A cohort study of the associations between udder conformation, milk somatic cell count, and lamb weight in suckler ewes

A cohort study of 67 suckler ewes from 1 farm was carried out from January to May 2010 to investigate associations between udder conformation, udder half milk somatic cell count (SCC), and lamb weight. Ewes and lambs were observed at lambing. Ewe health and teat condition and lamb health and weight were recorded on 4 to 5 further occasions at 14-d intervals. At each observation, a milk sample was collected from each udder half for somatic cell counting. Two weeks after lambing, ewe udder conformation and teat placement were scored. Low lamb weight was associated with ewe SCC >400,000 cells/mL (−0.73kg), a new teat lesion 14 d previously (−0.91kg), suboptimal teat position (−1.38kg), rearing in a multiple litter (−1.45kg), presence of diarrhea at the examination (−1.19kg), and rearing by a 9-yr-old ewe compared with a 6-yr-old ewe (−2.36kg). High lamb weight was associated with increasing lamb age (0.21kg/d), increasing birth weight (1.65kg/kg at birth), and increasing number of days the ewe was given supplementary feed before lambing (0.06kg/d). High udder half SCC was associated with pendulous udders (9.6% increase in SCC/cm of drop) and greater total cross-sectional area of the teats (7.2% increase of SCC/cm2). Low SCC were associated with a heavier mean litter weight (6.7% decrease in SCC/kg). Linear, quadratic, and cubic terms for days in lactation were also significant. We conclude that poor udder and teat conformation are associated with high levels of intramammary infection, as indicated by increased SCC and that both physical attributes of the udder and SCC are linked to lamb growth, suggesting that selection of suckler ewes with better udder and teat conformation would reduce intramammary infection and increase lamb growth rate

Is there an evidence base for veterinarians to utilise when treating commonly seen conditions in cattle?

Evidence based veterinary medicine (EVM) is an integral part of clinical decision-making in practice. In order for EVM to be utilised effectively, relevant published evidence must be available to veterinarians. Currently there is a lack of research identifying the common conditions seen in cattle in the United Kingdom (UK) and it is unknown whether the published literature is relevant to these. Two methods (cross sectional questionnaire of veterinarians and observational practice-based study) were used to identify the commonly seen cattle conditions, and an online information search was conducted to determine the amount of evidence available on these. Conditions relating to the reproductive and respiratory systems were most frequently seen; the most common conditions or procedures were mastitis, lameness, pneumonia, uterine infections, dystocia, fertility testing and tuberculosis testing. For the more common conditions, there was more literature found (e.g. 15,208 citations for mastitis) compared to the less common conditions (e.g. 50 citations for cystitis).In conclusion, this study identifies the common conditions seen in cattle in the UK and suggests there is relevant literature available on these to potentially facilitate an evidence-based approach being used in practice

Short communication : preliminary investigation into the effect of freezing and a cryopreservant on the recovery of mastitis pathogens from ewe milk

The objective of this study was to investigate the recovery of bacteria from ewe milk after freezing for 4 or 8 weeks with and without the addition of glycerol as a cryopreservant. A total of 50 udder-half milk samples with a known range of bacterial species were selected, stored and analyzed in 5 treatment-groups: time zero, frozen for 4 weeks with, and without, glycerol; and frozen for 8 weeks with, and without, glycerol. There was a lower recovery of all bacterial species studied after freezing. Samples containing fewer than 100 cfu/mL came from ewes with a lower somatic cell count and were more likely to be bacteriologically negative after freezing than those above this threshold. The addition of glycerol increased recovery of Gram-negative bacteria after freezing, although this requires further study to draw strong conclusions. The effects on Gram-positive species were inconsistent. We conclude that whilst the addition of glycerol had a small beneficial impact on the sensitivity of detection of bacteria from frozen sheep milk, sensitivity was highest in cultures from fresh milk