Cattle Veterinarians Research Articles

Challenging the myth of the irrational dairy farmer; understanding decision-making related to herd health

Veterinarians working with dairy cows are suggested to refocus their efforts from being task-oriented providers of single-cow therapy and develop themselves into advice-oriented herd health management advisors. The practising cattle veterinarian's ability to translate knowledge into on-farm application requires a profound understanding of the dairy farm as an integrated system. Consequently, educating and motivating farmers are key issues. To achieve such insight the veterinarian needs to work with several scientific disciplines, especially epidemiology and (behavioural) economics. This trans-disciplinary approach offers new methodological possibilities and challenges to students of dairy herd health management. Advisors working with dairy herd health management may sometimes experience that farmers do not follow their advice. Potentially, this could lead to the interpretation that such farmers are behaving irrationally. However, farmers who are confronted with advice suggesting a change of behaviour are placed in a state of cognitive dissonance. To solve such dissonance they may either comply with the advice or reduce the dissonance by convincing themselves that the suggested change in management is impossible to implement. Consequently, herd health management advisors must understand the fundamental and instrumental relationships between individual farmers' values, behaviour and perception of risk, to stimulate and qualify the farmer's decision-making in a way that will increase the farmer's satisfaction and subjective well-being. Traditionally, studies on herd health economics have focussed on financial methods to measure the value of technical outcomes from suggested changes in management, following the basic assumption that farmers strive to maximise profit. Farmers, however, may be motivated by very different activities, e.g. animal health and welfare or other farmers' recognition, making it impossible to provide ‘one-size-fts-all' consultancy because the best decision depends heavily on the internal logic and context-bound reality on each dairy farm. Relevant information may be available, but to be implemented at farm level it has to be communicated effectively. This requires a trustworthy communicator. Consequently, veterinarians are recommended to receive training in communication; keywords in this process are dialogue and refection. An educational framework based on science and the authors' experience is presented. The aim is to guide practising cattle veterinarians into a personal learning process considered necessary for them to be recognised by farmers as trustworthy dairy herd health advisors.

Ten‐minute chat

Andy Biggs is a cattle practitioner at Vale Veterinary Centre in Devon. He is an international mastitis consultant and has been president of the Western Counties Veterinary Association and the British Cattle Veterinary Association.

Comparison of Fetal Losses from Diagnosis of Pregnancy Using Ultrasonography or Rectal Palpation in Beef Heifers by Novice or Experienced Technicians

<h2>ABSTRACT</h2> Pregnancy diagnosis is widely practiced in cattle production systems. Ultrasonography is an alternative technique to rectal palpation for pregnancy diagnosis. Fetal losses caused by rectal palpation are well documented; however, reported losses from ultrasonography for pregnancy diagnosis are often confounded by normal embryonic losses during early gestation. Losses caused by inexperienced technicians have been reported previously, but limited information is available on technicians that are in the learning process. Our objectives were to compare fetal losses from pregnancy diagnosis during early gestation for 1) stage of gestation at the time of diagnosis (<53 or ≥53 d), 2) method of diagnosis (ultrasonography or rectal palpation), and 3) different skill levels of the technicians (novice or experienced). Beef heifers (n=2,190) exposed to natural service for 27 d, followed by diagnosis of pregnancy between 42 and 74 d of gestation were used to evaluate these objectives. Overall loss was 1.55%. Risk of loss was greater (P<0.01) in heifers <53 d pregnant compared with heifers ≥53 d (3.46 vs. 1.26%; a 2.74-fold increase) at the time of evaluation. Greater fetal loss (P=0.051) occurred with rectal palpation than with ultrasonography (2.68 vs. 1.29%; a 2.08-fold increase). Heifers evaluated by inexperienced technicians had a 2.07% fetal loss, whereas heifers evaluated by experienced technicians had only a 1.06% loss (P<0.01; a 1.95-fold difference). Cattle producers and veterinarians should recognize the importance of stage of pregnancy, level of technician experience, and method of diagnosis used to reduce losses attributable to pregnancy diagnosis.

Big issues on the agenda at the BCVA congress

Climate change, cost and responsibility sharing, vectorborne disease, dairy cow welfare and bovine TB were all discussed at the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) congress, held in Southport from November 26 to 28, 2009. Suzanne Jarvis reports.

