Causas de morte de bezerros lactentes relacionadas a falhas de manejo

Abstract

Brazil is the world’s third largest producer of bovine milk and Minas Gerais state is currently the largest milk producer in the country, contributing with 27.2% of the national production. The health management of dairy cattle is a determining factor in the success of the livestock segment. Illness and death of suckling calves influence negatively in herd replacement, sale of surplus animals, in addition to generating costs for treatment, diagnosis and control measures. The aim of this study was to identify the causes of death in suckling calves from dairy herds submitted to necropsy at the Setor de Patologia Veterinária in the Universidade Federal de Lavras (SPV-UFLA), located in Lavras, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, identify related management failures, as well as describe the pathological findings and associated epidemiological risk situations. Aspiration pneumonia, omphalitis, gastric lesions as milk ruminitis, abomasal ulcers, dilation, torsion and/or rupture, and neonatal sepsis were the cause of death for 43 out of 94 suckling calves submitted to necropsy from January 2019 to January 2024. These deaths exceeded the number of calf deaths related to infectious and parasitic diseases in this study. Risk factors identified in the clinical history were artificial calve feeding with buckets, nasogastric tube and/or bottle, excessive volume of colostrum or milk per feeding, failure to heal the navel, indiscriminate use of anti inflammatory drugs and antibiotics. Neonatal sepsis cases have been observed in association with inappropriate birth place, failed colostrum feeding and navel healing. The illnesses identified in the necropsies, in most cases, were not the requesters clinical suspicion and the treatments reported were mainly indicated for infectious diseases, expressing the difficulty in clinical diagnosis of non-infectious alterations, as well as the use of metaphylaxis in several properties. Recurrence of failures in basic management such as navel healing and colostrum feeding was also observed. Most deaths occurred in properties with identified levels of technology and technical assistance. Management failures were the main causes of injuries and death in suckling calves from dairy systems in this study, with aspiration pneumonia, milk ruminitis, omphalitis and abomasal ulcers being the most identified injuries at necropsy and histopathology. The diagnosis of these management failures is essential to subsidize the review of calves raising in dairy production systems, taking into account animal welfare conditions, losses resulting from calve illness and death due to management failures, as well as losses resulting from unnecessary use of medications, including microbial multidrug resistance.