Ceasing the use of the highest priority critically important antimicrobials does not adversely affect production, health or welfare parameters in dairy cows

Due to scientific, public and political concern regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR), several EU countries have already taken steps to reduce antimicrobial (AM) usage in production animal medicine, particularly that of the highest priority critically important AMs (HP-CIAs). While veterinarians are aware of issues surrounding AMR, potential barriers to change such as concerns of reduced animal health, welfare or production may inhibit progress towards more responsible AM prescribing. Farmers from seven dairy farms in South West England engaged in changing AM use through an active process of education and herd health planning meetings. Prescribing data were collected from veterinary sales records; production and health data were accessed via milk recording and farm-recorded data. This study demonstrates that cattle health and welfare—as measured by production parameters, fertility, udder health and mobility data and culling rates—can be maintained and even improved alongside a complete cessation in the use of HP-CIAs as well as an overall reduction of AM use on dairy farms. This study also identified a need to consider different metrics when analysing AM use data, including dose-based metrics as well as those of total quantities to allow better representation of the direction and magnitude of changes in AM use.

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Ceasing the use of the highest priority critically important antimicrobials does not adversely affect production, health or welfare parameters in dairy cows

10.1101/186973 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Turner ◽

David Tisdall ◽

David C. Barrett ◽

Sarah Wood ◽

Andrew Dowsey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Planning ◽

Animal Health ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Herd Health ◽

Mobility Data ◽

Political Concern ◽

Barriers To Change ◽

Animal Medicine ◽

Recorded Data ◽

Cattle Health

AbstractDue to scientific, public and political concern regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR), several EU countries have already taken steps to reduce antimicrobial (AM) usage in production animal medicine, particularly that of the highest priority critically important AMs (HP-CIAs). While veterinarians are aware of issues surrounding AMR, barriers to change such as concerns of reduced animal health, welfare or production may inhibit AM prescribing changes.Farmers from seven dairy farms in South West England engaged in changing AM use through an active process of education and herd health planning meetings. Prescribing data was collected from veterinary sales records; production and health data were accessed via milk recording and farm-recorded data.This study demonstrates that cattle health and welfare - as measured by production parameters, fertility, udder health, mobility data and culling rates - can be maintained and even improved alongside a complete cessation in the use of HP-CIAs as well as an overall reduction of AM use on dairy farms.This study also identified a need to consider different metrics when analysing AM use data, including dose-based metrics as well as those of total quantities to allow better representation of the direction and magnitude of changes in AM use.

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Impact of animal health and welfare planning on medicine use, herd health and production in European organic dairy farms

Livestock Science ◽

10.1016/j.livsci.2011.12.023 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 145 (1-3) ◽

pp. 63-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

S. Ivemeyer ◽

G. Smolders ◽

J. Brinkmann ◽

E. Gratzer ◽

B. Hansen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Animal Health ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Medicine Use ◽

Herd Health ◽

Organic Dairy ◽

Organic Dairy Farms

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Herd health planning Part 1: Measuring - experiences of a 12-month project on Welsh dairy farms

Livestock ◽

10.1111/j.2044-3870.2009.tb00242.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 31-35

Author(s):

Paddy Gordon

Keyword(s):

Health Planning ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Herd Health

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184 Review of animal welfare data for cattle and swine

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1093/jas/skz258.026 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. 13-14

Author(s):

Michelle S Calvo-Lorenzo

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Animal Welfare ◽

Management Practices ◽

Animal Health ◽

Herd Health ◽

Mortality Trends ◽

The Past ◽

Mobility Data ◽

Transport Losses

Abstract Interest in the topic of animal welfare continues to grow as knowledge about the quality of life of food animals evolves. Improving management practices that enhance welfare conditions for livestock requires tools that allow livestock caretakers to assess and address animal welfare conditions effectively and practically on farms. Over the past several years, Elanco Animal Health has developed analytical resources for beef cattle and swine producers to inform them on trends associated with finished cattle mobility and mortality, and transport losses in marketed swine. This presentation will share findings from Elanco’s databases and the published literature to inform and foster discussion important to livestock welfare advancements. Relative to finished cattle mobility, data captured from 11.5 M head (2015–2019) demonstrate that cattle mobility continues to trend positively with approximately 90% of cattle observed with normal mobility conditions at packing plants (Edwards-Callaway et al., 2017); however, mortality trends and veterinary medical charges are higher over the past 5 years (2014–2018) when closeout data from 41.8 M head of beef cattle are evaluated across U.S. feedlots. Relative to market weight pig transport losses, an industry survey of 310 M pigs (2012–2015) indicate that averages for total dead pigs, non-ambulatory pigs, and total losses were 0.26%, 0.63%, and 0.88%, respectively (Yoder et al., 2017), which is similar to reported values in the literature (Ritter et al., 2009). Collectively, this information is important for measuring continuous improvement and determining where opportunities exist to evaluate management practices associated with herd health protocols, seasonal impacts, handling, and transport conditions. Animal welfare challenges are a non-compete issue for the livestock industry, and tools to assess these welfare topics are key to the enhancement of current practices and development of novel approaches to positively impact the role that livestock caretakers have on animal welfare.

