First-lactation cows are some of the most genetically valuable animals in the dairy herd but the transition into their first lactation can have lasting effects on health, reproduction and future performance.
Originally released on The Dairy Podcast Show, this episode features Dr. Larry Roth of Agrarian Solutions and Dr. Liz Eckelkamp discussing the unique challenges first-lactation cows face at calving, including reduced feed intake, inflammation, and uterine health.
They explore how these early challenges can create a cascade that affects reproductive performance, retention and a cow’s ability to reach her genetic potential.
Listen in as they discuss fresh cow management and what can be done to help first-lactation cows get off to a stronger start, and set them up for a more productive future.
🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Welcome to the Dairy podcast show, brought to you by Wisenetix. I’m Doctor Liz Eckelkamp, associate professor and dairy extension specialist at the University of Tennessee. Today we’re joined by Doctor Larry Roth, who is the vice president of nutrition for Agrarian Solutions. His career in dairy and beef nutrition give him a unique perspective on solutions for first lactation dairy cattle. Welcome, Larry. Thank you for joining us today.
Dr. Larry Roth: All right. Thank you. It was a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: And I’m looking forward to our conversation, especially because we’re going to focus today on first lactation heifers, response to calving related inflammation and how this can impact their lifelong production in the herd. And we were talking a little bit in the green room. And it sounds like y’all have some research that y’all have just done around this topic.
Dr. Larry Roth: That’s correct. Yes.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So what unique factors were you focusing on specific to first lactation heifers?
Dr. Larry Roth: So I think when we look at first lactation heifers, they’re the group on the dairy that have the highest genetic value. They’re, they’re the latest genetics, improved genetics, compared to their older peers there at the dairy. And so I think we need to remember that they have a reduced dry matter intake during the close up period as they come into their most challenging day of the year.
And their intake is going to be depressed afterwards. Sometimes these heifers are put in with the older boss cows, both pre fresh and post fresh, which can further reduce their intake. And there’s also a social stress that is put on these animals. They’ve never been in these kinds of competitive situations. There’s a lot that they’re trying to figure out.
Let’s also remember that these first lactation heifers have a higher incidence of calving difficulties compared to their older peers, shall we say. This is also the first time that they have made colostrum or milk. So we have changes going on in the mammary gland as well. And this is the first time that they’re going to be going on to a higher energy type diet with their post-fresh diet.
So there’s changes going on in the digestive tract. But I think that one of the things that we want to focus on today that’s relatively unique to these first lactation heifers is they have a higher incidence of metritis as first lactation heifers as compared to the older cows at that dairy. Generally, transition issues increase as lactation number increases. But from metritis, the incidence is highest for the first lactation heifers and declines as we go to the multiple lactation cows.
And this was born out in a study by Lean et all 2023, where they looked at 28,000 cows across Australia, Canada, United States. And we hear the similar findings as we talked to production vets, nutritionists and dairy producers in this country and elsewhere.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: We see that with ketosis too in first lactation animals don’t we? Because of those metabolic shifts, because she’s still growing and then everything else as well?
Dr. Larry Roth: Yes, quite often the ketosis may be a little bit higher in some of the multiple lactation cows. But I think it really comes to how these animals are able to handle inflammation as a first lactation. You know, again, I think we go back to the reduced feed intake. How are these animals housed? Are they going to be housed with multiple lactation cows who are wanting to share space at the feed bunk?
Both, both pre and post fresh? They’ve got to take off on feed intake. Just as you said, they’re still growing. They are all of these energy demands. And one of the unique things from an inflammation standpoint, is the uterus is going to get exposed to bacteria that has never been exposed to before. Matt Lucy, University of Missouri has done a tremendous amount of research on all of these things related to uterine health in relation and had a neat study, Sylvia and Lucy in 2025, where they looked at pathogenic profile, most with a healthy first lactation and multiple lactation animals, as well as those who had metritis first lactation and multiple lactation.
