Sondersammlungen

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Metabolic adaptation to energetic demands of early lactation in Holstein Friesian and Simmental cows
(2025) Ruda, Lena; Straub, C.; Scholz, A.M.; Huber, Korinna
Holstein Friesian (HF) is the highest-performing dairy breed worldwide. However, this breed is prone to suffer from health disorders and infertility due to metabolic instability. The aim of the study was to use the metabolic differences between to breed, German HF and German Simmental (SI), for discussion of the biological impact of well-known and novel pathways and their respective indicators. Therefore, a targeted metabolomics approach combined with an examination of classical clinical chemistry using plasma samples was used to describe the metabolic status 42 days before expected calving and at day 21 of lactation. In total, 27 multiparous cows (HF n = 17, SI n = 10) were enrolled in the study. All cows were kept on the same farm under identical management, feeding and housing conditions. BW of HF cows dropped while SI cows maintained their BW but produced less milk than HF cows during the first weeks of lactation. Differences were detected for the following indicators and related pathways, and were used to assess their biological impact. Branched-chain amino acids such as leucine and isoleucine at day +21 remained as high as at day −42 in HF cows; however, in SI cows, a clear drop in these amino acids was observed indicating less body protein mobilisation in this breed. Alpha amino-adipic acid and kynurenine as markers for oxidative stress balance were increased at day +21 in HF cows, only reflecting a metabolically more tensed condition in HF cows. As a conclusion, these findings confirm the impact of these metabolites on a higher risk to suffer from metabolic disorders.
Review: Welfare in farm animals from an animal-centred point of view
(2024) Huber, Korinna
This review aimed to enlighten aspects of welfare from the farm animal-centred point of view rarely addressed such as those anatomical and physiological alterations induced in farm animals to obtain high performance. Hence, the major working hypothesis was that high-producing farm animals developed an imbalance between body structural and functional capacities and the genetic procedures applied to obtain industrial production of animal protein. This is called “disproportionality”, a feature which cannot be compensated by feeding and management approaches. Consequences of disproportionality are the insidious development of disturbances of the metabolism, low-grade systemic inflammation and as a final stage, production diseases, developing throughout the productive life span of a farm animal and affecting animal welfare. Based on scientific evidence from literature, the review discusses disproportional conditions in broilers, laying hens, sows, piglets, dairy cows, bulls and calves as the most important farm animals for production of milk, meat, foetuses and eggs. As a conclusion, farm animal welfare must consider analysing issues from an animal-centered point of view because it seems evident that, due to genetics and management pressures, most of farm animals are already beyond their physiological limitations. Animal welfare from an animal-centered point must be addressed as an ethical step to establish limits to the strength placed on the animal’s anatomical and physiological functionality. It may allow more sustainable and efficient farm animal production and the availability of healthy animal-derived protein for human nutrition worldwide.

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