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Benefits of Veterinary Herd Health Management on German Dairy Farms: Status Quo and Farmers' Perspective

Frontiers in Veterinary Science ◽

10.3389/fvets.2021.773779 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Jenny Ries ◽

Katharina Charlotte Jensen ◽

Kerstin-Elisabeth Müller ◽

Christa Thöne-Reineke ◽

Roswitha Merle

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Latent Class ◽

Health Management ◽

Animal Health ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Status Quo ◽

The European Union ◽

Herd Health ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Cross Sectional

Veterinary Herd Health Management plays an important role in veterinary medicine on dairy farms and has also been mandatory at the European Union level since April 21, 2021. Despite the increasing importance of VHHM, little is known about the extent of utilization of VHHM by dairy farmers and their view on this type of collaboration. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to determine the status quo of the currently practiced VHHM in Germany. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted among dairy farmers in November and December 2020. From 216 analyzed questionnaires, about half (n = 106) of the surveyed dairy farmers used VHHM at different scopes. However, regardless of the group, the term “veterinary herd health management” generally was given most relative importance by the participants as a veterinary service for herd fertility improvement, rather than the actual definition of a holistic approach. In contrast to this, the actual motivation of the VHHM participants, to take part in such a program was primarily based on the desire to safeguard animal health by employing preventive measures, that is, to avoid the occurrence of diseases via improved management and to improve farm performance (and profitability). Dairy farmers who opted for VHHM tended to manage larger higher yielding herds than those who did not. Additionally, the farmers in latter farms were more likely to make joint animal health decisions with their veterinarians. Using a latent class analysis, two groups of farmers among farms that were not currently using VHHM were identified, one of which expressed great interest in using VHHM while the other did not. Since the new legal basis makes the topic even more relevant than before, dairy farmers, animals, and veterinarians might benefit from the study to exploit hidden opportunities for VHHM collaboration.

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Herd health planning. Part 2: Managing - experiences of a 12-month project on Welsh dairy farms

Livestock ◽

10.1111/j.2044-3870.2009.tb00248.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 19-24

Author(s):

Paddy Gordon

Keyword(s):

Health Planning ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Herd Health

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Herd health planning. Part 3: Monitoring - experiences of a 12-month project on Welsh dairy farms

Livestock ◽

10.1111/j.2044-3870.2010.tb00256.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 17-22

Author(s):

Paddy Gordon

Keyword(s):

Health Planning ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Herd Health

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Pre-Weaned Calf Rearing on Northern Irish Dairy Farms: Part 1. A Description of Calf Management and Housing Design

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11071954 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 1954

Author(s):

Aaron J Brown ◽

Gillian Scoley ◽

Niamh O’Connell ◽

Jamie Robertson ◽

Amanda Browne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Key Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Animal Health ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Healthcare Management ◽

Limiting Factor ◽

Housing Design ◽

Hygiene Management ◽

Calf Performance ◽

And Performance

The first few months of life are of great importance to the longevity and lifetime performance of dairy cows. The nutrition, environment and healthcare management of heifer calves must be sufficient to minimise exposure to stress and disease and enable them to perform to their genetic potential. Lack of reporting of farm management practices in Northern Ireland (NI) makes it difficult to understand where issues impacting health, welfare and performance may occur in the rearing process. The objective of this study was to investigate housing design and management practices of calves on 66 dairy farms across NI over a 3-month period and also identify areas that may cause high risk of poor health and performance in dairy calves. An initial survey was used to detail housing and management practices, with two subsequent visits to each farm used to collect animal and housing-based measurements linked to hygiene management, animal health and performance. Large variations in key elements such as weaning criteria and method, calf grouping method used, nutritional feed plane, and routine hygiene management were identified. The specification of housing, in particular ventilation and stocking density, was highlighted as a potential limiting factor for calf health and performance. Lack of measurement of nutritional inputs, hygiene management practices and calf performance was observed. This poses a risk to farmers’ ability to ensure the effectiveness of key management strategies and recognise poor calf performance and health.

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