Main causes of cattle slaughter condemnation under the state sanitary inspection in Bahia, Brazil

Slaughter condemnations are important sources of information on cattle health and handling. The aim of this study was to evaluate the main causes of condemnation of cattle slaughter under the state sanitary inspection by the Diretoria de Inspeção de Produtos de Origem Agropecuária (DIPA) of Agência de Defesa Agropecuária da Bahia (ADAB), in Bahia, Brazil. A retrospective data of all cattle slaughtered from 2012 to 2019 was obtained from DIPA – ADAB. During this period, 4,635,615 cattle were slaughtered and 1,452,472 (31.33%) condemnations were registered to have occurred at varying levels in all regions of the state. The more condemned organs were kidneys and lungs; and the main causes of condemnation were nephritis (11.79%), congestion (11.20%), emphysema (10.72%), blood aspiration (8.36%), renal cysts (5.75%), and abscesses (5.71%). However, other condemnation causes such as cysticercosis, fasciolosis, and tuberculosis were observed at lower rates. Results showed that the main causes of condemnation of cattle slaughter were not related to zoonotic diseases instead were more involved in partial condemnation of organs.

Effect of incremental proportions of Desmanthus spp. in isonitrogenous forage diets on growth performance, rumen fermentation and plasma metabolites of pen-fed growing Brahman, Charbray and Droughtmaster crossbred beef steers

Desmanthus (Desmanthus spp.), a tropically adapted pasture legume, is highly productive and has the potential to reduce methane emissions in beef cattle. However, liveweight gain response to desmanthus supplementation has been inconclusive in ruminants. This study aimed to evaluate weight gain, rumen fermentation and plasma metabolites of Australian tropical beef cattle in response to supplementation with incremental levels of desmanthus forage legume in isonitrogenous diets. Forty-eight Brahman, Charbray and Droughtmaster crossbred beef steers were pen-housed and fed a basal diet of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay supplemented with 0, 15, 30 or 45% freshly chopped desmanthus forage on dry matter basis, for 140 days. Varying levels of lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay were added in the 0, 15 and 30% diets to ensure that all diets were isonitrogenous with the 45% desmanthus diet. Data were analyzed using the Mixed Model procedures of SAS software. Results showed that the proportion of desmanthus in the diet had no significant effect on steer liveweight, rumen volatile fatty acids molar proportions and plasma metabolites (P ≥ 0.067). Total bilirubin ranged between 3.0 and 3.6 μmol/L for all the diet treatments (P = 0.67). All plasma metabolites measured were within the expected normal range reported for beef cattle. Rumen ammonia nitrogen content was above the 10 mg/dl threshold required to maintain effective rumen microbial activity and maximize voluntary feed intake in cattle fed low-quality tropical forages. The average daily weight gains averaged 0.5 to 0.6 kg/day (P = 0.13) and were within the range required to meet the target slaughter weight for prime beef markets within 2.5 years of age. These results indicate that desmanthus alone or mixed with other high-quality legume forages can be used to supplement grass-based diets to improve tropical beef cattle production in northern Australia with no adverse effect on cattle health.

The Politics of Care

This chapter builds up the first case study of the book by examining the trajectory of diseased animals. It investigates how rinderpest or the Calcutta Epizootic of 1864 came to be constructed as a visible threat to the empire. Additionally, by focusing on major crosscurrents concerning cattle health, it demonstrates how a renewed protectionist stance manifested itself in the form of colonial legislations along with a surge of anti-animal cruelty literature among Bengalis. What sets this chapter apart from other works on animal disease in colonial India is that it demonstrates how attempts to control animal disease eventually merged with humanitarian initiatives. While the sentiment of compassion towards nonhuman animals was not a novelty in India, its contact with the Raj lent a different hue to it. Compassion was no longer a commitment to the virtue of “ahimsa” (non-injury to a living being)- but implied a loyalty to bigyan or “science.” The best example of the mingling of ahimsa and bigyan is the foundation of the Belgachia Veterinary infirmary in 1901.

