JAVMA, Vol 230, No. 6, March 15, 2007 T US dairy industry is moving toward fewer dairy farms with more cattle per farm. Between 1995 and 2005, the number of dairy farms decreased by 43.9% (from 139,670 to 78,295), but the total number of milk cows decreased by only 4.5% (from 9.47 to 9.04 million). Consequently, the average herd size for dairies in the United States has almost doubled during th...

BACKGROUND Dairy production in Bosnia and Herzegovina exhibits limited productivity, which may partly, be explained by extensive reproductive problems of non-infectious and infectious origin. Brucella spp., Chlamydia abortus, Coxiella burnetii and Neospora caninum are common infectious causes of decreased reproductive outcomes in cattle worldwide. Little is, however, known about the disease sta...

Cattle play an important role in the epidemiology of bluetongue (BT) by acting as reservoir hosts. However, the status of BT virus (BTV) in dairy cattle in Nepal is unknown. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of BTV antibodies in dairy cattle in two eco-zones of Nepal, and to identify the factors associated with virus exposure. The authors conducted a cross-sectional ser...

Page Page Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 2 Time of Initiating Dietary Fat Supplementation on Lactation and Reproduction .................................................................................. 3 A Soyhull:Soy Lecithin:Soapstock Mixture for Early Lactation Dairy Cows ................................................

A 2-year experiment on the effect of claw trimming on hoof health was performed in 77 Swedish dairy herds (3444 dairy cattle) selected on herd size, breed composition and membership in the official milk-recording scheme. In the autumn, cows within each herd were blocked according to breed, parity and stage of lactation and allocated to two treatments: autumn trimming (AT) or no autumn trimming ...

Vaccination for Johne's disease with killed inactivated vaccine in cattle herds has shown variable success. The vaccine delays the onset of disease but does not afford complete protection. Johne's disease vaccination has also been reported to interfere with measurements of cell-mediated immune responses for the detection of bovine tuberculosis. Temporal antibody responses and fecal shedding of ...

A national US survey collected data on herd milk production and management of Holstein herds. Step-wise selection identified management practices that were related to herd milk production using only operations that calculated herd milk production as well as using data from all operations. Results were similar. Milk production was highest in the West. Operations with < 100 dairy cows had lower p...

Farms that purchase replacement breeding cattle are at increased risk of introducing many economically important diseases. The objectives of this analysis were to determine whether the total number of replacement breeding cattle purchased by individual farms could be reduced by improving herd performance and to quantify the effects of such reductions on the industry-level transmission dynamics ...

In a 2-year longitudinal study of adult animals on 15 dairy farms and four sheep farms in Lancashire, UK. C. jejuni was isolated from all farms, although not on every occasion. Faecal samples were collected and cultured using standard techniques for isolation of Campylobacter. Assignment to species was via PCR assays. Peak prevalence of C. jejuni in both cattle and sheep was observed during the...

We describe here the clinical significance of coinfection with Theileria orientalis and Babesia ovata in cattle. Anemia status in a herd of dairy cattle in Japan was investigated in relation to infection with these parasites. Our findings indicate that while B. ovata infection might not be the primary cause of anemia in the cattle, it may contribute to the clinical development of anemia in anim...