Veterinary Opinion and Evidence-Based Medicine Regarding the Best Management Practice for a Bovine Uterine Prolapse

Hypothesis: The analysis of veterinary opinionsfrom cattle practitioners and a comparison of these findingswith the existing literature can be used to establisha valuable 'best clinical practice guideline' for bovinepractitioners on how to manage a bovine uterine prolapse.Evidence based medicine is used to base clinicalpractice on scientific evidence. This evidence can be providedin many forms, for example text books, journals,letters, websites, and personal communications. The collectedinformation on a particular topic is then assessedto find the most valid techniques that can be used inpractice. Often there is a lack of evidence based medicinefor common cases. By studying existing literatureand investigating opinions of veterinary practitioners,knowledge can be shared among individuals within theveterinary field. Given the paucity of clinical researchstudies in bovine medicine, using veterinary opinionsmay be a useful tool for producing clinical guidelines.There is a wealth of experience present in the field, andwith the current technology we can easily tap into that.Within cattle practice, management of a bovine uterineprolapse can vary considerably. Each veterinarian canjustify their own reasons for this, but why are there somany options, and how do veterinarians chose what theybelieve to be the best? Is it possible to develop clinicalguidelines based on veterinary opinion, to help clinicianschoose the appropriate management for each case? Thisstudy provides information for cattle veterinarians tobase or improve their current practice upon. Veterinarianscan hear what others in their profession do, compareit, and possibly alter their own technique.

Results of a survey of attitudes of dairy veterinarians in New Zealand regarding painful procedures and conditions in cattle

AIMS: To quantify the range of attitudes and perceptions of cattle practitioners to painful procedures and conditions in cattle, to identify some of the demographic factors affecting those attitudes and perceptions, and to compare results from veterinarians based in New Zealand with those from the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe. METHODS: A questionnaire, based on one used for similar surveys in Europe, was sent to all 455 members of the Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians (DCV) of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. This questionnaire included a section on demographic data, e.g. gender, year of graduation, and preveterinary school background, and a section which asked the respondents to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how painful they thought 24 procedures and conditions would be without any analgesia. RESULTS: A total of 166 questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 37%. From the range of procedures and conditions outlined in the questionnaire, those perceived as most painful were claw amputation, then Caesarean section, followed by surgery for left-displaced abomasum (LDA). The two least painful were mastitis with milk clots only, and the effect on a calf of dystocia. There were significant differences between the pain scores assigned by men and women and by respondents who had graduated in different decades. Female respondents and more recent graduates tended to give a higher pain score for most conditions. These effects remained, even after the potential interaction between age and gender had been assessed. The effect on pain score of either background or time spent treating cattle was much less marked than the effect of age and gender. Overall, the results were very similar to results from similar surveys undertaken in the UK and Europe. CONCLUSIONS: The responses to this survey indicate that, as in the UK and Europe, dairy cattle practitioners in New Zealand have a wide range of attitudes to pain in cattle. The estimates of the severity of pain were subjective, but such a survey allows the majority opinion of a considerable number of informed assessors to be quantified. CLINCAL RELEVANCE: The wide range of results suggests that more needs to be done to disseminate up-to-date knowl- edge of pain in cattle to veterinarians to ensure they provide appropriate levels of analgesia. In particular, the baseline data from this study can be used by practitioners to identify whether they are underestimating pain in cattle and, if they are, to assess whether they are using analgesia appropriately. Additionally, this dataset provides an informed and independent assessment of the pain associated with husbandry procedures, and could be used to better guide legislation concerning pain control of such procedures.