Healthy Cattle Microbiome and Dysbiosis in Diseased Phenotypes

: Cattle farming is an ancient practice, with roots in the early Neolithic era that has retained its status in the food industry today, with global beef market revenue amounting to $385.7B, as of 2018. Hence, cattle maintenance is naturally essential to cater to nutritional requirements of modern civilization. This extensive review aims to provide a holistic overview of cattle microbiome, analysing the native microbial composition within respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive tract, and skin. The dysbiosis associated with various diseases such as bovine respiratory disease, bovine digital dermatitis, mastitis, Johne's disease, uterine diseases (metritis and endometritis) and metabolic disorders (ruminal acidosis and ketosis) has been discussed. Moreover, various non-antibiotic microbial therapies including phage therapy, prebiotics and probiotics have been examined as potential means to reduce disease-associated dysbiosis. In general, this review highlights the importance of the microbiome in maintenance of health in cattle and its potential in alleviating bovine diseases, with an aim to enhance cattle health and production.

PSXII-7 Milk somatic cells monitoring in Russian Holstein cattle population as a base for determining genetic and genomic variability

Health traits in dairy cattle have crucial meaning to produce high quality milk. Despite of fertility problems and metabolic disorders in cows, the mastitis has a bigger economic losses influence to include it as selection criteria in cattle breeding. Somatic cell count (SCC) in that case are the good predictor for monitoring udder health cows under whole population level or separate herd. The aim of our study was to assess genetic and genomic components for SCC and their scores (SCS) using experimental dataset by seven herds with the subsequent QTL identification. For six-month observation the 5824 cows with 19786 test-day records were included into analysis. Then EBVs by offspring assessing of 139 genotyped Holstein sires were calculated trough TD Model (BLUPF90) and then it adopted as pseudo-phenotypes for GWAS. After quality control using Plink 1.90, we used ≈39K SNP (Illumina 50K). The average values for SCC and SCS were 351±7 thousands cells/ml and 2.86±0.02 score respectively. Heritability coefficients revealed low genetic variation for SCC – 0.119 and moderate for SCS – 0.211. Daily yield for cows with SCC >1000×103 cells/ml was low by -4.0 kg milk to compare individuals with SCC < 100×103 cells/ml. At the same time lactose content and freezing point were decreasing by 4.93 to 4.69% and -0.635 to -0.618°C. By Cattle QTLdb we identified some causal genes for SCC on BTA3 (ROR1), BTA9 (EZR), BTA13 (OSBPL2,DNAJC5,ZBTB46,MTG2), BTA14 (KHDRBS3) and BTA22 (RBMS3). But more relevant GWAS calls were found for SCS by BTA14 (KCNB2, ZFAT) as QTL associated to the milking speed that has unfavorable genetic correlation with clinical mastitis or SCS. Thereby, genes detected under experimental study, are the valuable and informative markers to implementation genomic selection methods for cattle health in creating Russian bulls’ reference population. The study was funded by RFBR within project No. 20-316-90050

70 Occurrence of Mycotoxins in 2020 US Corn Silage and Dairy Total Mixed Rations

Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites which have been identified in many feed ingredients and ruminants have an increased risk of exposure due to the complex nature of their diets. Despite varying degrees of natural detoxification in the rumen, cattle health, productivity, and reproduction can be compromised by mycotoxins. This study investigated mycotoxin occurrence and contamination levels in 2020 U.S. corn silage and dairy total mixed ration (TMR) samples. Samples were screened via LC-MS/MS for six major mycotoxin groups including: aflatoxins, type A trichothecenes (A-Trich), type B trichothecenes (B-Trich), fumonisins (FUM), zearalenone (ZEN), and ochratoxin A. Information was collected with each submission including state of origin and whether or not clinical health or performance concerns were present. Contamination levels were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure (SAS 9.4, Cary, NC) to investigate the interaction of clinical concern (yes/no) and harvest year. No interaction was statistically significant for each of the toxin groups, so main effects of harvest year are presented in Table 1. Type B trichothecenes have been identified most frequently in 2020 corn silage. Although not often detected, A-Trich occurrence has increased ten percentage points from 2019 crop year. Among 236 TMR samples analyzed, B-Trich have been detected in a high percentage of samples. Mean contamination levels (parts per billion, ppb) are presented on a dry matter basis and within each data set were similar in 2020 compared to 2019 for respective toxin groups. Preliminary survey results indicate B-Trich occur frequently in both U.S. corn silage and TMR samples. Despite less frequent detection, other mycotoxin groups do occur including ZEN, FUM, and A-Trich, so the potential risk from toxin interactions due to co-contamination should be considered.