So the immune system has never really been exposed to some of these bacteria. So it’s got to go to school. It’s got to learn how to produce the factors that can limit these pathogens before they take off. But remember, all of this is happening while nutrients are needed to go to all of these other things. Making milk, helping the animal to grow. And oh yeah, the nutrient supply has been reduced due to the reduced feed intake where we started off our conversation.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So when you’re specifically thinking about inflammation factors focused on first lactation, are you really relating that primarily to the metritis or are there any other fresh cow disorders that you think about in that same area?
Dr. Larry Roth: Well, there could certainly be other transition issues going on. And I think it really comes back to how does that cow feel? Is just like us. We could go to a nice buffet, but if one of us is feeling kind of poorly, we’re probably not going to go up to that buffet multiple times. And so I think that we have to concentrate on what is going on that is requiring the immune system’s attention, if we can think of it that way.
And so I really think inflammation there in the uterus is one of the biggest draws for nutrients at this time. But yeah, remember, again, we started off saying these are the animals, the greatest genetic value, which means they have the greatest drive to produce milk, and they’re going to do all kinds of things to try to fulfill that genetic drive, breakdown their body if they have to. That can lead to the ketosis, which you reference a little bit earlier. But I really think a lot of this starts with inflammation.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So with that inflammation, are you, when you’re thinking about that playing into uterine infections, are you thinking specifically metritis? Or are you thinking kind of like that whole cascade. Right. So, do, does this start with inflammation and a difficult calving? Right. With increased retained placenta is going into metritis because you know, all of those things are so interrelated. So how do you see that playing a detour in infections? And what are some of those long term implications?
Dr. Larry Roth: Well, I think it’s all very interrelated. And let me give a quote. And I wrote this down, so I get it right from Caldera at all 2025, in which it said future studies and therapeutic treatments related to uterine health should consider uterine involution as a process of wound repair. So think of it right there. We’ve gotta repair this wound.
The uterus is going to be shrinking in size dramatically. That requires the function of the immune system. So we’re having nutrients that we want to go elsewhere to perhaps more profitable functions, such as helping the follicles to develop and, oh, yeah, produce milk. Instead, it’s going to work on wound repair. And then back to our quote, tissue regeneration in the face of bacterial infection.
So not just tissue regeneration, not just shrinking the uterus and size, but the bacteria infection. And so that’s where I come with inflammation is being right there at the root of that. So with that infection we’ve got some short term consequences like elevated acute phase proteins. And oh yeah go back to reduce feed intake. So if you’re starting to think I have a hang up about reduced feed intake, you’re, you’re probably right.
Because how many times do we say if I could just get the cow to eat. Life is good. She takes off. She doesn’t look back. So everything that we’re doing is thinking about what can we do to get her to eat and get the nutrients into her. And then glucose gets reallocated by the immune system from helping with, follicular development and milk production.
And as you stated earlier, growth is going to just try to keep the animal alive. We got to defeat these pathogens in the uterus. And oh, yeah, at the same time, we got pathogens trying to enter the body through the mammary gland. So the cow is really fighting a multiple front war at the same time. And she’s got to determine where do these nutrients go so that I can get the biggest return?
I got to stay alive. And that’s the first thing I got to do. That’s what she’s saying before I start to produce milk. And oh, yeah, I got to produce milk before I’m going to develop my follicles so that I can get pregnant and have a calf next year. So I like how you use the term, I think you said cascade, and I think that’s really what it is.
One thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another. And so we got to go back to where it all starts. And I think it’s defeating these pathogens, the wound repair in the uterus and regenerating all of these tissues. So that she’s ready to get pregnant on that first service so we can reduce those days open and have that very valuable calf next year and get her primed so that she’s ready to have milk for that second lactation.
And I think that’s really what brings us to some of these long term challenges. Been a lot of work. Ribeiro, Carvalho at home from 2017, looking at long term performance losses, delayed resumption of ovarian cycling, reduced pregnancies per service. And it goes on an increased calling from there. If these animals have a case of metritis. But they were really looking at multiple lactation cows.