Prevalência de anticorpos contra o vírus da mamilite herpética em bovinos do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

O herpesvírus bovino tipo 2 (BoHV-2), agente da mamilite herpética bovina (BHM), possui distribuição mundial e foi identificado no Brasil, na década de 70. A partir de então, casos de mamilite clinicamente compatíveis com a BHM têm sido relatados por técnicos e produtores, o que sugere a presença e disseminação do agente no rebanho bovino brasileiro. Este trabalho relata um inquérito sorológico da infecção pelo BoHV-2 no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS), em amostras coletadas como parte do Programa Nacional de Controle e Erradicação da Brucelose e Tuberculose (PNCBT). Um total de 2.213 amostras de soro coletadas de fêmeas bovinas com idade igual ou superior a 24 meses, predominantemente de rebanhos leiteiros, de 136 municípios pertencentes a sete macrorregiões do RS, foram testadas para anticorpos anti-BoHV-2 pela técnica de soro-neutralização (SN). Anticorpos anti-BoHV-2 (títulos &gt; 2) foram detectados em 24,5% (543/2.213) das amostras. Os índices de positividade variaram entre 12,9% (22/170), na região metropolitana de Porto Alegre, e 48,9% (69/137), na região centro oriental do RS. Em geral, os rebanhos leiteiros apresentaram prevalência maior (32,3%), seguidos dos rebanhos mistos (22%) e de corte (17,6%). Esses resultados demonstram uma ampla disseminação da infecção pelo BoHV-2 no rebanho bovino do Estado e sugerem a participação do agente em parte dos casos de mamilite descritos em gado leiteiro.

Industry guidance on the administration of tilmicosin

FOLLOWING the European Commission's decision to tighten the rules governing the classification and administration of tilmicosin (Micotil; Elanco Animal Health) (VR, July 8, 2006, vol 159, p 31), the bva, in association with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (vmd), the British Cattle Veterinary Association, the Sheep Veterinary Society, Elanco Animal Health and the Farmers' Union of Wales, has produced the following joint notice and guidance.

Veterinary dairy herd health management in Europe Constraints and perspectives**

Summary The nature of veterinary work in dairy health management in Europe has changed over the past years and will change even more dramatically in the near future. The consumers and the media show increasing concern about animal welfare, safety of products of animal origin and traceability of animal products. Farmers in Europe have to produce under strict, often expensive and laborious regulations, while still commercially competing with farmers outside the EU and not subject to the same rules. Veterinarians should adapt their knowledge and skills to the new challenges and developments of the dairy sector. Dairy farmers nowadays ask for support in areas that go beyond clinical activities: environmental protection, welfare, nutrition, grassland management, economics and business management. Bovine practitioners should be able to advise in many different areas and subjects ‐ that is the challenge to our profession. Veterinary education with regards to cattle health management should start with individual animal clinical work, which constitutes the basis of herd health advisory programmes. The bovine practitioner should then look beyond that and regard the herd as the unit. Each diseased cow or group of cows should be detected early enough to avoid financial losses or such losses should be prevented altogether by detecting and managing risk factors contributing to disease occurrence. Herd health and production management programmes represent the first level to optimise dairy farm performance. Expansions to that should further be considered, comprising both animal health and welfare issues, as well as food safety and public health issues. The latter could be addressed by quality risk management programmes following the HACCP‐principles. Cattle veterinarians should follow recent developments and invest in new skills and knowledge in order to maintain their usefulness to the modern dairy farmer. Finally we are convinced that the cattle practitioner should evolve into this direction, otherwise the veterinarian as we know him will miss the train in the next years.

Survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practice of Italian beef and dairy cattle veterinarians concerning the use of antibiotics

Between June and September 2002 a telephone survey of Italian beef and dairy cattle veterinarians was made to obtain information about their use of antibiotics and their perception of the...

Beef Cowherd BVDV Management

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) has a history of detrimentally affecting beef cattle production. Beef cattle veterinarians have an opportunity to utilize tools such as the veterinary decision making process to minimize the negative effects that BVDV has on profitability within individual cowherd. Herd history, health and performance information can serve as the framework for assessing current BVDV status. Basic biosecurity principles can be implemented to cost-effectively manage the virus within the beef herd.

Control of foot and mouth disease

Dr Beale's editorial1 (January 2002 JRSM) may offer what appears to be a simple and effective solution to the future prevention and control of foot and mouth disease (FMD), but does not consider the objectives and the economics of livestock disease control. To suggest that we can sustain a mass prophylactic vaccination programme in such a dynamic animal population as exists in European livestock agriculture is unreasonable. With current vaccines it would use about 100 million doses a year in the UK alone, with no guarantee of success. The risk can be managed more effectively and at less cost by other means. The epidemiologists at the RSM conference on mathematical modelling of infectious diseases made it clear that vaccination programmes would not have been a great help in the control of the recent epidemic. Prophylactic vaccination as suggested by Beale also has its problems, and is not the simple panacea that he suggests. We, the FMD group of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, have made it clear to our agriculture ministers that once you start mass vaccination programmes it is very difficult to stop. The very existence of farm livestock is dependent on their value, and that is dependent on trade. The prevention of clinical disease is not the only consideration when setting objectives for the control of livestock diseases.

