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Animals
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Calf Diseases—Latest Research
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Calf Diseases—Latest Research

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Cattle".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2022) | Viewed by 12432

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Arcangelo Gentile

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy
Interests: calf diseases; inherited diseases; congenital diseases; calf management
Prof. Dr. John Mee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Moorepark Research Centre, Fermoy, Co. Cork, P61 P302, Ireland
Interests: calf health; heifer rearing; infectious diseases; fertility performance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are looking for authors internationally who wish to publish their work on calf health problems in a high IF journal (2.752) that is producing a Special Issue (SI) on Calf Diseases. A Special Issue (SI) can increase the likelihood of citation, as readers who read/cite one paper in the SI are likely to read/cite other companion papers in the SI. Both original research papers and review papers are acceptable; all of which will be rapidly peer reviewed.

We are using a broad definition of the term “calf” to include the foetus, as factors impacting the latter (e.g., foetal programming) may have sequelae for the former. Additionally, we are including adult cattle, as calf diseases can influence subsequent health, productivity, fertility and longevity. In addition, adult cattle can influence calf health, e.g., pregnancy and parturition-associated effects on calf health.

In order to increase the scope of the SI, the core topic—calf diseases—is considered in a very inclusive way, as all aspects of calf management might potentially impact calf health, welfare and, finally, diseases. Therefore, this issue will include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Management
  • Nutrition
  • Epidemiology
  • Econometrics
  • Internal medicine
  • Therapeutics
  • Pathology
  • Microbiology
  • Parasitology
  • AMU/AMR
  • Genetics
  • Behavior
  • Welfare

We are particularly keen to receive manuscripts from studies in diverse environments, both dairy and suckler beef, as well as the commonly documented Holstein Friesian, confinement calf rearing systems. With this Special Issue, we hope to be able to provide updated and useful information on calf diseases and their management, both the most challenging in the daily activities and the less frequent and, therefore, less documented by veterinary studies and literature. The papers published in this SI will, we hope, become benchmark contributions to the scientific literature on calf diseases and health in general, cited long after they have been written by their authors… you!

Prof. Arcangelo Gentile
Prof. Dr. John Mee
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • calves
  • diseases
  • calf diseases
  • management
  • therapy
  • epidemiology
  • welfare

