Metabolic adaptation recorded during one lactation does not allow predicting longevity in dairy cows

Metabolic and health disorders account distinctly for culling in dairy cows. This study investigated if metabolic status obtained once in life during a negative energy balance in early lactation allows to predict age and lifetime performance animals achieved at culling. Metabolically stressed cows entering at least their 3rd lactation (n = 200, parity: 5.0 ± 2.1, mean ± SD) were selected from a field study conducted in Switzerland. Age of cows at culling ranged from 4.7 to 20.2 years with parities from 3 to 17. From cows with known reasons of culling, 28.4% were culled because of fertility, 16.4% due to udder health, 15.5% due to high age and 10.4% because of claw health/lameness. A retrospective classification of the one-time recorded metabolic adaptation in week 4 post partum did not differ between animals of different parities at culling. Furthermore, there was no relationship neither between the metabolic adaptation recorded in a preceding lactation and the number of lactations achieved, nor to the lifetime milk production. Contrary to the wide spread assumptions, an inadequate adaptation due to a high metabolic load in early lactation may not result in an earlier culling of dairy cows, although they are more prone to metabolic disorders.