Impact of puerperal disorders on early culling and milk production in Slovak Spotted dairy cows

Puerperal diseases are major postpartum complications indairy cattle and may compromise both survival and production performance. This study evaluated how specific puerperal diseases influence early culling risk and standardised 305-day milk traits inSlovak Spotted cows. Atotal of792 animals were clinically assessed during early postpartum and classified ashealthy oraffected byketosis, metritis, retained foetal membranes, parturient paresis, orbycomorbid diseases, defined asthe concurrent occurrence oftwo ormore disorders. Logistic regression models indicated that ketosis was associated with the highest odds ofculling compared with healthy cows (odds ratio=2.23; P=0.05). The multivariable model had apredictive discrimination of0.75, asindicated bythe area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, suggesting moderate performance. After excluding the cows culled during the puerperium toavoid bias from incomplete lactation data, the dataset was restricted to546 animals. Within this group, metritis was associated with the lowest 305-day milk yield, with anaverage decrease of1124kg compared with healthy cows (P<0.05). Protein content was slightly lower incows affected bypuerperal disease (P<0.05), with nosignificant differences inmilk yield, fat orlactose content, nor lactation persistency index. Parity and sire line still remained the primary determinants ofvariation inmilk traits. The results can beused tosupport decision-making inherd health management and genetic improvement strategies aimed atenhancing cow longevity and production efficiency.