates of dairy calfhood disease effects on 305-d mature equivalent milk production
(25 New York Holstein herds; n = 728).
~
Parameter Estimate SE
Intercept 7955
(kg) -
224
Month of study born 11.2 9.6
Sire PTA milk, kg .8 .2
DULL902
0 0 . . .
1 -139 27 1
RESP90
0 0 . . .
1 123 265
SCOUR90
0 0 . .
1 158 215
ILB = Lower bound.
2For calfhood diseases, 1 = at least one occurrence 190 d of age; 0 = absent. DULL90 = Dull, listless, droopy ears, or
off feed 9 0 d of age; RESF'90 = cough, runny nose or eyes, or trouble breathing 190 d of age; and SCOUR90 = scours
or diarrhea 190 d of age.
rences of various etiologies, severity, duration,
and method of treatment (5). Multiple occur-
rences or severe cases of these diseases might
indeed affect milk production adversely, and
effective treatment might prevent adverse ef-
fects. Data collection in our study did not
allow disease categories to be accurately
divided into smaller subsets; therefore, the
conclusions of this study apply to general calf-
hood disease syndromes, as defined for the
study, and should not be interpreted as apply-
ing to specific conditions that might be in-
cluded in those categories.
Another potential problem was the failure to
classify calves correctly according to the dis-
ease definitions. In a field study such as this
one, there is a trade-off between uniformity of
classification and sample size. As number of
farms in a study increase, the chance for varia-
bility in the diagnosis of diseases is also in-
creased. In the collection of the calfhood data,
steps were taken to decrease this problem.
Specifically, diseases were recorded on forms
that included a description of each disease;
definitions were explained by ambulatory cli-
nicians and the technician visiting the farms,
and farms were visited frequently to collect
data and correct problems with the records (5).
There was no diagnostic confirmation made
for these calves and therefore no objective way
to assess the diagnoses recorded by owners.
2827
df 95% LBI 90% LB
650
650
650
. . . . . ...
13 -619 -505
. . . . . . ...
16 -341 -232
. . . . .
19 -214 -128
The conclusion that milk production was
not affected by calfhood disease in this study
applied to heifers that were selected as herd
replacements. This population did not neces-
sarily represent all heifers affected as calves. If
there are detrimental long-term effects of calf-
hood diseases, then some effects might be
recognized as the heifer matures. For example,
a heifer could have a poor rate of growth or
unthrifty appearance, and such heifers could be
removed from the herd before milk production
was measured. It was shown previously (7) that
heifers that were dull within 90 d of birth were
more likely to die after 90 d, and heifers with
respiratory disease within 90 d of birth were
less likely to calve (4). Having different per-
centages of heifers that calved among affected
and unaffected calves did not prove that selec-
tion bias existed for the sample heifers that
calved. However, that difference did suggest
that either the same criteria for selection were
used for the two groups and that fewer heifers
that had calfhood diseases met the criteria or
that different selection criteria were used for
heifers with and without histories of calfhood
disease. The lack of an effect on milk produc-
tion may indicate that there really is no long-
term effect of calfhood diseases on production
or that owners successfully selected only af-
fected heifers that would perform as well as
their herdmates; therefore, the conclusions
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78, No. 12, 1995
2828 WARNICK ET AL.

from this study apply to heifers that survived
and were selected as replacements.
Many factors have been shown previously
to be related to milk production. For this anal-
ysis, we attempted to control for potential con-
founding factors that affect milk production
and were anticipated to be associated with
calfhood diseases of interest. Factors that were
identified included age at first calving (8, 10,
11, 12), three times daily milking (l), and
season of calving (13). The ME305 was ad-
justed for these factors; therefore, they were
not included in that part of the analysis. In
addition, the estimates of effect of disease
were adjusted for the month of study in which
the heifer was born and sire PTA for milk
production. The study month of birth was in-
cluded because of the clustering of disease
Occurrence in time and because production
tended to increase for heifers born later in the
study. This increase amounted to about 270 kg
of ME305 over the study period or 12.4 kg/
mo. The PTA for milk for the sires of the
heifer is a measure of the expected production
of the daughters of that sire relative to daugh-
ters of other sires. This factor was controlled
because of the possibility that calfhood dis-
eases were diagnosed differently depending on
the sire, which might have Occurred for
SCOUR90. After adjusting for herd, the sire
PTA for milk was significantly higher (F test;
P = .02)for calves diagnosed with SCOUR90.
The results reported here are from models
that included herd and disease interactions
with herd as random effects. This approach
assumes that this sample of herds is a random
sample from a conceptual population of similar
herds. The statistical inference from the study
was to this conceptual population rather than
being restricted to heifers in the particular
herds included in the study. The parameter
estimates and standard errors for explanatory
variables other than disease effects were also
based on mixed models with herd as a random
effect. For these covariables, fixed effect inter-
actions with herd were not included in the
model and were therefore pooled with residual
error.

