Short communication: The effect of diarrhea and navel inflammation on the lying behavior of veal calves

Many veal calves arrive to growing facilities with diseases, including diarrhea and navel inflammation. Observing neonatal calf behavior, such as lying behavior, can be used to better detect and determine the implications of these diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of navel inflammation and diarrhea on lying behavior in neonatal veal calves. This study was part of a larger experiment that included a total of 360 male Holstein calves from 3 cohorts; from these calves, we selected a subset of 125 calves (every third calf as they entered the barn) to be fitted with 3-dimensional accelerometers (Hobo Pendant G data loggers; Onset Computer Corp., Bourne, MA) on 1 hind leg to continuously measure lying time, number of lying bouts, and lying bout duration. Calves were housed individually on slatted flooring (Tenderfoot; Tandem Products Inc., Minneapolis, MN) in 3 rooms of a mechanically ventilated barn. Health exams were conducted twice weekly for 2 wk starting the day after arrival. Exams included rectal temperature, navel score (0 = normal, 1 = mildly inflamed, 2 = moderately inflamed, 3 = severely inflamed), and fecal score (0 = normal, 1 = semiformed, 2 = loose, 3 = watery). Calves were considered to have navel inflammation (n = 22) or diarrhea (n = 15) if they scored ≥2 during at least 3 of the 4 health exams. The lying behavior of these calves was compared with that of normal calves (n = 18) that had no signs of illness and rectal temperatures <39.4°C during at least 3 of the 4 health exams. Data were analyzed using a repeated-measures ANOVA; models included cohort (1, 2, or 3), health status (normal, navel inflammation, or diarrhea), week (1 or 2), and a health by week interaction. There was an effect of health status on lying time, whereby normal calves spent more time lying compared with calves with inflamed navels and tended to spend more time lying compared with calves with diarrhea. There was no effect of health status on the number of lying bouts per day or on the duration of lying bouts. There were no health by week interactions. Results indicate that neonatal veal calves with navel inflammation and diarrhea may be less comfortable than calves without these conditions. Veal producers should consider adapting their facilities to create more comfortable lying environments to help calves better recover from disease, such as by adding a hospital pen with comfortable bedding.     

The use of bovine serum protein as an oral support therapy following coronavirus challenge in calves

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of a supplemental bovine serum protein blend fed to calves challenged with virulent coronavirus. Twelve Holstein bull calves (approximately 3 wk of age) were allocated by initial body weight to Control (n = 5) and treated (n = 7) groups. On d 0, all calves were orally challenged with 1 x 10(7) plaque-forming units of virulent coronavirus isolate. Infection was allowed to progress for 24 h before treatment was started. On d 1, treated calves began receiving 160 g of dry bovine serum powder (16 g IgG) mixed into milk replacer powder (67 g) at both an a.m. and p.m. feeding. Control calves received only milk replacer powder (227 g) at both feedings. Response to coronavirus challenge and dietary treatment was monitored prior to a.m. and p.m. feeding by the collection of multiple clinical measures. Fecal consistency was decreased by coronavirus challenge but was not affected by dietary treatment. Mean daily rectal temperature and heart rate were not affected by dietary treatment. Average packed cell volume was higher in treated calves than in control (35.0 and 27.0%). Coronavirus challenge resulted in an immediate increase in respiration rate, decreasing by d 7. Control calves tended to have a greater average respiration rate compared with treated (28.7 vs. 26.8 breaths/min). Treated calves had a higher average feed intake than control (0.57 vs. 0.44 kg/d). These data suggest that bovine-serum supplemented milk replacer may decrease the severity of disease in young calves exposed to coronavirus.     

Metabolic and endocrine changes in response to endotoxin administration with or without oral arginine supplementation

This study was performed to investigate blood metabolite, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and hormone responses to intravenous administration of lipopolysaccharides (2 microg of endotoxin of Escherichia coli 026:B6/kg body weight at times of feeding) in veal calves orally supplemented with arginine (0.25 g/kg of body weight twice daily for 4 d; group GrA) compared with calves not supplemented with arginine (group GrC). Arginine supplementation alone caused a significant rise of plasma arginine, urea, and insulin concentrations, whereas glucagon concentrations tended to increase, but there were no significant group differences. Concentrations of triglycerides, NEFA, glucose, protein, albumin, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I, 3.5.3'-triiodothyronine, and thyroxine were not affected by arginine supplementation. Lipopolysaccharide administration alone caused a rise of tumor necrosis-factor-a, lactate, and cortisol concentrations and concentrations of tumor necrosis-factor-a after 1 h, and of triglycerides and urea after 6 h were higher, whereas of glucose after 3 h were lower in GrA than in GrC. Concentrations of NEFA, glucose, protein, albumin, insulin, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I, 3.5.3'-triiodothyronine, and thyroxine were not affected by lipopolysaccharide administration. In conclusion, arginine supplementation had selective effects on plasma metabolites and hormones, but barely modified lipopolysaccharide effects. Effects of lipopolysaccharides in the postprandial state were different from what is usually seen in the fasted state.     

