Morphometric properties of nivation hollows on Hart Mountain, Lake County, Oregon

Hart Mountain is a basaltic fault block mountain in the semi-desert region of the northern Basin and Range province in south-central Oregon. Geomorphic processes associated with lingering snowpatches have formed nivation hollows, which are small scale depressions in the hillsides. The lingering snow in the hollows prohibits shrub growth. Bedrock scarps, present in some of the hollows, show indications of chemical alteration. Bills are present below most of the hollows, indicating that surface runoff from these sites occurs. Average hillslope, which controls the shear stress placed on soil particles, is statistically related to morphometric attributes defining the size and angles of the hollows. Simple linear regressions and the nonparametric Kendall's rank correlation coefficient (p-) and Theil's C test for the regression line slope suggest that average hillslope is directly related to the morphometric attributes of the hollows. Heat transfer controls the areal distribution and duration of snowpatcnes. A relative insolation factor and elevation are taken as surrogates for heat transfer. These surrogates are likewise correlated with the morphometric attributes of the hollows. Both the elevation and the relative insolation factor suggest an inverse relationship between heat transfer and the size of nivation hollows. The hollows on Hart Mountain appear to have been formed by accelerated nivation processes during the Pleistocene and are currently being modified by less intense nivation

How Do Swine Producers and Veterinarians Expect the VFD to Affect Their Business?

ANTIBIOTIC USE in livestock production is a controversial subject in the public eye. Concerns over perceived over-use of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance has prompted public policy debates. In response, the United States Food and Drug Administration has created new antibiotic-use guidelines in livestock. The new guidelines are: ( a ) Guidance 209: Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food Producing Animals; ( b ) Guidance 213: Implementation Principles for Guidance 209; and, ( c ) Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD): Final Rule. The VFD fina l rule went into effect on October 1, 2015, and label changes requested in Guidance Documents 209 and 213 took effect on January 1, 2017 (US Department of Health and Human Services 2012, 2013; Federal Registrar 2015). These guidelines direct the use of medically important antibiotics (deemed to be important for human medicine) in livestock for therapeutic purposes (prevention, control, and treatment) only, thereby eliminating medically important antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. Medically important antibiotics can continue to be used for therapeutic purposes, but only under the guidance of a veterinarian with a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR). These rules also eliminate over-the-counter purchases of medically important antibiotics for administration in feed and water

General overview of the detection of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae DNA by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in diagnostic cases submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from 2004 to 2016

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhp) is the etiologic agent of enzootic pneumonia and a major causative agent of the porcine respiratory disease complex. This study summarizes and describes the general diagnostic trends on Mhp detection by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in cases submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from 2004 to 2016. The following variables were included in the analysis: animal age, geographic location, sample type, season, and submission year. The overall frequency of detection found was 27.04% and ranged from 17.9% to 40.7%. Lung homogenate and bronchial swabs had a greater Mhp qPCR detection rate than other sample types (P \u3c .001) followed by bronchoalveolar lavage (P \u3c .001), while oral fluids had the lowest Mhp detection rate (P \u3c .001). The fall season had a greater percentage of positive Mhp qPCR results when compared to other seasons (P \u3c .001), while spring had the lowest percentage. Finishing-age pigs had a greater percentage of Mhp qPCR detection when compared to other age groups (P \u3c .001), while suckling pigs had the lowest percentage (P \u3c .001)

Comparison of productivity losses between swine breeding herds adopting killed or attenuated PRRS virus vaccination protocols following PRRS outbreaks

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv) has been endemic for more than 30 years in most pig producing countries across the globe, and is still one of the most economically important pathogens affecting swine. The use of modified live vaccines (MLV) on breeding herds has been reported by several investigators and is a common practice in the industry for the control of PRRSv. There is limited published information on efficacy of killed virus (KV) vaccines as part of PRRS control programs in breeding herds. Thus, the objective of this study was to describe productivity losses in breeding herds following PRRS outbreak that used KV vaccination protocol compared to those using MLV vaccination protocol. A retrospective observational study was conducted to describe the production impact between two exposure groups i.e. KV vaccine-boostered group (27 herd-outbreaks from 19 herds) and MLV vaccine-treated group (51 herd-outbreaks from 50 herds). A survey was used to record key demographic information including herd size (number of breeding sows in the inventory), location of gilt acclimation site (offsite or onsite), PRRS status prior to described outbreak (stable or unstable), frequency of weaning events per week (1 and 2 or 3+), PRRSv RFLP type, United States geographic region, and PRRS vaccination protocol of breeding sows (KV vaccine, or MLV vaccine). The productivity losses were calculated using ‘time to baseline production’ (TTBP), and ‘total loss per thousand sows’ (TL/1000 sows). Statistical analyses were performed with SAS version 9.4. There was no difference in TTBP between exposure groups (P 0.4242), but the herd-outbreaks in the KV vaccine-boostered group had a lower median total loss of 697 per 1000 sows compared to the MLV vaccine -treated group (P 0.0021). This study provided information about changes in productivity of commercial breeding herds following PRRS outbreak, using KV vaccination protocol as part of PRRS management strategy when compared to those using MLV vaccination protocol

