The potential of fallen stock data to monitor the health status of animal populations has been noted in previous studies. However, further research is required to implement these systems for surveillance. This work presents a novel approach to determining the baselines associated with bovine fallen stock, comparing patterns between subpopulations and identifying subpopulations in which an abnor...

The objective was to retrospectively measure seasonal sunlight-associated variation in serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) in beef cattle. The concentration of 25OHD was measured in crossbred animals born from March to May in 2011 and 2012. Vitamin D status 2 to 3 mo after birth (period 1) was only available for 2012 calves and was measured in June 2012. Period 1 animals had ser...

Direct and indirect contacts among individuals drive transmission of infectious disease. When multiple interacting species are susceptible to the same pathogen, risk assessment must include all potential host species. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an example of a disease that can be transmitted among several wildlife species and to cattle, although the potential role of several wildlife species ...

One of the most important transboundary animal diseases (TADs) in the southern African region is foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). In this region, a pathway for spread of FMD virus is contacts between cattle and certain species of wildlife. The objective of this study was to evaluate contacts between cattle and wildlife in the Kruger National Park (KNP) and the adjacent Limpopo province for the tim...

This was a cross-sectional study involving cattle from four (4) institutional farms (Prison farm, Livestock Investigation and Breeding Centre (LIBC), Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching and Research (UDUTRF) and K ebbe Cattle Ranch (KCR) in Sokoto state, Nigeria. A total of 62 cattle comprising 49 females and 13 males were randomly selected and bled from a total population of 205. The cattle s...

Herd management on large cattle ranches is a difficult task. Most functions on cattle ranches are done manually. As such, ranches stand to gain significant benefits with the aid of technology. In this paper, we present the design of NIMBLE, Networked Identification and Management of Bovine on Large Expanses. NIMBLE is an RFID based application that automates many functions that cattle ranchers ...

For over a century, the word temperament has been used to define the fear-related behavioral responses of cattle when exposed to human handling. As cattle temperament worsens, their response to human contact or any other handling procedures becomes more excitable. Within the beef cattle industry, producers select cattle for temperament primarily for safety reasons. However, recent studies demon...

Seroprevalence of brucellosis in 1473 cattle and 481 buffaloes from various Government and 286 cattle and 223 buffaloes from different private livestock farms was carried out by performing Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) and serum agglutination test (SAT). RBPT recorded the seroprevalence as 14.70% in cattle and 15.38% in buffaloes at Government and 18.53% in cattle and 35.40% in buffaloes at var...

871 mesenteric lymph nodes taken from 110 native cattle from Urmia slaughter-house with differentages were examined for Linguatula serrata infection. The lymph nodes were studied based on their colourand consistency. 44% of the cattle were found positive for L. serrata infection. The number of parasitesisolated from each infected lymph node varied from 1 to 69 with a mean of 5.48. There were no...

Introduction During the 1980s, the beef slaughtering industry became increasingly concentrated. In 1980 the four largest packers slaughtered 36% of fed cattle nationally and marketed 53% of boxed beef. By 1989 the four largest firms slaughtered approximately 69% of the fed cattle and marketed more than 80% of the boxed beef (Purcell 1990a; Lambert 1990). Concentration is even higher in some reg...