Respiratory disease and diarrhea are the 2 most common diseases that result in the use of antimicrobial drugs in preweaned calves. Because the use of drugs in food animals, including dairy calves, has the potential for generating cross-resistance to drugs used in human medicine, it is vital to propose farm practices that foster the judicious use of antimicrobials while assuring animal health an...

Introduction The management of gastrointestinal (GI) problems in livestock and companion animals presents medical and economic challenges. In cattle, neonatal calf diarrhea is recognized worldwide as one of the greatest challenges for both the beef and dairy industries (1, 2). Approximately one-third of U.S. beef cow-calf owners agree that it has an economic impact on their operations (3). Acco...

Farm animals have been suggested to play an important role in the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in the community. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with C. difficile dissemination in family dairy farms, which are the most common farming model in the European Union. Environmental samples and fecal samples from cows and calves were collected...

Effects of neonatal vaccination on antigen-specific cellular and humoral immune responses of dairy calves have not been well described. The purpose of this study was to characterize the ontogeny of the adaptive immune response in calves sensitized to the attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, bacillus Calmette-Guerín. Holstein bull calves were nonvaccinated (n = 6, vaccination controls) or v...

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of physical form of starter and alfalfa hay (AH) provision on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, and blood metabolites of Holstein dairy calves. Forty-four 3d-old Holstein dairy calves with a mean starting BW of 39.9 ± 1.1 kg were used in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. The factors were dietary forage level (0 or 150 g kg-1</sup...

BACKGROUND Thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) is a specific and relatively sensitive method to diagnose bronchopneumonia (BP) in dairy calves. Unfortunately, as it requires specific training and equipment, veterinarians typically base their diagnosis on thoracic auscultation (AUSC), which is rapid and easy to perform. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that the use of TUS, in addition to AUSC,...

• Metaphylactic antimicrobial treatment of weaned dairy calves immediately prior to movement from individual to group housing offers an opportunity to prevent bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in these high-risk animals. • The efficacy of DRAXXIN ® metaphylaxis in high-risk dairy calves was evaluated in 6 controlled research trials conducted in different regions of the US. • A single metaphylact...

BACKGROUND The diagnostic tools for bovine respiratory disease diagnosis include clinical inspection, thoracic auscultation, and ultrasonography. HYPOTHESIS Thoracic auscultation and clinical examination have limitations in the detection of lung consolidation in dairy calves. ANIMALS Prospective cohort of 106 preweaned calves from 13 different dairy herds (10 with a history of active bovine...

This experiment was designed to determine the effects of Colostrometer tested colostrum on the total serum protein (TP) of Holstein heifer calves. The experiment was performed on a working dairy where 40 50% of the heifer calves had been dying because of poor colostrum quality. For three months, May 12, 1999 through August 10, 1999, the heifer calves born were fed 4 L of first colostrum through...