I think it was Marshall et all 2024. That really opened our eyes to these long term consequences with first lactation have first having metritis because the dogma used to be first lactation heifers, they don’t have as much of a challenge, compared to the multiple lactation cows. So they’re going to breeze on through. But Marshall et all showed in a survey of 4800 cows at one dairy, 4200 cows and another that there was tremendous increases in the odds of retained placenta, delayed re-breeding and increased calling at the second lactation. If there was some metritis at the first lactation.
So, again, we’ve got to get this animal of greatest genetic value to have a strong immune system defeat the pathogens in the uterus here at first calving at the start of her first lactation so that she stays in the herd, has an opportunity to live up to her genetic potential, not just in the first lactation, but second and on. So it really, again, you use the term cascade. I think we can say that incidence and metritis at the first lactation leads to a cascade of events through subsequent lactation or cabins that reduces her ability to stay in the herd and live up to her genetic potential.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I would absolutely agree with you on that one. And when we’re thinking about something like metritis or, even things like ketosis and milk fever, they’re also interrelated. So if we start to solve one, we usually have a good handle on trying to address some of the others.
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So when we’re thinking with first lactation heifers and the greater risk associated with first lactation heifers, how can we help mitigate some of those issues so we don’t see that future cascade in second or third lactation, that we can make it to a third and fourth lactation with these high value animals.
Dr. Larry Roth: Well, I think that the place to start is with my hang up feed intake. Let’s do everything we can from a housing standpoint, quality of feed, bunk space to encourage feed consumption, pre and post fresh breast. Look at the right nutrients to support the immune system. Antioxidant support to help resolve stress that’s caused from metabolites produced during normal metabolism as well as with immune system.
And then we’ve got a unique product Cow Start Complete. And so we’re advocating based upon some recently completed research. Give it one. Just one of the Cow Start Complete boluses and freshening. It’s uniquely formulated with what I like to refer to as sea minerals from seaweed. There’s 74 macro and micro minerals, selenium, yeast, and a high level of vitamin E to provide some of the antioxidant support.
And what we saw in a recently completed study at two different farms, one farm had 48 cows that were randomly assigned to a control where there was no bolus giving at calving to the other treatment with one of the Cow Start complete. And then a second farm, where it was 200 cows. So 100 cows in each treatment.
And these were pretty productive herds. One was 27.5f for rolling herd average and the other was 28.5 five. First herd was 1500 cows. The second one was just over 5000. And so the dairies were doing a good job from a production standpoint, but their challenge was a high level of incident of metritis with these first lactation heifers, so what they saw in the course of this study was that, metritis was 10% for the control cows at farm A, but also got just one Cow Start Complete bolus there wasn’t any metrics. So from 10% to zero.
At the second farm went from 17% metritis for the control to only 6% for those who got one Cow Start Complete. So if we go back to our initial promise, highest genetic value animals at the dairy, less incidence of metritis, less cows starting down that negative cascade for problems in the first lactation and problem second, and so forth after that.
But as much as the dairy producer thinks they’re in the business of producing milk, I think they’re really in the business of getting cows pregnant and staying pregnant. And those cows who got the one Cow Start Complete bolus at calving, these first lactation animals, 53% of them were pregnant on the first service, as contrasted to 41% or 25% fewer for the controls.
And at the second farm, it was only 45% that were pregnant off the first service for control, as compared to those who got one Cow Start Complete bolus who were at 50%. And if my math is right, that’s about a ten percentage unit improvement. So again, these animals are subject to inflammation. They’ve never been exposed to these pathogenic bacteria in the uterus.
