Sixty-seven Holstein-Friesian cows, from 20 days postpartum, were recruited into the study and fitted with both a pedometer (SAE Afikim) and a Heatime neck collar (SCR Engineers) and allocated a heat mount detector (either scratchcard [Dairymac] or KaMaR [KaMaR]) or left with none, relying only on farm staff observation. Common production stressors and other factors were assessed to determine their impact on the ability of each method to accurately detect oestrus and to investigate effects on the frequency of false-positive detections. Only 74 per cent of all potential oestrus periods (episodes of low progesterone) were identified by combining information from all methods. There was no difference between the methods in terms of sensitivity for detecting 'true oestrus events' (approximately 60 per cent), with the exception of scratchcards, which were less efficient (36 per cent). Pedometers and KaMaRs had higher numbers of false-positive identifications. No production stressors had any consequence on false-positives. The positive predictive values for neck collars or observation by farm staff were higher than those of other methods, and combining these two methods yielded the best results. Neck collars did not detect any of the nine oestrus events occurring in three cows with a body condition score (BCS) of less than 2, and the efficiency of correctly identifying oestrus was also reduced by high milk yield (odds ratio [OR]=0.34). Pedometer efficiency was reduced by lameness, low BCS or high milk yield (OR=0.42, 0.15 or 0.30, respectively).

Umbilical swellings are commonly identified in calves and can be caused by hernia formation, infection of the remnants of umbilical vessels or a combination of both. Ninety-one cases with umbilical swellings were admitted to the Leahurst Farm Animal Practice (LFAP) between July 2004 and February 2012; 55 were simple hernias and 36 had associated infection. Eighty-seven cases underwent surgery of which 86 survived until discharge. Postoperative complications occurred in 65/86 animals (73 per cent). In 51 cases (81 per cent) this was classified as minor requiring no additional treatment. Placement of a prosthetic mesh was associated with a higher OR for developing severe postoperative complication when compared with those not receiving a mesh (OR=19.3; 95% CI 4.5 to 83.5). Long-term survival results were available for 49 animals, 22 of which were remaining in the herd with a median age of 1346 days (3.7 years). Of the 27 animals which had exited the herd, 16 were adult dairy cows, 7 were dairy heifers, 2 were beef animals and 2 exited at an unknown stage. Umbilical surgery in calves carries a good prognosis, although placement of a mesh increases the risk of complications occurring in the postoperative period.

No abstract

Obstetrics is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding tasks in farm animal work but conversely it is one of the more stressful, requiring sound decision making under pressure. Due to the vagaries of nature, the majority of obstetrical cases occur at night when farm staff may be in short supply and veterinary back up may not always be available. It must be appreciated that it is a demanding time for all involved; the cow, farmer and veterinary surgeon. This article cannot cover every eventuality and does not set out to describe every obstetrical presentation, but rather to provide guidelines which will aid decision making when calving cows. To paraphrase McLintock 2004 (from Mee 2008) ‘There is no such thing as an easy calving … just varying degrees of difficulty … from the dam's perspective’.

A long recovery increases the duration of anaesthesia. The risk of perioperative anaesthetic-related complications and death is associated with increasing duration of anaesthesia in dogs (Brainard and others 2006, Brodbelt and others 2008, Robinson and others 2014), horses (Johnston and others 1995, Cohen and others 2004) and humans (Tiret and others 1986). It would seem probable that a similar situation exists in cattle, although there is a lack of information to verify this. Ketamine and thiopental are suitable as induction agents for general anaesthetic in cattle over 2.5 months of age (Kaur & Singh 2004, Abrahamsen 2013, Clarke and others 2014). Thiopental sodium is a barbiturate acting on GABA receptors in the CNS causing anaesthesia with an onset of action of 20-40 seconds following intravenous injection (Dugdale 2010). It is lipid soluble and redistributes readily to fat and muscle, resulting in a short duration of action unless the animal has low body fat. Thiopental is metabolised by the liver, and there will be prolonged effects in animals with liver disease. Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic, acting as a noncompetitive antagonist at N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Ketamine prevents binding of glutamate at NMDA receptors, which results in inhibition of activity at the thalamocortical and limbic systems and depression of nuclei in the reticular activating system (Posner and Burns 2009). Ketamine offers potent analgesia mediated via both opioid receptor and NMDA receptor activity and has an onset of action of 1-2 minutes. Recovery after the first dose is dependent on redistribution and metabolism, whereas metabolism and excretion are more important after prolonged infusions (Clarke and others 2014). This retrospective study aims to evaluate the anaesthetic recovery times in cattle induced with thiopental compared with ketamine.