TABLE 6 . Mixed linear model estimates of dairy calfhood disease effects on the second test day of milk production (25
New York Holstein herds; n = 697).
Parameter Estimate SE df 95% LB' 90% LB

Intercept
erg) - 616
17.2 2
Calving season
Dec to Feb .9 .47 616
Mar to May 1.4 .52 616
Jun to Aug -1.4 .52 616
Sep to Nov 0 . . . ...
Calving age, mo .3 .05 616
Daily milking
Two times -.7 1.1 616
Three times 0 . . . ...
Month of study born .02 .03 616
Sire PTA milk, kg .OOO8 .o006 616
DULL902
0 0 ... ... . . . ...
1 -1 .86 13 -2.5 -2.2
RESP90
0 0 ... . . . . I . ...
1 1 1 15 -.a -.3
SCOUR90
0 0 ... ... ... ...
1 .4 .58 18 -.6 -.4
1LB = Lower bound.
*For calfhood diseases, 1 = at least one occurrence 590 d of age; 0 = absent. DULL90 = Dull, listless, droopy ears, or
off feed 590 d of age; RESP90 = cough, runny nose or eyes, or trouble breathing 190 d of age; and SCOUR90 = scours
or diarrhea 590 d of age.

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 78, No. 12. 1995

 CALFHOOD MORBIDITY AND MILK PRODUCTION
The standard errors associated with the calf-
hood disease effect estimates in this study
were relatively large. Milk production was
variable among herds, the scope of the study
did not allow for disease measurement in a
larger number of herds, and only 5 to 13% of
the calves were affected by the diseases of
interest. Nevertheless, a large (e.g., -1000 kg)
negative effect of calfhood RESP90,DULL90,
or SCOUR90 on subsequent first lactation
ME305 is not consistent with these data. The
lower bounds of the one-sided 95% confidence
intervals for the effects of DuLL90, RESP90,
and SCOUR90 on ME305 were -619, -341,
and -214, respectively. The results for actual
SAMPM2 were consistent with ME305 and
reflected the value of each kilogram of produc-
tion near the peak of the lactation curve toward
total lactation production. Of the calfhood dis-
eases analyzed, only DULL90 had negative
estimates for the association with first lactation
milk production.
The power of a study of this sample size
was calculated for a range of population effects
of calfhood diseases on milk production. For
drawing conclusions about calfhood disease
effects, a sample with a similar number of
herds and heifers would have good Dower
(280%) if the true detrimental gfect of the
calfhood disease were >500 to 600 kg in
ME305, assuming that calfhood disease mor-
bidity rates and variances for the effect were
similar to the estimates from this sample of
heifers.
We reported the milk production of >700
first lactation Holstein cows in 25 dairy herds
for which calfhood disease status was known.
Heifers diagnosed with at least one occurrence
of DULL90, RESP90, or SCOUR90 appeared
less likely to survive and to be kept as replace-
ments. Among the heifers that calved and had
DHI records for milk production, calfhood dis-
eases had no significant detrimental effect on
milk production. This lack of significance may
have resulted from a lack of long-term effect
of these conditions or to successful selection of
replacements from the available heifers in
these herds. The broad categorization of dis-
ease and herd characteristics should be consi-
dered when these results are interpreted. Heif-
ers that survived SCOUR90 or DULL90 could
be expected to perform as well as herdmates.
Heifers that had respiratory disease and were
2829
kept as replacements also performed as well,
but a higher proportion of those heifers was
sold before calving.
This study evaluated only one of the poten-
tial costs of c a l f h d morbidity. Results pub-
lished previously from analyses of data from
this same cohort of dairy heifers showed sig-
nificant associations of calfhood diseases with
other outcomes. These included increased mor-
tality before weaning for calves diagnosed
with SCOUR90, F2ESP90, or DULL90 (6) and
higher mortality from weaning until near calv-
ing age for calves diagnosed with DULL90 (7).
Incidence of RESP90 was associated with in-
creased age at first calving (4, 19) and greater
risk of dystocia at first calving (19). As with
milk production, there was no significant as-
sociation of any of the three calfhood diseases
examined with longevity in the milking herd
(20). Although these two important measures
of performance were not affected by calfhood
morbidity in this sample of dairy herds, other
detrimental effects identified should be consi-
dered in determining the importance of preven-
tion and treatment of c a l f i d diseases.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the owners of participating dairy
herds for collecting data and providing herd
records. The previous work of Chuck Curtis
(deceased) and Maria Correa is appreciated.
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