Ketosis, also known as acetonaemia, is a metabolic disorder that occurs in cattle when energy demands exceed energy intake and results in a negative energy balance. In these circumstances the body gets its energy from ketone bodies instead of what normally happens which is from simple blood glucose.
When large amounts of body fat are used as an energy source to support milk production, fat is sometimes mobilised faster than the liver can properly metabolise it. If this occurs, ketone production exceed and as a result the cows suffer from ketosis
This commonly occurs when dairy cows are in the phases of early lactation and as a consequence the cows can get depression, anorexia due to loss of appetite or most importantly, what concerns the milk suppliers, the cows milk production yield reduces.
Now Elanco has launched an antibiotic which is said to be the biggest livestock product in history. The antibiotic producers encourage that any cow in suspicion of getting ketosis during calving should be given Kexxtone. Currently in Germany over 70000 cows are treated yearly with a 90 day long dose of Kexxtone. The medicine regulates the ketone levels back to normal. Yet it has an interesting secondary effect, apart from bringing affected cows back to healthy milk production rates, when given to cows that were already healthy in a first place it still considerably raises their milk production yield as well. Therefore there is a high suspicion that milk companies are deliberately giving this drug to healthy cows and abusing the use of the antibiotic in order to have a better and increased overall milk production yield to raise their revenue.
The overuse and abusive use of antibiotics has a big negative impact on our environment and potential health. When antibiotics are exposed to nature they are bound to move around and get into contact with bacteria. If bacteria is exposed to the antibiotics frequently, then they will mutate and essentially find a way to become immune before they may infect you. Same goes within your body. If you intake milk containing large amounts of antibiotics (since they are given to the animals for a course of 90 days) then your body will also become immune to the medicine. As a consequence if you are ever in the need of taking antibiotics where you need the cure to be effective as possible then you might find yourself not reacting as effectively to the drug due to over indirect exposure.
Therefore we should really be cautious about how many antibiotics we use and for what. Especially in cases like these, where they are avoidable. Even for the cows that are suffering from ketosis there are author methods to treat it according to the Greenpeace agra expert Martin Hofstetter.