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The aim of this study was to compare the pain responses (as measured by noise and movement) during administration of local anaesthetic and during and after disbudding in goat kids. Eighty, seven- to ten-day-old, Saanen goat kids from one farm were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of four different methods of pain relief. Twenty kids had local anaesthetic (LA) applied at two sites per horn bud (LA group), 20 kids had LA applied to the two locations using a jet injector (JI group) and 20 kids were given a general anaesthetic (GA) using a combination of 0.02 mg/kg medetomidine and 2 mg/kg ketamine followed by a horn bud block applied as per the LA group (GA group). The remaining 20 kids had no treatment other than meloxicam (control group). Although responses between goat kids and at different time periods were variable, in comparison to the control group, GA eliminated the responses associated with injection of lignocaine and the responses during the period of disbudding, and provided a reduction in head scratches and shakes across multiple time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Namibia needs a robust welfare assessment protocol for beef cattle for benchmarking and trade. As there is presently no such protocol, one was developed for Namibian conditions based on one designed for extensive beef cattle in New Zealand which had been derived from the Welfare Quality and UC Davis Cow-Calf protocols, the modified protocol was evaluated in a semi-commercial farming village during the pregnancy testing of 141 cows from 5 herds of different households. Animal- and stockperson-based measures were assessed directly, cows were observed at grazing, and a questionnaire-guided interview was conducted. The protocol provided a good basis for welfare assessment, but additional measures and modifications were needed for the Namibian system. These were the effects of recurrent drought, predation, plant poisoning, external parasites, walking long distances to water and grazing, compulsory hot-iron branding, extraneous cattle marking, and variable standards of handling facilities. The protocol was modified to incorporate these changes, resulting in a total of 40 measures. It now needs full validation through widespread testing across the range of beef production systems used in Namibia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to assess if a designed prostaglandin (PGF2α)-protocol when used against natural mating (NM) in well-managed Mpwapwa cattle would improve pregnancy rates during the breeding season. Of the PGF2α oestrus synchronization protocols, a standard 14-day PGF2α protocol accompanied with fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) was tested against NM. Totals of 39 and 49 cows became pregnant in the FTAI and NM groups respectively following completion of the study of 100 cows for each group. Statistically, the difference between the two groups was not significant (P=0.21), even though there was a lower risk of pregnancy in the FTAI group compared to the NM group (unadjusted relative risk: 0.8, 95%CI: 0.58-1.09). The results from this study suggest that PGF2α–based synchronization protocol and FTAI, especially when combined with NM in Mpwapwa breed cattle, can yield better reproductive performance and enhance greater genetic improvement compared to being naturally serviced. Few cows (only 10/100 cows) displayed behavioural oestrus signs after receiving the first PGF2α injection. The poor oestrus response might be due to either ineffective detection of oestrus or cows lacked a responsive corpus luteum (CL) at the time of synchronisation. Therefore, this might reflect a large number of cows to have been in anoestrus. Further investigation on the reproductive status and performance of Mpwapwa cows is needed to identify the effects of anoestrus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine if a pre‐milking teat disinfection protocol would reduce the incidence of clinical mastitis by greater than 50%. Methods: Two pre‐milking routines were compared in a natural exposure trial. Cows from a single dairy herd were randomly assigned to control (n = 246) and experimental (pre‐milking teat disinfection [PMTD]; n = 244) groups. For cows in the control group, the pre‐milking routine involved minimal teat‐washing, except for cows with wet teat contamination. For cows in the PMTD group, the pre‐milking routine involved washing of all teats, dipping with a commercial 0.1% available iodine solution, allowing a minimum of 30 s contact time and then drying of the teats using disposable paper towel. Clinical cases encountered during the trial were recorded and pathogens were isolated from milk samples using standard laboratory methods. Results: The effect of PMTD was determined using multivariable binary logistic regression. Multiparous animals in the PMTD group had higher odds of experiencing clinical mastitis overall and of experiencing clinical mastitis caused by environmental pathogens (odds ratio (OR) 1.97 and 4.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15–3.38 and 1.49–11.3, respectively). In primiparous animals, pre‐milking teat disinfection did not reduce the odds of clinical mastitis by greater than 50% (OR 1.31, 95%CI 0.52–3.29). Conclusion: In this herd, PMTD increased the odds of clinical mastitis. The effectiveness of PMTD to prevent clinical mastitis in pasture‐based systems is likely to vary greatly between herds. We therefore recommend against the wholesale use of this practice on Australian farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing for failure of passive transfer (FPT) is common practice, yet there is still confusion around the best tests to use. Worldwide, the most common tests used are IgG concentration, total protein (TP) concentration (measured in a laboratory or on a refractometer) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) activity. Of these, IgG concentration is the gold standard but is expensive to test. In a recently published study we compared IgG results with laboratory TP, BRIX refractometer results and laboratory GGT, and concluded that of the three test laboratory TP concentration was the best predictor of IgG uptake and GGT the worst. Using a BRIX refractometer was marginally less accurate than laboratory TP testing but its cost and speed advantages meant that it would still be of significant value when evaluating potential FPT problems on farm. This paper describes the process used to come to these conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ‪In this study, the factors related to the functional limitation were studied simultaneously using structural equation modeling. Material and methods: 1‪201 people aged 50 years and older were selected for this study using a stratified random sampling method from health centers of Bukan city in the northwest of Iran, in 2017. Trained interviewers collected information on demographic characteristics, socio-economic status, physical activity, history of falling/ fear of falling, visual and hearing condition, associated illnesses, social support, cognition, depression, assessed functional limitation and mobility of study participants. The structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results: T‪he participants’ mean age was 59.2 ±7.97 yrs, of whom 61% were women. The result showed that the proposed conceptual model fitted well CFI (0.97), RMSEA (0.04), SRMR (0.06). Age (β = -0.45, p < 0.001), gender (β = -4.55, p = 0.004), and economic status (β = -3.57, p < 0.001), physical activity (β = -10.35, p = 0.025) and socio-psychological activity (β = -1.59, p < 0.001) negatively, and the variables of educational level (β = 2.34, p = 0.016), marital status (β = 5.43, p = 0.003), cognitive function (β = 0.66, p = 0.001), living environment (ground floor: β = 16.62, p < 0.001), duplex:(β = 5.19, p = 0.055), positively predicted the mobility limitation. Conclusions: ‪In this study, a range of socio-demographic factors, cognitive function, and living environment were identified as significant predictors of mobility limitation.