Pleiotropic Loci Associated With Foot Disorders and Common Periparturient Diseases in Holstein Cattle

Lameness is an animal welfare issue that incurs substantial financial and environmental costs. This condition is commonly caused by digital dermatitis (DD), sole ulcers (SU), and white line disease (WLD). Susceptibility to these three foot disorders is due in part to genetics, indicating that genomic selection against these foot lesions can be used to reduce lameness prevalence. It is unclear whether selection against foot lesions will lead to increased susceptibility to other common diseases such as mastitis and metritis. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the genetic correlation between causes of lameness and other common health disorders to identify loci contributing to the correlation. Genetic correlation estimates between SU and DD and between SU and WLD were significantly different from zero (p < 0.05), whereas estimates between DD and mastitis, DD and milk fever, and SU and metritis were suggestive (p < 0.1). All five of these genetic correlation estimates were positive. Two-trait genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for each of these five pairs of traits revealed common regions of association on BTA1 and BTA8 for pairs that included DD or SU as one of the traits, respectively. Other regions of association were unique to the pair of traits and not observed in GWAS for other pairs of traits. The positive genetic correlation estimates between foot disorders and other health disorders imply that selection against foot disorders may also decrease susceptibility to other health disorders. Linkage disequilibrium blocks defined around significant and suggestive SNPs from the two-trait GWAS included genes and QTL that were functionally relevant, supporting that these regions included pleiotropic loci.

Dairy farm-workers’ knowledge of factors responsible for culling and mortality in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Milk serves as a significant source of protein for many families and aids in combating food insecurity. However, the demand for milk and milk-related products far exceeds the supply. The objective of the study was to evaluate dairy farm-workers’ knowledge of factors responsible for culling and mortality of dairy cows in the Eastern Cape Province. Data was collected from 106 dairy farm-workers using a questionnaire. Any correctly answered question by the majority amounted to a point and a zero for incorrectly answered questions. Correct answering by the majority to more than half the questions of a subsection amounted to a pass. A less than 50% pass rate was considered a poor level of knowledge, 51–69% pass rate was considered an average level of knowledge, and anything higher than that was considered a good level of knowledge. Most farm-workers (66.0%) relied on their colleagues for dairy health information. Most dairy farm-workers (49.1%) indicated that lameness, milk fever (56.6%), and mastitis (47.2%) do not lead to culling and mortality of dairy cows. A majority (83%) of farm-workers agreed that reproduction problems, poor milk yield (77.3%), and age (81.1%) are the main reasons for culling dairy cows. The participants had varying perceptions and limited knowledge (28.3%) about the major contributing factors of culling and mortality. The lack of training courses and minimal use of other sources of information such as the internet might contribute to this poor knowledge and perceptions.

Medical Management of Milk Fever in a Crossbred Cow

Background: The livestock sector contributes nearly 17.1% of the value of output at current prices in Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry sector. The overall contribution of Livestock Sector in total GDP was nearly 5.1% during 2019-20. Dairying in India is witnessing transformation from traditional production system to either semi-commercial or commercial production system, which requires high producing dairy animals. Losses associated with milk fever are due to deaths, reduction in the productive lifespan of affected cow and reduction in milk production following each milk fever episode, as well as costs of prevention and treatment. It has been reported that about one in 20 affected cows, dies due to milk fever. Further, milk fever can contribute to dystocia, uterine prolapse, retained fetal membranes, metritis, abomasal displacement and mastitis leading to serious economic loss. Methods: A Jersey crossbred cow on its sixth parity was presented with the history indicated that the animal had calved 45 days ago and was semi-intensively managed. The daily production of milk was abou 15 liters. Physical examination revealed the temperature and pulse rate were within the normal range, but there was increased in respiratory rate and a dehydration status of 5%. The dairy cow was diagnosed with milk fever and treatment was done by slowly infusing 400 ml of Calcium borogluconate into the jugular vein over a period of 10-20 minutes. Intravenous infusion of 1000 ml 0.9% NaCl and 2000 ml of 25% glucose were instituted in order to restore blood glucose level and to correct the dehydration. Result: The animal recovered after the treatment, thus the prognosis was good and supportive therapy was continued for three days and animal had an uneventful recovery.

Biochemical Bone Markers During the Transition Period Are Not Influenced by Parenteral Treatment With a High Dose of Cholecalciferol but Can Predict Milk Fever in Dairy Cows

