Disease screening profiles and colostrum management practices on 16 Irish suckler beef farms

Abstract

BackgroundCalf output is a key element in determining the profitability of a suckler beef enterprise. Infectious agents such as Bovine Virus Diarrhoea (BVD) virus, colostrum management and parasitic challenge can all affect calf output. Prior to the national BVD eradication programme, there was little published information on either the prevalence or effect of BVD in Irish beef herds. There is little published information on colostrum management practices in Irish commercial beef herds and there have also been few studies published on the prevalence of liver fluke or rumen fluke infection in Irish beef herds. Sixteen farms participating in the Teagasc/Farmers Journal BETTER farm beef programme were used in this study. Fourteen herds were screened for the presence of BVD virus in 2010 using RT-PCR. In 13 herds, blood samples were collected from calves (2–14 days of age) in November 2011 - April 2012 to determine their passive immune status using the zinc sulphate turbidity (ZST) test, while in 12 herds, blood and faecal samples were taken in order to determine the level of exposure to gastrointestinal and hepatic helminths.ResultsThe overall prevalence of BVD virus-positive cattle was 0.98% (range 0 - 3% per herd, range 0.6 - 3.0% per positive herd). Eighteen of the 82 calves (22%) sampled had ZST values less than 20 units (herd mean range 17.0 – 38.5 units) indicating a failure of passive transfer. The overall animal-level (herd-level) prevalence of liver fluke and rumen fluke infection in these herds was 40.5% (100%) and 20.8% (75%), respectively.ConclusionsThe potential costs associated with the presence of animals persistently infected with BVD virus through the increased use of antibiotics; the rate of failure of passive transfer of colostral immunoglobulins and the high prevalence of liver fluke infection in these herds highlight that some Irish suckler beef farms may not be realizing their economic potential due to a range of herd health issues. The use of farm-specific herd health plans should be further encouraged on Irish suckler beef farms.

The creation and evaluation of a model to simulate the probability of conception in seasonal-calving pasture-based dairy heifers

“…The animals included in the dataset were from the Curtins and Ballydague spring-calving research herds from 2001 to 2009, which were representative of Irish grass-based farming systems with a diverse range of cow genetics [ 17 ]. An additional 2400 breeding events from 1831 heifers were recorded on ten commercial dairy farms involved in a herd fertility consultancy program operated by the University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine [ 18 ] from 2009 to 2013. All farms were managed using spring-calving pasture-based production systems.…”

An observational study on passive immunity in Irish suckler beef and dairy calves: Tests for failure of passive transfer of immunity and associations with health and performance

“…Clare, Ireland) were used to quantitatively determine serum total protein (TP -CA) and albumin concentrations, as described by Earley et al (2015). Globulin concentration was calculated for each serum sample as the difference between TP -CA and albumin concentration.…”

Platelet-rich plasma to treat experimentally-induced skin wounds in animals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…After full-text evaluation, 23 studies were excluded. These are listed in Table 2 , along with the reason for their exclusion [ 12 , 26 , 27 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 59 – 75 ].…”