They got all of these other metabolic challenges going on. They’re under attack. And the mammary gland, all of the social stressors, it really comes down to what can we do to help resolve that inflammation. And I think here we’ve got a unique combination of the same minerals, 74 different macro and micro minerals, a high level of selenium, yeast and vitamin E to help that immune system resolve the inflammation so the cow can reallocate nutrients for profitable purposes: getting pregnant, staying pregnant, making milk and in the case of these first lactation heifers, continuing to grow.
But it all begins right there with that inflammation story right there in the uterus. So let’s help that wound repair itself, regenerate the tissue so the cow stays in the herd for a long time, lives up to her genetic potential, and makes the owner some money.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I know you mentioned that with Cow Start Complete it was a single bolus. I was doing some googling earlier. It looks like it’s a two bolus dosage. So was it a single dosage or a single bolus? Just so I’m clear, cause I’m nosy.
Dr. Larry Roth: Right question. So if you go back to the website, the information you were looking at those two boluses work for multiple lactation cows. And I think if you look at it, that’s a very key point. Mult second and grader two, first lactation one. And so I may have been a little bit dramatic like that kindergartner in the school place and one Cow Start Complete bolus. But I think we want to drive that point home. Yeah we’re talking second and greater two. If it’s just that first lactation heifer one.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: I’m glad I asked for clarification because I would have left confused.
Dr. Larry Roth: I appreciate you saying that. Appreciate you saying that because we do want to bear it out, that it’s just one that is needed.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Well, Larry, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Related to first lactation fresh cow management. I think we hit on some important points around feed access. Some of the supportive roles that things like Cow Start Complete could absolutely play, and trying to manage those animals and get them off to a better start. I do have a few questions for you. Unrelated, before we in the episode, are you ready?
Dr. Larry Roth: I’m ready. Fire away.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Okay. What is your favorite dairy related book or resource?
Dr. Larry Roth: All right. You know, with this thing called the internet. I don’t know if we open up books so much anymore as we go online. And I think you look at some of the proceedings from, like the Cornell Nutrition conference. Being in Minnesota, I go to the four states. There’s also a tri-state that these proceedings are a tremendous resource.
So going back and looking up data, and again, how can you beat the Journal of Dairy Science? So let us go, Journal of Dairy Science, top of the list and then go to conference proceedings in second place.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: So the JDS and then S pack. So all those things you can get with our subscriptions. I love that.
Dr. Larry Roth: There you go.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: Outside of dairy. What’s your favorite book?
Dr. Larry Roth: Okay. Well, you know, when we start thinking about a manual for life, it’s hard to beat the Bible. Another book that I like to go to is, the book itself is called Gods and Generals. It was made into the movie Gettysburg. And, one time I gave a speech on 12 lessons from Gettysburg for the livestock industry.
And so there’s a lot of neat things. I think probably the primary lesson that comes from Gods and Generals is always take the high ground. And if we go through life that way, we’re always taking the high ground. We’re not taking the low road. We present ourselves from a high ethical standpoint. Life is going to be a whole lot easier.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: All right, final question. In your opinion, what sets successful dairy professionals apart from those that are less successful?
Dr. Larry Roth: What, what helps somebody to be successful? Not only the dairy industry, but in life in general, being willing to take advice from somebody else. If we start to think that we’ve got all of the answers, we probably don’t. So being willing to have that trusted cabinet of advisors, if you will, people around us who are smarter than us, let me tell you, it’s easy to be successful in life. Surround yourself with people who are wiser and smarter than you are, and it’s a breeze from there.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: It’s really, really good advice. Well, that’s going to conclude another episode of the Dairy Podcast Show presented by Wise Genetics. Doctor Roth, thank you again for sharing your time and experiences on the podcast. Really enjoyed talking to you and hearing your perspective.
Dr. Larry Roth: Thank you.
Dr. Liz Eckelkamp: And thank you to everyone, listening and tuning in today. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay updated on future episodes.
And if you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave us a review. Your feedback is invaluable to us. Until next time, this is Dr. Liz Eckelkamp from the Dairy Podcast Show signing Off. Have a dairy great day.
