Retrospective evaluation of health event data recording on 50 dairies using Dairy Comp 305

The purpose of this study was to characterize health data recording in herds using Dairy Comp 305 (Valley Agricultural Software, Tulare, CA), focused on the most common diseases of dairy cattle: mastitis, uterine infection (metritis), and diseases causing lameness. Herds using Dairy Comp 305 were chosen for the study because it was the most commonly used program in the United States (35% of operations using computer records/60% of cows on operations using computer records), the authors were familiar with the program, and there was convenient access to herds using the program. Specific objectives were to (1) determine the percentage of herds recording mastitis, metritis, and diseases causing lameness and the number of user-defined events used to record those diseases, (2) identify the information recorded in the remarks about the event used for each disease, and (3) evaluate the consistency of health event remarks recorded. A convenience sample of 50 Dairy Comp 305 compressed cow files was obtained directly from dairies that the authors had contact with or files obtained from industry consultants. The 50 herds included in the study were from 9 different states: California (n=3), Colorado (n=2), Iowa (n=2), Idaho (n=8), Minnesota (n=2), New Mexico (n=9), Oregon (n=2), Texas (n=2), Utah (n=1), and Washington (n=19). The average number of milking cows of the herds was 3,053 (median=2,217), ranging from 310 to 12,490 cows. The majority of dairies in this study were recording health events associated with mastitis, metritis, and diseases causing lameness. However, as reported previously, most health records observed in the current study lacked the accuracy and consistency needed to be useful for evaluating and informing herd-level health management decisions. This situation likely reflects the intended use of those records by farm personnel and the user-defined nature of health records in the absence of accepted industry standards or recommendations for health data-recording practices.