Calf diarrhoea, the eighth most common cause of death in this age group, affects over 75% newborn calves under three weeks old. Fifty with diarrhoea from nine intensive dairy farms were assessed during study period. Of these, 72% (n =36) positive for E. coli There was a strong link between prevalence calf and groups. Therefore, those one month 1.3 more likely to be infected than months age. The...

Infections with Mycoplasma bovis can result in several syndromes of importance for dairy and beef cattle of all ages. These diseases continue to require the attention of practitioners due to poor response to treatment and the marginal effectiveness of prophylaxis. We explore here parameters of transmission of the infections, and how practitioners can use this knowledge to develop management str...

Reproductive performance is a key driver of the economics of dairy and beef breeding herds. In the absence of hormonal treatment to induce or stimulate lactation, regular parturition and initiation of lactation are key events directly affecting the average daily milk production of dairy herds, culling decisions and farm gross margins. Thus efficient reproductive management is a critical prerequ...

Our aim was to investigate the associations between management factors, compliance with current legislation, and herd-level calf mortality. In a national welfare audit, veterinary inspectors from Norwegian Food Safety Authority assessed legislation on (n = 912 herds). Nine criteria were rated as satisfactory (1) or not (0): housing, natural behavior, single pens, colostrum feeding, water, surve...

Gender of the calf whose birth initiates lactation could influence whole lactation milk yield of the dam due to hormonal influences on mammary gland development, or through calf gender effects on gestation length. Fetal gender could influence late lactation yields because cows become pregnant at peak lactation. The effects of calf gender sequences in parities 1-3 were assessed by separately fit...

Beef derived from Holstein steers is a significant source of the U.S. beef supply. The nation’s 9.1 million dairy cows in 2003 were 22% of the U.S. cow herd (NASS, 2005). Given the typical breed distribution of dairy cows, calving interval, full-term pregnancy rate, peri-natal calf death loss (NAHMS, 2002), gender distribution, dairy beef placement (80%) and survival to market (94%), it can be ...