Description of Herd-Outbreaks Using Killed PRRSV Vaccine with an Attempt to Boost Immune Response

The objective of this study was to describe demographic characteristics, management practices, and live PRRSV exposure methods of herd-outbreaks that adopted a killed vaccine protocol

Comparison of production impact in breeding herds following PRRS clinical outbreaks adopting killed or attenuated PRRS virus vaccination protocols

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has been endemic for more than 30 years in most pig producing countries across the globe, and is still one of the most economically important pathogen affecting swine. The use of modified live vaccines (MLV) on breeding herds has been reported by several investigators and is a common practice in the industry for the control of PRRSV. There is limited published information on efficacy of killed vaccines (KV) as part of PRRS control programs in breeding herds

A proactive blueprint to demonstrate on-farm animal welfare

Farm animal welfare has become an increasing area of consumer and customer interest globally and this has resulted in dramatic changes related to on-farm accountability. Some markets are demanding an-on farm, transparent and accountable animal welfare program. Knowing what key elements are required is critical. Key elements range from (a) caretaker qualities; (b) record keeping and standard operating procedures (SOP) (c) animal- and resource based measures (d) communication and (e) caretaker empowerment. The ultimate on-farm welfare program goal is to provide the highest animal care. This review paper will provide context to these key elements that in turn can be used to create or improve an-farm animal welfare program

Multivalent display of minimal Clostridium difficile glycan epitopes mimics antigenic properties of larger glycans

Synthetic cell-surface glycans are promising vaccine candidates against Clostridium difficile. The complexity of large, highly antigenic and immunogenic glycans is a synthetic challenge. Less complex antigens providing similar immune responses are desirable for vaccine development. Based on molecular-level glycan–antibody interaction analyses, we here demonstrate that the C. difficile surface polysaccharide-I (PS-I) can be resembled by multivalent display of minimal disaccharide epitopes on a synthetic scaffold that does not participate in binding. We show that antibody avidity as a measure of antigenicity increases by about five orders of magnitude when disaccharides are compared with constructs containing five disaccharides. The synthetic, pentavalent vaccine candidate containing a peptide T-cell epitope elicits weak but highly specific antibody responses to larger PS-I glycans in mice. This study highlights the potential of multivalently displaying small oligosaccharides to achieve antigenicity characteristic of larger glycans. The approach may result in more cost-efficient carbohydrate vaccines with reduced synthetic effort

Association of Different Iowa Livestock Truck Wash Stations Service Levels with Enterobacteriaceae Counts

Data from eighteen different truck washes were used to compare the association of different service levels with Enterobacteriaceae counts. Service levels were classified into three different categories; prewash (n=78), post wash with disinfectant (n=78), and post wash without disinfectant (n=12). A total of 168 drag swabs were used for collection for the purpose of this study. Prewash services were defined as trailers before they were scraped out and washed. Post wash with or without disinfectant services were defined as after the trailers were washed and disinfectant was or was not applied. Prewash trailers tended to have higher Enterobacteriaceae counts of around 5.0 Log10CFU/m2when compared to post wash with disinfectantEnterobacteriaceae counts of around 2.2 Log10CFU/m2 and post wash without disinfectant Enterobacteriaceae counts of around 2.7 Log10CFU/m2

Designing and evaluating studies investigating non-antibiotic feed additives

In recent years, consumer interest in pork raised without or with limited in-feed antibiotics and the introduction of the Veterinary Feed Directive have driven producers to look for alternatives to the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in feed. There are numerous products already available that have the potential to be considered as AGP alternatives, although the effectiveness of many of these products has so far not been clearly demonstrated. Current data involving these AGP alternative ingredients are widely variable, and studies evaluating their effects lack consistent methodology and reporting of critical information. This leaves a significant gap in or knowledge about the effectiveness of these products and the ability to make comparisons across studies. In order to most efficiently identify useful AGP alternatives, it is necessary to first increase the consistency with which studies evaluating them are conducted. The objectives of this experiment were: 1) to develop and validate guidelines for studies on alternatives to AGPs to ensure progress in developing and assessing the scientific merit of such projects is as rapid as possible and to facilitate the comparison of research results across multiple studies, and 2) to evaluate the effects of example AGP alternatives in varying pen-group sizes