Ethnoveterinary study of medicinal plants used for cattle treatment in Bojonegoro District, East Java, Indonesia

Pratama AM, Herawati O, Nabila AN, Belinda TA, Wijayanti AD. 2021. Ethnoveterinary study of medicinal plants used for cattle treatment in Bojonegoro District, East Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 4236-4245. Bojonegoro is a rural district in Indonesia's East Java Province where farming and cattle rearing are the main economic activities. The Bojonegoro District's cattle producers employ some medicinal plants specifically for the treatment of bovine illnesses. However, no data has been reported thus far. The goal of this research was to find and document ethnoveterinary medicinal herbs for cattle cures in the Bojonegoro District. A total of 41 cattle breeders were interviewed for the study. To collect demographic and ethnoveterinary medicinal plant data, each informant was interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire in the native language of each informant. The stastitical analysis in this study include informant consensus (Fic), Fidelity Level (FL), and Plant Part Frequency (PPF). Approximately 78.00% of the respondents are between the ages of 30 and 50, with 36.59% having only graduated from senior high school. The Peranakan Ongole (PO) is the most common breed preserved by cattle breeders. In the study area, 41 ethnoveterinary medicinal plants were mentioned by male respondents to cure cattle health problems. Digestive illnesses are the most frequent ailments in cattle treated with medicinal plants. Curcuma longa L. was the most commonly mentioned medicinal plant. A majority of the source ethnoveterinary medicinal plants were cultivated on-site and the leaves of these plants were most often used.

Health management of beef cattle: A case study

The reports about how are farmers able to prevent, identify and treat the animal diseases to not get worse while the production is still maintained, are limited. The application of the standard good farming practices is also not well documented. Therefore, to provide adequate information about beef cattle health management in smallholders, especially in Indonesia; this study was conducted at "Putra Nusa " Beef Cattle Group, located in Kalensari Hamlet, Kondangjajar Village, Cijulang District, Pangandaran Regency. The study was carried out by survey and observation to determine the farmers' level of knowledge about health, care and treatment of beef cattle. The result showed that farmers do not have a background in animal health, resulting in a lack of knowledge about beef cattle health management. Most breeders rely on natural ingredients to treat sick animals. Farmer's concern about vaccination and routine anthelmintic administration was only about 15% and 22%, respectively, contributed to the increase of helminthiasis cases (45%). Improve the knowledge about cattle diseases supported by the easy access to veterinarian will minimize the losses of breeders.

Added Value of Meat Inspection Data for Monitoring of Dairy Cattle Health in the Netherlands

Meat inspection records of one large cattle slaughterhouse were analyzed to evaluate the added value of slaughterhouse data for cattle health surveillance in the Netherlands. Data were available from January 2015 to September 2018, consisting of 467,361 meat inspection records. Analyses included (1) an assessment of the representativeness of the cattle herds in the slaughterhouse data in relation to the cattle herd population in the Netherlands, and (2) multivariable analyses to quantify associations between meat inspection findings and farm of origin characteristics, and the trends in time of the findings in slaughtered cattle. Ninety percent of the meat inspection records originated from dairy cattle therefore this paper only presents the results of dairy herds (N = 422,194 cattle). The dairy herds in the slaughterhouse data seemed representative for the Dutch dairy population although their regional coverage differed from the distribution of dairy herds in the Netherlands. Non-dairy herds were underrepresented in the slaughterhouse data which stresses the importance of the inclusion of data from other slaughterhouses that may be more specialized in slaughtering beef cattle. Inspection records were categorized into 15 indicators related to ante-mortem and post-mortem findings. Following multivariable analyses, seven indicators were deemed of added value to existing cattle health surveillance components, as they provided either new information or information regarding specific health problems.