Milk yield and reproductive performance of Holstein cows testing positive for bovine tuberculosis

The objective of this study was to determine if high milk-yielding Holstein cows testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) are affected in their reproductive performance and milk yield. For this purpose, 1044 healthy cows and 105 bTB reactor cows were used. Tuberculosis reactor cows were from four large commercial dairy operations from the same region which were transferred from their barns to an isolated dairy facility. Cows free from this disease were placed in the same barn as the bTB reactor cows but in an isolated division and served as control animals. The analysis of variance with a general linear model for binary data showed that the reproductive performance of bTB reactors was impaired; overall pregnancy per artificial insemination differed (P < 0.05) between bTB reactor and non-reactor cows (16.9 vs. 20.7 %). Cows that were TB reactors required 4.7 +/- 2.9 services per pregnancy compared with 4.3 +/- 2.8 for control cows (P > 0.05). The intervals between calving and conception were similar between bTB reactors (154 +/- 78 days) and control animals (150 +/- 80 days). Control cows tended (P = 0.08) to produce more milk than bTB reactors over a 305-day lactation (10,684 +/- 1720 vs. 10,345 +/- 1736; mean +/- SD). Serum metabolites indicative of nutritional stress did not differ between bTB reactor and non-reactor cows. It was concluded that both reproductive performance and milk yield decreased marginally in bTB reactor cows, which explains the reluctance of milk producers to get rid of these animals.