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 3169 KiB  
Article
Navel Healing and Calf Fitness for Transport
by Mariana Roccaro, Marilena Bolcato, Naod Thomas Masebo, Arcangelo Gentile and Angelo Peli
Animals 2022, 12(3), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030358 - 1 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2123
Abstract
Dairy male calves are at risk of welfare compromise as they are usually transported at a very young age. The European Union has set a “completely healed navel” requirement for calf transport; moreover, a minimum age is established for longer journeys. However, this [...] Read more.
Dairy male calves are at risk of welfare compromise as they are usually transported at a very young age. The European Union has set a “completely healed navel” requirement for calf transport; moreover, a minimum age is established for longer journeys. However, this requirement has proven to be prone to misinterpretation. This study aimed to clarify what is meant by “navel healing” and to provide strong elements for reaching a consensus. The navels of 299 dairy calves (55 males, 244 females) aged 0–90 days were examined and scored 1 to 5 according to their healing status. Based on our results, a completely dry and shriveled navel (score 3) would imply a 25.5–38.0% risk of transporting too young calves. Alternatively, the presence of a scab covering the umbilical wound (score 4) would entail a 4.3% risk of transporting calves less than 10 days old and could be considered good practice for transporting calves (except for journeys exceeding 8 h). Conversely, complete navel healing (score 5) guarantees that calves that are too young are not transported; therefore, it should be considered best practice for transporting calves in general and the minimum requirement for transporting calves for journeys exceeding 8 h. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calf Diseases—Latest Research)
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12 pages, 2117 KiB  
Article
Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli from Diarrhoeic Neonatal Calves in Spain
by Alberto Prieto, Cynthia López-Novo, Pablo Díaz, José Manuel Díaz-Cao, Gonzalo López-Lorenzo, Claudia Antón, Susana Remesar, David García-Dios, Ceferino López, Rosario Panadero, Pablo Díez-Baños, Patrocinio Morrondo and Gonzalo Fernández
Animals 2022, 12(3), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030264 - 21 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1962
Abstract
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the major pathogens involved in neonatal calf diarrhoea (NCD) causing high economic losses in dairy farms. Antibiotic treatment is common in cases of systemic illness caused by NCD, but antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) are usually not [...] Read more.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the major pathogens involved in neonatal calf diarrhoea (NCD) causing high economic losses in dairy farms. Antibiotic treatment is common in cases of systemic illness caused by NCD, but antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) are usually not performed. Thus, the aim of this study was to characterize the antimicrobial susceptibility of ETEC strains obtained from calves with diarrhoea between 2018–2020. Faecal samples (n = 420) were analyzed to detect the typical ETEC virulence factors F5 and STa. Positive samples were cultured to identify and isolate ETEC strains (n = 41) and ASTs were performed. Our results are alarming since ETEC strains resistant to three or more families of antimicrobials were detected in all isolates. Only four antibiotics (ceftiofur, cefoperazone, cefquinome and gentamicin) presented efficacy against more than 90% of the ETEC strains, while the other ten antibiotics were effective against less than 40% of the strains. In addition, a high number of strains were resistant to most first-line antimicrobials used in veterinary practice. For this reason, when ETEC infection is suspected, an AST must always be performed to select the most appropriate antimicrobial in each case and to avoid the emergence of new resistance mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calf Diseases—Latest Research)
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18 pages, 302 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Contract-Rearing on the Health Status of Replacement Dairy Heifers
by Marie-Claire McCarthy, Luke O’Grady, Conor G. McAloon and John F. Mee
Animals 2021, 11(12), 3447; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123447 - 3 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1662
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the health status of contract- vs. conventionally reared replacement dairy heifers over a 2-year period. A total of 120 dairy farmers were enrolled in the study in spring 2018: 55 farmers were rearing their own [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to compare the health status of contract- vs. conventionally reared replacement dairy heifers over a 2-year period. A total of 120 dairy farmers were enrolled in the study in spring 2018: 55 farmers were rearing their own heifers (control farmers; CFs), and 65 were sending heifers to a contract-rearing farm (source dairy farmers; SDFs). Between spring 2018 and autumn 2019, approximately 5500 replacement heifers from these farms were monitored for signs of ill health during four farm visits using a modified version of the Wisconsin calf health scoring system. Additionally, faecal and nasal swabs were taken from a proportion of heifers with clinical signs of diarrhoea and respiratory disease to determine the associated aetiological agents. Results indicate few differences in the health status and pathogen exposure status of home-reared versus contract-reared heifers. Additionally, the number of source dairy farms represented and commingling of heifers from multiple origins at the rearing unit were not associated with an increased incidence of respiratory disease or diarrhoea among contract-reared heifers. It was concluded that contract-rearing did not result in adverse health outcomes for replacement dairy heifers. This is the first study to demonstrate this finding in a robust, longitudinal, herd-level population study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calf Diseases—Latest Research)
