Oral and Poster Abstracts

Israeli commercial dairy herds consisting of 251-824 high producing
Israeli Holsteins. Data were collected between March 2006 and August
2007 and included health, production, reproduction and management data
and over 250,000 daily BW measurements from 2,167 cows. Time series
analysis was performed whereby each series of BW measurements was
represented as the sum of a trend component, periodic component and
"white noise". In order to construct "standard" relative BW curves,
estimates from mixed models fit to the data were obtained. Seven day and
21 day cycles in BW were present in 247 (11.4%) and 715 (33.0%) of the
cows, respectively. Presence of 21 day cycles was associated with a
reduction of 33% in the risk of being diagnosed with inactive ovaries.
Mean days from calving to nadir BW were 37, 54 and 61 for first, second
and older parity cows, respectively. Mean loss in BW (kg) from calving to
nadir was 46.5, 68.2 and 78.3 for first, second and older parity cows,
respectively. The "average" first parity cow lost 6.5% of its calving BW as
opposed to 8.5% in the older cows. Gain in BW following the nadir value
was markedly more rapid in first parity cows. The presence of 21 day
cycles in BW is most probably related to the sexual cycle, as indicated by
the relationship with inactive ovaries. Monitoring the presence of these
cycles could be useful for indirectly assessing ovarian activity in dairy
herds. Compared to older cows, fewer days from calving to nadir BW and
smaller BW loss from calving to nadir, coupled with a faster post-nadir
increase in relative BW in first parity cows indicate a smaller energy
deficit in early lactation in this group. "Standard" relative BW curves for
the first 120 days in lactation are presented.
102 Use and Abuse of a Uterine Scoring System in Clinical
Practice
D. Nielsen, L. Jensen, R. Jespersen, C. Enevoldsen
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Department of
Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark
Valid and precise clinical metritis diagnoses are crucial for rational
decisions on treatments of individual cows, effective monitoring of the
herd and advanced multifactorial epidemiological analyses within and
between herds. A steadily growing proportion of Danish cattle
veterinarians examine and score the uterine status of cows 5-12 days post
partum on an ordinal 0-9 scale. In addition, the veterinarians record
whether they treat the cow for metritis in connection with the scoring.
The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate the current usage of the
uterine score as a treatment guideline and 2) to examine the agreement
between veterinarians on the definition and use of the score values. By
means of semi-structured telephone interviews we investigated how 20
cattle veterinarians decided which cow should be treated for metritis. The
telephone interview showed that the veterinarians used the scoring scale
as an integrated part of a wide range of other diagnostic criteria and
anamnestic information. It was an important finding that the
veterinarians initially gave a concise description of how they used a scale
value as a threshold for treatment. But after more in-depth questioning
80% reconsidered and described more complex applications of the scale.
Rectal temperature was seldom used as a treatment criterion. Such
implicit treatment strategies may explain some of the interactions and
apparent inconsistencies revealed by purely quantitative studies of large
data files with routinely collected data (e.g. the Danish National Cattle
Data Base). Examples will be shown. To elaborate further on the use of
the scoring scale independent observations were made by a trained
practicing veterinarian (>20 years in practice) and an untrained (student)
on 45 cows 5-12 days in milk (DIM). The results showed good
agreement (weighted kappa 0.8 [0.72; 0.89]). However, when agreement
between 2 different observers (student and first author) on the score
components (odour and quantity) were evaluated in 25 cows 5-20 DIM,
poor results were obtained (weighted kappa 0.37 [0.01; 0.74] and 0.37
[0.15; 0.59], respectively. Both studies indicate that further
communication about treatment strategies based on uterine scores and
calibration of the scale are needed to obtain a data quality that allows
valid and precise conclusions about the historic development of uterine
status and permits multifactorial analysis of the effects of uterine status
and metritis treatment.
103 A Government Subsidised Herd Health Pilot Programme:
Four Years Progress (2004 -2008)
P. Mullowney 1 , D. Barrett 1 , R. Fallon 2 , J. Egan 1 , M. Good 1
1
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Training Section,
6E, Dublin, Ireland
2
Teagasc, Grange, Co. Meath, Ireland
152 XXV. Jubilee World Buiatrics Congress 2008
To evaluate the success of a Government Subsidised Herd Health Pilot
Programme established in 2004.
Methods: The Programme commenced in January 2004 with a series
of seminars for participating veterinarians on IBR, BVD, Johne’s
Disease, Epidemiology and Risk Analysis. These veterinarians
enrolled 78 of their clients in the scheme. Forty six of these were dairy
herds, 21 suckler and 11 mixed enterprise. Sixty one herds took part in
Johne’s control, 18 in BVD control and 8 in IBR. Of the 61 Johne’s
herds 39 thought that they were free of the infection and wanted to
prevent its entry whilst the remaining 19 knew they had the disease and
wanted to eliminate it. A fee was paid to participating veterinarians for
a risk analysis in each of the herds and testing costs were subsidised in
the laboratory. Follow up seminars were given to the enrolled
herdowners and their practitioners in August 2005 and December 2007.
The scheme was also subsidised by contributions from farm and
veterinary organisations including Veterinary Ireland, University
College Dublin, Irish Cattle Breeders Federation, Teagasc and Irish
Farmers Association. The enrolled herds have been testing for various
lengths of time. Fifty seven herds have taken blood samples, 14 of
which have been negative on all tests and 43 having positive samples
on one or more tests. Twenty herds carried out faecal sampling.
Fourteen of these had all negative results, while positive samples were
found in six herds. An annual risk evaluation was carried out in all
herds to ensure that the client had carried out agreed
recommendations. Participants have requested a form of certification
for those herds with all negative results. This would be combined with
an assessment that the herd is closed.
Key words: Johnes, IBR, BVD, herd health
104 A Comparison of Production, Calving and Fertility Related
Events in 10 Irish Dairy Herds Located in the Vicinity of a
Chemical Industrial Complex and 10 Dairy Herds Located in
Non Industrialised Areas
J. Buckley 1 , P. O'Mahony 1 , J. O'Donovan 2 , D. Berry 3 , K. O'Farrell 4
1
Cork County Council, Veterinary Department, Cork, Ireland
2
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Department, Dublin,
Ireland
3
Teagasc, Moorepark, Dairy Production Research Centre, Fermoy,
Ireland
4
Veterinary Consultant, Dairy Production, Cork, Ireland
Production, calving and fertility data for the years 2001 to 2004 inclusive
was collated for 10 dairy herds located in the vicinity of a complex of
chemical industries in the Cork harbour region (target herds) and 10 herds
located in rural, non-industrialised areas (control Herds). Average milk
yield per cow, stocking rates and culling rates were similar for the two
groups of herds. The prime reasons for disposal of animals from both
groups of herds were infertility, ”old age”, mastitis, lameness and low
production. The proportion of deaths recorded in both groups was similar
(1.8% of total calvings) for the four year period. Overall, the proportion of
male calves born (52%) was significantly greater than females. There was
no significant difference between groups in the sex ratio, the incidence of
calving difficulty or the incidence of retained placentae. A higher
proportion (P