Cattle behavior, disease and management

Question 1

What is an ARB? When do we see it and what does it mean?

Answer 1

ARB: abnormal repetitive behaviors
- seen in captivity, not in the wild
- indicate something is wrong w/ animal’s brain, the environment or both

Question 2

mechanisms that influence ARB performance

Question 3

1. frustration

Answer 3

• stress, boredom
• in pigs: if prevented from access to feed, pigs will start to perform slam-chewing

Question 4

2. cognitive impairment

Answer 4

• basal ganglia: responsible for behavior, control, basically regulated behavior
• ex: when damage occurs, ARBs increase in rodents like flipping in hamsters

Question 5

3. coping

Answer 5

• likely mediated by environment => growing up in environment not suited for them
• ex: suggested that self-mutilation behaviors like feather plucking may have positive effects for animal (lowered stress, increased serotonin etc)
• like skin-picking in mammals => lower level of stress
• limited research!

Question 6

ARBs in dairy cattle

Question 7

tongue rolling & non-nutritive oral manipulation (NNOM) aka chewing wires/licking

Answer 7

• weaning associated w/ increased ARB
• ARBs resemble natural behaviors like milk drinking & eating forage
• little understanding of how they develop over time

Question 8

Beef vs. Dairy industry

Question 9

beef industry

Answer 9

• primary product is beef
• calves born on pasture, raised by mom for 6-8 months
• moved into feedlot around 12 months, fed concentrate diet
• slaughtered at 14-16 months
• mostly outdoor housing for 1st year of life
• little to no human interaction

Question 10

dairy cattle industry

Answer 10

• primary product is milk
• calves born and removed from mom immediately
• housed individually until weaning (6-8 weeks) then grouped in hutches
  
  • to prevent disease spread which is more likely b/c they’re housed in facilities
• bred by 14-16 months, calve 22-24 months
• kept on farm on avg for 3 lactations then to slaughter
  
  • if high production, stays longer
• mostly housed indoors/under cover
• lots of human interaction

Question 11

Scours in cows

Answer 11

• leads to dehydration
• leading cause of death in calves < 1 month
• diarrhea that runs through bedding, very watery
• signs of dehydration (taught skin)
• signs of weakness: lethargy, droopy ears, laying more frequently, not eating

Question 12

What causes Scours

Answer 12

1. infectious causes: cause inflammation of intestines, affecting nutrient absorption
   
   • bacteria (E. Coli)
   • viruses (Rotavirus)
   • parasite (cryptosporidium)
2. noninfectious: poor nutrition or milk quality

Question 13

One health of Scours

Answer 13

Animals: dairy calves
- dehydration => comatose, death
- diarrhea, severe weight loss

Humans: zoonosis
- cost a lot to treat

Environment
- filthy, dirty environment leads to reinfection

Question 14

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in heifers

Answer 14

clinical signs
- shallow/fast breathing, coughing
- nasal and eye discharge (milky, yellow color)
- fever or low appetite

Question 15

Causes of BRD

Answer 15

1. infectious
   
   • often virus first
   • subsequent bacteria colonization due to a weakened immune system
2. Noninfectious: environmental factors
   
   • cleanliness, ventilation, overcrowding, transport

Question 16

One Health of BRD

Answer 16

animal
- heifers => death, very sick, stressed

human
- cost to treat
- perception of antibiotic use

environment
- crowded environment, ventilation

Question 17

Mastitis in cows

Answer 17

• inflammation of the mammary gland
• leads to low milk production
• subclinical
  
  • presence of infection but asymptomatic
  • can be detected by testing milk for somatic cell counts
• clinical
  
  • visibly abnormal milk, udder changes

Question 18

Clinical signs, causes, treatment of Mastitis

Answer 18

clinical signs
- milk is thicker & more yellow
- udder is red and swollen
- typically only in one quarter of udder

Causes
- Infectious
- bacteria in the teat canal (often streptococci or gram negative rods)
- Noninfectious
- damage or injury to teat
- often used by milking machinery or trauma to gland

Treatment
- antibiotics
- important to determine if bacterial pathogen is gram positive or negative (differing cell walls)
- perform culture to determine
- continue to milk animal but milk gets separated from rest of herd milk

Question 19

Epidemiological triad for Mastitis

Answer 19

host: lactating cows

environment: dirty housing, sick animals

agent: bacteria