Cattle Production and Veterinary Care Systems in Zambia

This paper provides a review of the delivery of veterinary services in Zambia in response to the privatization and liberalization policies of the government. Historically veterinary services were provided free of charge, but this led to a deterioration of the effectiveness and coverage of the veterinary services to livestock farmers. In order to address this problem, the Agriculture Sector Investment Program, launched by the government in 1996, has redefined the roles and responsibilities of both the public and private sectors in the delivery of veterinary services. The role of the public sector is limited to regulation, control and monitoring, whilst implementation of the field activities is now the responsibility of the private sector. The authors look at the roles and responsibilities of these two sectors in relation to cattle production, since cattle are the most important livestock in Zambia.

VIIth World Association for Buiatrics Congress (WAB). London, England, July 31-August 3, 1972

Description of the Vllth World Association for Buiatrics Congress (WAB), Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, London, England on July 31-August 3, 1972, organized by the British Cattle Veterinary Association.

Reliability of cyst diagnosis and effect of energy status on LH released by estradiol or GnRH in cows with ovarian cysts

The purpose of this study was 1) to test the efficacy of on-farm milk progesterone analysis kits to diagnose different types of ovarian cysts and 2) to examine whether or not the failure of estradiol-induced LH release in cows with ovarian cysts was correlated with energy status, as reflected by plasma 3-beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentrations. A total of 82 cows (36 to 155 days after calving) were presented to 13 experienced cattle veterinarians for diagnosis of ovarian cysts as either follicular or luteal on the basis of medical history, palpation per rectum of the ovaries and on-farm EIA milk progesterone analysis. In 77% of cases, the milk progesterone values concurred with results of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) plasma samples. Two trials were conducted: In Trial 1, 16 and 20 follicular and luteal cysts respectively, were correctly diagnosed. Of these, 8 follicular and 10 luteal cysts responded with an LH surge: one or both blood samples collected at 18 and 24 hours after 1 mg estradiol benzoate contained LH > 10.0 ng/ml. The plasma concentration of BHB in all cows in Trial 1 ranged from 0.20 to 4.73 mmol/l (12% were >0.8 mmol/l, although none of the cows exhibited clinical signs of ketosis). There was no correlation between LH response to estradiol and BHB concentration. In Trial 2, there were no differences in the LH response of cows (n = 40) 15 minutes after the administration of one of three commercially available preparations of gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH); this LH response to GnRH was the same in normal cows and in cows with cysts. None of the cows in Trial 2 had BHB concentrations indicative of ketosis (>0.8 mmol/l). In conclusion, the use of on-farm milk progesterone kits did not appear to improve the diagnosis rates of cysts, and it was not possible to explain the failure of cows with cystic ovaries to respond to estradiol on the basis of nutritional imbalance as reflected by elevated BHB concentrations.

Cattle veterinarians focus on fertility

Cattle veterinarians focus on fertility

Cattle veterinarians examine alternative therapies

Cattle veterinarians examine alternative therapies

British Cattle Veterinary Association meeting

Report from the British Cattle Veterinary Association Congress.

Cattle practice in the 1980's

An account of the British Cattle Veterinary Association conference. Topicality, with the theme “Aspects of Cattle Practice in the 1980’s,” formed part of the latest BCVA programme. The Thurlestone Hotel near Kingsbridge in Devon was oversubscribed by the attending members for this spring meeting and this resulted in satellite hotels being brought into action.

Cattle veterinarians face the future with uncertainty

The Harper Adams Agricultural College provided an appropriate setting for the British Cattle Veterinary Association Spring 1984 meeting. Its accessibility meant that well over a hundred members were able to attend. As always the meeting was a mixture of providing scientific information as well as good comradeship.