Despite being studied extensively, there are still many knowledge gaps in milk fever prevention and it is still a prevalent disease. Various interventions have been used in its prevention; however, none has proven to be entirely effective. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of high dose vitamin D3 parenteral (intramuscularly) administration and the mechanism of its action by studying blood minerals and biochemical bone markers. Further, we assessed the potential of biochemical bone markers, measured in the close-up dry period, as predictors of clinical milk fever after calving. The study was conducted on 56 high yielding, clinically healthy dairy cows, before their 4th or higher lactation. They were divided into three groups based on season (summer and winter) and administration (vitamin D). The winter group was considered as the control group. Cows (n = 13) were parenterally administered a single dose of 10 million IU of vitamin D3 (DUPHAFRAL® D3) ranging between 10 and 2 days before calving (median = 3 days). Each cow was blood sampled once during four sampling period ranges: ~1 month before calving, 10 to 2 days before calving, 12–48 h after calving and 10–20 days after calving. The samples were analyzed for blood minerals, bone specific alkaline phosphatase (bALP) and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTx), alkaline phosphatase, and estradiol. Values were compared between samplings and groups. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and logistic regression were used to assess the diagnostic accuracy of biochemical bone markers in predicting milk fever. In this study high dose vitamin D3 supplementation did not statistically reduced the incidence of milk fever (milk fever incidences were 15.4, 39.1, and 25% in the vitamin D, winter and summer groups, respectively). A significant effect of vitamin D3 administration on blood minerals or biochemical bone markers was not found at any sampling. We found that the use of biochemical bone markers in the close-up dry period to predict clinical milk fever was applicable only in the winter (housed) group. The area under the curve (AUC) for bALP was 0.804 and 0.846 for CTx using ROC analysis. The bALP curve had the best ratio at the cut-off point 13.85 U/L with 90% sensitivity and 64.3% specificity. While CTx had the ratio of 90% sensitivity and 78.6% specificity at the cut-off point 0.149 ng/mL. Close-up dry dairy cows with CTx ≥0.121 ng/mL had a 3.8 times higher chance of succumbing to milk fever. We were unable to prove that high dose vitamin D3 parenteral administration is a viable technique for milk fever prevention. Biochemical bone markers are a promising tool for predicting milk fever; however, further studies are needed to confirm their clinical use.

The Contribution of Dietary Magnesium in Farm Animals and Human Nutrition

Magnesium (Mg) is a mineral that plays an essential role as cofactor of more than 300 enzymes. Mg in farm animals’ and human nutrition is recommended to avoid Mg deficiency, ensure adequate growth and health maintenance. Mg supplementation above the estimated minimum requirements is the best practice to improve farm animals’ performances (fertility and yield) and food products’ quality, since the performance of farm animals has grown in recent decades. Mg supplementation in pigs increases meat quality and sows’ fertility; in poultry, it helps to avoid deficiency-related health conditions and to improve meat quality and egg production by laying hens; in dairy cows, it serves to avoid grass tetany and milk fever, two conditions related to hypomagnesaemia, and to support their growth. Thus, Mg supplementation increases food products’ quality and prevents Mg deficiency in farm animals, ensuring an adequate Mg content in animal-source food. These latter are excellent Mg sources in human diets. Sub-optimal Mg intake by humans has several implications in bone development, muscle function, and health maintenance. This review summarizes the main knowledge about Mg in farm animals and in human nutrition.

Calcium Requirement in Relation to Milk Fever and its Economic Impact in Dairy Cattle

The goal of this research was to compile and consolidate the disparate data on calcium requirements in connection to milk fever and its economic impact in dairy cattle. The most frequent mineral-related metabolic condition affecting dairy cows at parturition is milk fever, which occurs most commonly in adult dairy cows two to three days following parturition .It is caused by a severe lack of metabolizable calcium ions in the circulation (hypocalcaemia), and its primarily affects high-producing and high-performing dairy cows that are nearing their maximal output capability. Milk yield, parity, cow breed, and a lack of awareness of basic dairy management and ration formulation are all variables that contribute to milk fever. It reduces milk yield and fertility, which leads to the culling of high-producing dairy cows from a herd. It also raises the expense of animal treatment and the danger of additional parturient disorders such retained placenta, ketosis, displaced abomasum, and environmental mastitis. Intravenous calcium salts, such as borogluconate, at a rate of 2g/100kg body weight, as well as oral calcium solutions, are two methods for treating milk fever in dairy cows. Cases of milk fever, on the other hand, can be minimized with good management, notably through the use of proper feeds and feeding systems .To summarize, management of milk fever is very important because it should be considered as a gateway disease that greatly reduce the chance for full productivity and reproduction of dairy cows. The key to prevention of milk fever is management of a close-up dry cow or management during late pregnancy .Therefore, milk fever management is economically most important, as a result, raising dairy farmers’ awareness of milk fever and optimal ration compositions for their dairy cows is a critical instrument in the fight against milk fever.

Endometritis in Bovine: A Review

Endometritis is an inflammation of the endometrial lining of uterus without systemic signs, which is associated with chronic postpartum infection of the uterus with pathogenic bacteria. Prevalence rate of endometritis in India ranges from 3 to 25% in cows. The rate of endometritis in buffaloes which were covered under Amul and Dudhsagar dairy ranged from 10 to 48 per cent in Gujarat. The classification of endometritis is based on vaginal mucus viz., mild, mucopurulent, purulent and endometritis with mucopurulant or purulent fluid in uterus and severity of infection viz., acute, sub clinical and chronic endometritis. Clinical endometritis is manifested by presence of a purulent uterine discharge detectable in the vagina after 21 days or more post partum, or mucopurulent discharge detectable in the vagina after 26 days post partum. The metabolic disorders like milk fever and ketosis are related to an increase risk of developing endometritis. The endometritis is the complex of diseases that includes retained placenta, puerperal metritis, endometritis, pyometra and other non-specific infections of the uterus. The FSH concentrations from the pituitary are unaffected by uterine disease and so waves of ovarian follicles emerge in the first weeks after parturition. Classical diagnosis of endometritis on the basis of clinical manifestation and rectal examination is common. New diagnostic device Metricheck, Cytobrush and ultrasonography is adequate to diagnose endometritis. Endometritis is often self-limiting with recovery occurring after subsequent estrous cycles. The effective treatment is one which increases the uterine defense and excludes bacterial infections, but should not inhibit the normal uterine defense mechanism. PGF2α in combination with intrauterine antibacterial drugs, immunomudulators and herbals agents like Garlic extract, Neem oil are the treatment of choice for Endometritis in bovine with variable success rate.