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A longitudinal study of gastrointestinal parasites in English dairy farms: practices and factors associated with first lactation heifer exposure to Ostertagia ostertagi on pasture

Bellet, Camille; Green, Martin J.; Bradley, Andrew J.; Kaler, Jasmeet

Authors

Camille Bellet

MARTIN GREEN martin.green@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Cattle Health & Epidemiology

JASMEET KALER JASMEET.KALER@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Epidemiology & Precision Livestock Informatics



Abstract

The gastrointestinal nematode Ostertagia ostertagi is an important cause of lost production, health, and welfare in cattle. Detailed records were obtained over a 5-yr period (2010–2015) by questionnaires and qualitative interviews to investigate the practices adopted by dairy farmers to control cattle helminth infections and the factors associated with heifer exposure to O. ostertagi on pasture. In total, 1,454 heifers' individual milk samples were collected over a 1-yr period (2014–2015) in 43 dairy farms in England and tested for O. ostertagi antibody by ELISA. Multilevel linear regression models were used to investigate the association between individual milk optical density ratio (ODR) against O. ostertagi and heifer management from birth to time of sampling. Farm and heifer median ODR against O. ostertagi were 0.98 (interquartile range = 0.76–1.02) and 0.64 (interquartile range = 0.42–0.84), respectively. The majority of heifers (88%) received an anthelmintic treatment before sampling in this study. After controlling for the effect of anthelmintic treatments, heifer individual milk ODR against O. ostertagi significantly increased with high stocking rate at first grazing and co-grazing with adult cows before calving. Conversely, heifer individual milk ODR against O. ostertagi significantly decreased when heifers had co-grazed with sheep and pasture grass had frequently been mowed. Overall, these results provide evidence to support targeting grazing management toward limiting the use of anthelmintics in dairy young stock to enable sustainable control of cattle helminth infections in England. However, to be accepted and adopted by farmers, these best practices would need to take into account farmers' perspectives and contextual challenges.

Citation

Bellet, C., Green, M. J., Bradley, A. J., & Kaler, J. (2018). A longitudinal study of gastrointestinal parasites in English dairy farms: practices and factors associated with first lactation heifer exposure to Ostertagia ostertagi on pasture. Journal of Dairy Science, 101(1), https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-12952

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 14, 2017
Online Publication Date Nov 8, 2017
Publication Date Jan 22, 2018
Deposit Date Nov 17, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Dairy Science
Print ISSN 0022-0302
Electronic ISSN 1525-3198
Publisher American Dairy Science Association
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 101
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-12952
Keywords dairy heifer; Ostertagia ostertagi; individual milk ELISA; sustainable control
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/906374
Publisher URL http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030217309955

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