The Norwegian Healthier Goats programme – A financial cost–benefit analysis

Nagel-Alne, Gunvor Elise; Asheim, Leif Jarle; Hardaker, J. Brian; Sølverød, Liv; Lindheim, Dag; Valle, Paul Steinar

doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2014.02.002

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Based on daily monitoring and enhanced health surveillance through a national goat health monitoring service, the health status of this flock is considered to be very good. Scrapie outbreaks have never occurred and there have been no cases of caprine arthritis encephalitis, Johne's disease or caseous lymphadenitis during the last 5 years (i.e., diseases subject to surveillance and control program in Norway) (Nagel-Alne et al, 2014 ). The entire flock was previously analyzed for PRNP genotypes (Benestad et al, 2012 ) and through selective breeding goat kids with the desired PRNP Ter/Ter genotypes were retrieved.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hematological shift in goat kids naturally devoid of prion protein

Reiten

Bakkebø

Brun‐Hansen

et al. 2015

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The physiological role of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) is incompletely understood. The expression of PrPC in hematopoietic stem cells and immune cells suggests a role in the development of these cells, and in PrPC knockout animals altered immune cell proliferation and phagocytic function have been observed. Recently, a spontaneous nonsense mutation at codon 32 in the PRNP gene in goats of the Norwegian Dairy breed was discovered, rendering homozygous animals devoid of PrPC. Here we report hematological and immunological analyses of homozygous goat kids lacking PrPC (PRNPTer/Ter) compared to heterozygous (PRNP+/Ter) and normal (PRNP+/+) kids. Levels of cell surface PrPC and PRNP mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlated well and were very low in PRNPTer/Ter, intermediate in PRNP+/Ter and high in PRNP+/+ kids. The PRNPTer/Ter animals had a shift in blood cell composition with an elevated number of red blood cells (RBCs) and a tendency toward a smaller mean RBC volume (P = 0.08) and an increased number of neutrophils (P = 0.068), all values within the reference ranges. Morphological investigations of blood smears and bone marrow imprints did not reveal irregularities. Studies of relative composition of PBMCs, phagocytic ability of monocytes and T-cell proliferation revealed no significant differences between the genotypes. Our data suggest that PrPC has a role in bone marrow physiology and warrant further studies of PrPC in erythroid and immune cell progenitors as well as differentiated effector cells also under stressful conditions. Altogether, this genetically unmanipulated PrPC-free animal model represents a unique opportunity to unveil the enigmatic physiology and function of PrPC.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hematological shift in goat kids naturally devoid of prion protein

Reiten

Bakkebø

Brun‐Hansen

et al. 2015

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ringworm due to Trichophyton verrucosum has nearly been eliminated due to an eradication program that combined vaccination and zoosanitary measures (84). Cost-benefit analyses of previous national control programs in the dairy cow and goat sectors have proven that the efforts paid off (85,86). Motivation is crucial and necessary in order to succeed in implementing measures that requires extra effort.…”

Section: Producer Attitudes To Regional Disease Control Effortsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Biosecurity Measures to Combat Respiratory Disease in Cattle: The Norwegian Control Program for Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Bovine Coronavirus

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The aim of the programme is to eradicate caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE) and Johne's disease (paratuberculosis) from Norwegian dairy goat herds (Leine et al, 2005). The programme has been financed by the government, the dairy industry and the enroled farmers as described by Nagel-Alne et al (2014a). All three diseases are thought to result in considerable economic loss, as well as having negative effects on animal welfare in areas where they are prevalent (Peterhans et al, 2004;Fontaine and Baird, 2008;Smith and Sherman, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare effects of a disease eradication programme for dairy goats

Muri

Leine²,

Valle

2016

animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Norwegian dairy goat industry has largely succeeded in controlling caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE), caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) and paratuberculosis through a voluntary disease eradication programme called Healthier Goats (HG). The aim of this study was to apply an on-farm welfare assessment protocol to assess the effects of HG on goat welfare. A total of 30 dairy goat farms were visited, of which 15 had completed disease eradication and 15 had not yet started. Three trained observers assessed the welfare on 10 farms each. The welfare assessment protocol comprised both resource-based and animal-based welfare measures, including a preliminary version of qualitative behavioural assessments with five prefixed terms. A total of 20 goats in each herd were randomly selected for observations of human-animal interactions and physical health. The latter included registering abnormalities of eyes, nostrils, ears, skin, lymph nodes, joints, udder, claws and body condition score. For individual-level data, robust clustered logistic regression analyses with farm as cluster variable were conducted to assess the association with disease eradication. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used for comparisons of herd-level data between the two groups. Goats with swollen joints (indicative of CAE) and enlarged lymph nodes (indicative of CLA) were registered on 53% and 93% of the non-HG farms, respectively, but on none of the HG farms. The only other health variables with significantly lower levels in HG herds were skin lesions ( P = 0.008) and damaged ears due to torn out ear tags ( P < 0.001). Goats on HG farms showed less fear of unknown humans ( P = 0.013), and the qualitative behavioural assessments indicated that the animals in these herds were calmer than in non-HG herds. Significantly more space and lower gas concentrations reflected the upgrading of buildings usually done on HG farms. In conclusion, HG has resulted in some welfare improvements beyond the elimination of infectious diseases. The protocol was considered a useful tool to evaluate the welfare consequences of a disease eradication programme. However, larger sample sizes would increase the reliability of prevalence estimates for less common conditions and increase the power to detect differences between the groups. Despite the obvious link between disease and suffering, this aspect is rarely taken into account in the evaluation of disease control programmes. We therefore propose that welfare assessment protocols should be applied to evaluate the merits of disease control or eradication programmes in terms of animal welfare.

show abstract

The Norwegian Healthier Goats programme – A financial cost–benefit analysis

Cited by 30 publications

References 15 publications

Hematological shift in goat kids naturally devoid of prion protein

Hematological shift in goat kids naturally devoid of prion protein

Using Biosecurity Measures to Combat Respiratory Disease in Cattle: The Norwegian Control Program for Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Bovine Coronavirus

Welfare effects of a disease eradication programme for dairy goats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About