Undesired phenotypic and genetic trend for stillbirth in Danish Holsteins

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic and genetic trends for stillbirth in Danish Holsteins. Trends of calving difficulty and calf size were also evaluated. The second aim was to compare predicted transmitting abilities (PTA) of sires for stillbirth using a linear and a threshold model. Direct and maternal genetic effects were modeled by fitting correlated additive genetic effects of the sire and the maternal grandsire (MGS). For both the calf and the dam, covariates of breed proportions of Holstein-Friesian (HF) and the heterozygosity between HF and the original Danish Black and White (ODBW) were included. Records from 1.8 million first-calving Danish Holstein cows calving from 1985 to 2002 were used. In this period, the overall frequency of stillbirth increased from 0.071 to 0.090. An unfavorable genetic trend of stillbirth was found for both the direct and maternal effect. The background for the genetic trends was an intense use of HF sires as sires of sons, which increased the proportion of HF genes to 94% in the Danish Holstein calves born in 2002. The effect of the imported HF genes was higher direct effects of calf size, calving difficulty, and stillbirth compared with the ODBW genes. The maternal effect of stillbirth was poorer for HF than for ODBW even though HF had a better maternal calving performance than ODBW. The threshold and the linear models showed almost similar predictions of transmitting abilities of sires.     

乙烯基类聚合物复鞣剂对黄牛软面革丰满性能的影响

以感官评定结合仪器测定,试验研究了几种国产含乙烯基类聚合物复鞣剂对黄牛软面革丰满度的影响。应用正交对比试验,优选出国产KS-1聚合物复鞣剂在黄牛软鞋面革生产中获得良好丰满度的最佳应用条件。     

Influence of ageing time on the quality of yearling calf meat under vacuum

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of the ageing time on the quality characteristics of yearling calf meat under vacuum. Ninety-six Rubia Gallega yearling calves were used. Samples of the Longissimus thoracis at 1 day post slaughter as a control, and vacuum-packaged for 7, 14 and 21 days were analysed. Colour (lightness, L*, redness, a*, yellowness, b*, hue, H^o, chroma, C*, and pigment concentration), water-holding capacity (expressible juice and cooking losses), pH and toughness were measured. The statistical analysis showed an increase in a*, b*, H^o and C* and a decrease in expressible juice, cooking losses and toughness as the ageing time increased. Discriminant analysis divided the samples into two groups; i.e., 1-day post-slaughter samples and vacuum-packaged samples. Considering vacuum-packaged samples only, canonical discriminant analysis separated the long-ageing samples (21 days) from the short-ageing samples (7 days).     

Spontaneous calf hematoma in a patient with diabetic nephropathy receiving maintenance hemodialysis: A case report and review of the literature

We report the outcome of a 52‐year‐old patient with diabetic nephropathy and receiving maintenance hemodialysis (HD) using low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) as an anticoagulant for 2 years. He presented right lower limb pain accompanied with difficulty in walking for 2 months, and had no history of bleeding tendency or trauma. Physical examination revealed marked swelling and tenderness on his right lower limb. By ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnoses, the calf hematoma was diagnosed and identified with venous thrombosis. Following treatment with heparin‐free HD, the swelling regressed and pain subsided, and a follow‐up MRI showed complete dissolution of hematoma. However, similar symptoms recurred in the right upper limb after 2 months without any predisposition, he was just placed on HD with LMWH, and symptoms regressed following the aforementioned therapy. This suggests that HD patients, especially with diabetic nephropathy having extremity hematoma, should be watched for the development of spontaneous hemorrhage that can be differentially diagnosed by imaging tests, such as MRI, and can be effectively treated with heparin‐free HD.     

