Prevalence, causes, resolution and consequences of bovine dystocia in Italy

The aim of this study was to report prevalences and causes of dystocias in dairy and beef cattle, in primiparous and multiparous cows, as well as the mortality rate of calves and cows, obtained after 11 years of records across various farms in Italy. On a total of 14,575 records from dairy Italian Friesian cows, beef Romagnola and Marchigiana cows, a prevalence of 5.6% was observed, with a significant higher prevalence in primiparous (p < 0.0001), and dairy cows (p < 0.0001). Dystocias of fetal origin were higher than the ones of maternal origin (p < 0.0001). Dystocia management, performed with manual correction in 96% of the cases, was associated with the 25% of calf mortality and the 11% of maternal mortality. When the combined effects of attitude and parity were assessed in relation to each fetal or maternal dystocia cause, dystocia resolution method and on calf, cow and calf-and-cow mortality, results showed a stronger association of dairy primiparous and multiparous cows than beef cows to several dystocia causes and calf-and-cow mortality. Taken together the results from the present study highlighted, once more, the importance of a correct breeding herd management and genetic selection programmes, especially in dairy cows, as well as the prompt diagnosis and correction of difficult calvings, for the effective management of dystocias aimed to reduce calf mortality.