Mild and severe udder cleft dermatitis—Prevalence and risk factors in Swedish dairy herds

Abstract

Udder cleft dermatitis (UCD) is an inflammatory skin condition affecting the anterior parts of the udder of dairy cows. The lesions may present as mild or severe skin lesions and have been associated with mastitis and digital dermatitis. The full etiology and pathogenesis are not understood and no large-scale studies have investigated prevalence and risk factors. Therefore, the main objectives of the study were to investigate the prevalence of mild and severe UCD in Swedish dairy herds and to identify risk factors associated with such lesions. We also wanted to investigate risk factors for all cases of UCD and to determine whether UCD increases the risk for mastitis and culling. A random sample of 100 freestall dairy herds were included in the study, and each herd was visited once. Cows were registered as having no, mild, or severe UCD. Additional cow and herd data were obtained via observations, interviews, and the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme. The data were analyzed using logistic regression models to identify risk factors for mild and severe UCD. In total, data from 3,479 cows in 99 herds were analyzed. The prevalence of mild and severe UCD was 19 and 9%, respectively. Lesions were found in 98 of 99 herds but the within-herd prevalence of mild (0-43%) and severe (0-33%) UCD varied notably between herds. Breed (Swedish Red compared with Swedish Holstein), certain udder conformation traits, and higher parity were risk factors associated with increased risk of UCD. In addition, cows with hock lesions and cows in herds with high incidence of culling due to hoof and leg diseases had a higher risk for mild UCD. More days in milk and high milk yield were cow-related risk factors associated with severe UCD. Three housing-related factors (shorter cubicles, mattress as cubicle base, and cubicles installed before 2001 compared with 2001-2005), a high incidence of veterinary-treated clinical mastitis and culling due to udder diseases, and a low incidence of culling of first-parity cows in early lactation were herd-related risk factors associated with increased risk for severe UCD. In addition, cows in herds with a high proportion of heifers older than 17 mo that were not inseminated were associated with lower risk of all UCD. Finally, UCD was not associated with the outcomes milk somatic cell count, veterinary-treated clinical mastitis, or culling in the multivariable analyses. The etiology of UCD is most likely multifactorial, involving udder conformation traits and other cow-related risk factors as well as herd-related risk factors. The high prevalence of severe UCD lesions in Swedish dairy cows emphasizes the need for preventive measures and efficient treatments.

Virulence Factors and Phylogeny of Staphylococcus aureus Associated With Bovine Mastitis in Russia Based on Genome Sequences

“…In recent work, Schmidt and coauthors did not identify eta, etb, or etd in bovine isolates, and they reported that only one human S. aureus isolate tested positive for eta (4). It is possible that our finding in the current study may be a result of the coincidence of mastitis with different dermatitis conditions, for example, hock lesions (39) or udder cleft dermatitis (40,41). Udder cleft dermatitis is a pathology lacking a clear etiology, but one of the bacterial inducers can be S. aureus.…”

Hock lesions in dairy cows in freestall herds: a cross-sectional study of prevalence and risk factors

“…Herd selection and data collection were performed as described in Ekman et al [ 24 ]. Briefly, 100 randomly selected Swedish dairy herds with freestall housing, herd size of 50–210 cows, and affiliation with the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme (SOMRS) were enrolled in a cross-sectional study.…”

Isolation and identification of Treponema pedis and Treponema phagedenis-like organisms from bovine digital dermatitis lesions found in dairy cattle in Turkey

“…The US National Animal Health Monitoring System stated that digital dermatitis (DD) is the second most common health concern in dairy cattle (USDA, 2009). Digital dermatitis was first reported in Italy by Cheli and Mortellaro (1974) and described subsequently in many countries worldwide (Laven, 2001; Demirkan and Güzel, 2004;Holzhauer et al, 2006;Cartwright, et al, 2017;Ekman, et al, 2018). This disease causes significant financial loss and lowered welfare in affected cattle (Winckler and Willen, 2001); the severe pain caused by lesions is sufficient to reduce milk yield (Nielsen et al, 2012), estimated at around $190 ± 30 million annually in the US dairy industry (Losinger, 2006).…”