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) increases small intestinal blood flow and mucosal growth in ruminating calves

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) increases small intestinal mass and blood flow in nonruminants but its effect in ruminants is unknown. Eight Holstein calves with an ultrasonic flow probe around the superior mesenteric artery and catheters in the carotid artery and mesenteric vein were paired by age and randomly assigned to treatment of a control (0.5% of BSA in saline; n = 4) or GLP-2 (50 μg/kg of body weight of bovine GLP-2 in BSA; n = 4) given subcutaneously every 12 h for 10 d. Blood flow was measured on d 0 (acute) and d 10 (chronic) and included 3 periods: baseline (saline infusion), treatment (infusion of BSA or 1,000 pmol of GLP-2/kg of body weight per h), and recovery (saline infusion). On d 11, calves were killed 2 h after injection of 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU). Gastrointestinal tissues were weighed and epithelial samples were obtained to determine villus height, crypt depth, and BrdU staining. Infusion of GLP-2 increased superior mesenteric artery blood flow to 175% of baseline on d 0 but to only 137% of baseline after chronic treatment. Compared with that of the control, GLP-2 increased small intestinal mass by 24% by increasing epithelial mass in the jejunum and ileum. Additionally, GLP-2 increased villus height, crypt depth, and BrdU-labeling in small intestinal segments. These results demonstrate that GLP-2 induces similar increases in small intestinal blood flow and growth in ruminants to those observed in nonruminants. Furthermore, GLP-2 increases small intestinal blood flow in ruminants but this response is attenuated after 10 d of GLP-2 administration. In cattle, GLP-2 may be an important hormone in the regulation of intestinal blood flow and epithelial growth.     

The dehorning of dairy calves: practices and opinions of 639 farmers

Calf dehorning is a routine husbandry practice on dairy farms that is justified by safety reasons for stockpersons and by a reduced risk of injures among herdmates. In Europe, the practice is regulated by law but little is known about the methods applied or about farmers’ attitude to the practice. This study aimed to broaden the existing information on dehorning in dairy holdings by processing results of 639 farm questionnaires gathered in a traditional dairy area of northeastern Italy. Farm questionnaires were stratified according to herd size, type of housing, and productive purpose of the predominant reared breed(s). Chi-squared tests were performed to verify the significant association between a given practice or opinion and the 3 classification factors, and odd ratios were calculated. The outcomes of the study showed that dehorning was carried out on 80% of the surveyed farms, and disbudding was the method reported by all the interviewed farmers. Hot-iron cauterization was the preferred method for disbudding (91%). On average, disbudding was performed at 32 d of age and it was more likely in farms with ≥60 cows than in smaller dairy holdings (OR = 7.3). The practice was carried out mainly by farm personnel, but the intervention of a veterinarian was far more likely (OR = 5.98) on farms with ≤30 cows than on larger dairies. Most farmers (70%) stated that they had not received any specific training on how to perform disbudding. Fifty-two percent of the respondents reported that disbudding causes prolonged postoperative pain (≥6 h) but pain management was rare. Only 10% of the farmers used local anesthesia before cauterization, and 5% of the farmers provided calves with postoperative analgesia. Consistent with these results, farmers indicated limited willingness to pay the cost of analgesia or to call a veterinarian to perform the procedure. This low motivation of the respondents toward the adoption of practices able to reduce pain related to disbudding might arise from their insufficient knowledge on long-term negative effects of early painful experiences on behavior and handling of dairy heifers. Farmers in favor of keeping horned cows were asked about the reasons for not carrying out dehorning. Aesthetic motivations (54% of respondents) and lack of time (24%) were the main reasons cited. Moreover, a large majority of these respondents (74%) reported no difficulty in handling horned cattle.     

Growth hormone response to growth hormone releasing hormone in calves that differ in genetic merit for milk yield

Holstein heifer, steer, and bull calves from control (CL) and select (SL) lines of cows that differed by more than 4000 kg of milk during a 305-d lactation (SL > CL) were used to determine growth hormone (GH) response to 5 doses of GH releasing hormone (GHRH) and how this response was affected by gender, period (age), and genetic merit for milk yield. Doses (0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 microg/100 kg of BW) of a GHRH analog were assigned randomly to each heifer (4 CL, 4 SL), steer (4 CL, 4 SL), and bull (3 CL, 3 SL) calf and administered on consecutive days at approximately 3, 6, and 10 mo of age (periods; P1, P2, and P3). Jugular blood samples (n = 15) collected between -30 and 240 min relative to GHRH administration were used to quantify area under the GH response curve (AUC) after subtracting mean prechallenge GH concentrations. Estimates of maximum response (Rmax) and sensitivity (ED50) to GHRH were obtained from the hyperbolic dose response curves (AUC vs. dose). Data were analyzed for effects of dose, line, period, gender, and their interactions with period as the repeated effect. Prechallenge GH concentrations were not affected by genetic line, gender, or period. The AUC was not affected by line, but decreased with period and increased with GHRH dose. The Rmax did not differ between lines or among genders, but decreased with period. The ED50 did not differ between lines or among periods, but heifers were more sensitive to GHRH than steers or bulls. Although GH response to GHRH has been identified as a potential indicator of genetic merit, it did not differ between these substantially different genetic lines.