Many important changes occur throughout reproductive development in beef heifers, including during the prenatal, early postnatal, and peripubertal periods. Wave-like patterns of follicular development have been observed in heifer calves as early as 2 wk of age. Some dramatic changes occur from about 2 to 5 mo of age, most notably the transient increase in LH secretion. Most components of the hy...

Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have been found in various farm animal species throughout the world. It was the objective of this study to estimate the prevalence of MRSA in different cattle food chains (milk, beef, and veal) in Germany, to analyze the MRSA diversity along each food chain and to compare the characteristics of the different subtypes. Sampl...

Three-year-old Angus x Gelbvieh beef cows, which were nutritionally managed to achieve a BCS of 4 +/- 0.07 (479 +/- 36 kg of BW) or 6 +/- 0.07 (580 +/- 53 kg of BW) at parturition, were used in a 2-yr experiment (n = 36/yr) to determine the effects of maternal BCS at parturition and postpartum lipid supplementation on fatty acid profile of suckling calf plasma and adipose tissue. Beginning 3 d ...

background and objectives: dairy cattle have been implicated as principal reservoir of verotoxin-producing escherichia coli (vtec), with undercooked ground beef and raw milk being the major vehicles of food borne outbreaks. vtec has been implicated as an etiological agent of individual cases and outbreaks in developed countries. this study was designed to determine the prevalence of vetec in di...

The post-operative effects of three formulations of topical anaesthetic and a cornual nerve block on the sensitivity of scoop dehorning wounds in calves were compared in two trials. In Trial 1, 21 female Holstein dairy calves aged 8 to 24 weeks were randomly allocated to two groups: (1) scoop dehorning with a post-operative application of a novel topical anaesthetic powder (DTAP, n = 10); and (...

There are many reasons that we might wish to wean calves earlier than the traditional 205 days of age. Some of these conditions include: when forage supplies are low such as in a drought, when forage supplies are low quality like pure fescue pastures in mid summer, when you are having problems getting cows and/or first calf heifers bred, when you wish to market cull cows that have calved on a b...

Small peptide hormones produced in the lower part of the brain (hypothalamus) regulate episodic and basal secretion of hormones from the anterior pituitary gland that affect metabolism and growth in cattle. This study focused on long-term growth in young calves subjected to hypophysectomy (HYPOX), hypophyseal stalk transection (HST), and sham operation control (SOC). Crossbred (Hereford x Aberd...

A study was carried out to investigate how common Cryptosporidium infections are in beef calves in Swedish suckler herds and to explore which species and subtypes that occur. We further aimed at identifying factors associated with shedding of Cryptosporidium oocysts in this type of calf management. The study was conducted in two regions in Sweden and included 30 herds. Faecal samples were colle...

IntroduCtIon Castration is the disruption of testicular function, usually by removal of the testes of male animals, and has been a routine management procedure for most bull calves since ancient times. Historically, bulls were castrated to prevent propagation of inferior genetics and to simplify management, especially of draught animals. Bulls are still castrated to prevent reproduction and sim...