BACKGROUND Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infections in cattle are generally challenging to detect and cost-effective test strategies are consequently difficult to identify. MAP-specific antibody ELISAs for milk and serum are relatively inexpensive, but their utility is influenced by a number of factors such as herd size, herd composition and diagnostic sensitivity. The sensi...

The objectives of this study were to determine associations between low farrowing rate and various management factors in sow herds. In 30 sow herds, a management survey, breeding observations, semen evaluation, and semen storage temperature monitoring were completed. Herds with an average farrowing rate of < 85% were classified as low farrowing rate herds while those with an average farrowing r...

Bovine-leukosis virus (BLV; also termed 'bovine-leukemia virus') is a retrovirus that primarily affects lymphoid tissue of dairy and beef cattle. Our objective was to investigate the association between BLV infection and annual value of production (AVP) on dairy herds within the United States, as part of the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System's 1996 dairy study. 1006 herds (in 20 sta...

Neospora caninum is a protozoan parasite causing bovine abortion all over the world. The aim of this study was to investigate how common N. caninum infection is among dairy herds in the Czech Republic. Bulk milk samples were collected from 495 dairy herds and analysed for the presence of specific antibodies by a commercial N. caninum iscom ELISA. Five out of 495 dairy herds (1.01%) had percenta...

Aim: Monitoring was performed in order to determine the Selenium (Se) status of cattle herds in different agricultural areas in Wallonia (Belgium). Materials and Methods: The study included 114 heifers and 184 cows (82 dairy and 102 beef cows) from 66 cattle farms situated in Wallonia. The Se status was assessed by measuring the glutathion peroxydase in red cells and converting it to the equiva...

INTRODUCTION The discovery of the deep freezing method of cattle semen preservation allowed for a worldwide exchange of genetic material and that the importation of semen from improved breeds have been often used in attempts to increase local livestock productivity. Frequently, this has been done without systematic evaluation of the introduced stocks in the new environment. In 1998, Argentina s...

BACKGROUND Eradication of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) through the application of test-and-cull programs is a declared goal of developed countries in which the disease is still endemic. Here, longitudinal data from more than 1,700 cattle herds tested during a 12 year-period in the eradication program in the region of Madrid, Spain, were analyzed to quantify the within-herd transmission coefficient...

Excellent reviews of cattle breed comparisons or breed-cross comparisons have been previously reported by Franke (1980), Long (1980), and Marshall (1994). However, these reviews do not contain information on the calving ease, performance, carcass characteristics, or beef palatability of crossbred progeny of Holstein dams sired by different beef breeds. In many countries dairy females are common...

In dairy cattle breeding, much attention is paid to indicators of the milk quality and technological properties. These are significantly influenced by proteins. Therefore, goal our research evaluate effectiveness creating herds domestic breeds that characterized desired beta- kappa-casein genotypes. To fulfill these tasks, genotyping cows Ukrainian Brown dairy, Sumy intrabreed type Black-and-Wh...