20 pages, 2388 KiB  
Article
Calving Management: A Questionnaire Survey of Veterinary Subject Matter Experts and Non-Experts
by Anna Lisa Voß, Wolfgang Heuwieser, John F. Mee and Carola Fischer-Tenhagen
Animals 2021, 11(11), 3129; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113129 - 1 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2365
Abstract
Accurate detection of the onset of parturition is a key factor in the prevention of dystocia. In order to establish current best practice recommendations for calving management, we asked subject matter experts (SME) who had published on calving management (by online survey, n [...] Read more.
Accurate detection of the onset of parturition is a key factor in the prevention of dystocia. In order to establish current best practice recommendations for calving management, we asked subject matter experts (SME) who had published on calving management (by online survey, n = 80) and non-SMEs, veterinary practitioners (by workshop survey, n = 24) for their opinions. For this, we designed a questionnaire on the significance of signs of imminent parturition (SIP), the frequency of calving observation, and influencing factors for the timing of cow movement to a maternity pen. The response rate was 67.5% in the online survey and 100% in the workshop survey. The majority (89.7%) of all respondents agreed that it is beneficial for successful calving management to differentiate between stage I and II of parturition. Of 12 signs of imminent parturition (for stage I and II), “restlessness” and “visibility of fetal parts in vulva” were cited by 56.5% and 73.3% of SME and non-SME respondents, respectively. There was no consensus on the right time to move the cow to the maternity pen; recommendations varied from one to over 21 days. Almost half of the respondents (45.7%) recommended a 6-h observation interval for prepartum cows in the maternity pen. This study identified a strong consensus on the SIP and how and when to observe cows prior to parturition. SMEs and non-SMEs provided broadly similar recommendations, while the SMEs and the non-SMEs differed significantly in the number of publications on calving they authored, they differed little in their knowledge of calving management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calf Diseases—Latest Research)
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13 pages, 657 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Influential Factors for Scours Associated with Cryptosporidium sp., Rotavirus and Coronavirus in Calves from Argentinean Dairy Farms
by Emiliano Bertoni, Adrián A. Barragán, Marina Bok, Celina Vega, Marcela Martínez, José F. Gil, Rubén O. Cimino and Viviana Parreño
Animals 2021, 11(9), 2652; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092652 - 9 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3331
Abstract
Scours is the most common disease in dairy calves, and it is a multifactorial syndrome complex. Cryptosporidium sp. (C. sp.), rotavirus group A (RVA), and bovine coronavirus (BCoV) are the three main pathogens associated with scours. The objective of this study was to [...] Read more.
Scours is the most common disease in dairy calves, and it is a multifactorial syndrome complex. Cryptosporidium sp. (C. sp.), rotavirus group A (RVA), and bovine coronavirus (BCoV) are the three main pathogens associated with scours. The objective of this study was to identify potential factors associated with scours, C. sp., RVA, and BCoV infections in preweaned dairy calves from Lerma Valley in Salta Province, Argentina. A total of 488 preweaned calves from 19 dairy farms located in the Lerma Valley were enrolled in this observational study. One fecal sample was collected from each calf between one week and two months of age for assessment of C. sp., RVA, and BCoV infection status. Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts and RVA and BCoV antigens in fecal samples were assessed using microscopic observation and indirect enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (iELISA), respectively. A voluntary questionnaire was developed and used to collect data regarding management practices from the participants’ farms. The data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models. Scours incidence was 35.4%, and a greater proportion of calves younger than 20 days were affected. Of the fecal samples, 18% and 9.5% tested were positives for C. sp. and RVA, respectively, while BCoV was detected only in two calves. Furthermore, 84.2% and 63.1% of the farms tested positive for Cryptosporidium sp. and RVA, respectively. In addition, the following variables were associated with higher odds of having scours: (1) herd size (>300 milking cows; OR = 1.7), (2) calf age (<20 days of age; OR = 2.2), (3) RVA and C. sp. test (positive test; RVA OR = 2.6; C. sp. OR = 3), calf feeding practices (feeding milk replacer; OR = 1.81), and newborn calf management practices (calf moved from maternity pen <6 h after calving; OR = 1.7). Concerning RVA infection, calves less than 20 days of age (OR = 2.6) had a higher chance of testing positive for RVA, while calves that remained in the calving pen for less than 6 h after calving had a lower chance (OR = 0.3). On the other hand, for C. sp. infection, large farm size (>300 milking cows; OR = 1.2) and young calf age (<20 days of age; OR = 4.4) indicated a higher chance of testing positive for C. sp., while calves belonging to farms that fed frozen colostrum (OR = 0.2) had a lower chance of becoming infected with C. sp. The result of this study indicated that scours is a prevalent disease in farms of the Lerma Valley, Salta, Argentina, and that RVA and C. sp. infections, along with specific farm management practices, might be important contributing factors that could increase the chance of NCS in dairy farms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Calf Diseases—Latest Research)
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