Effect of eprinomectin treatment at calving on milk production in dairy herds with limited outdoor exposure.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of anthelmintic treatment at calving in herds that were totally or semiconfined during the summer. In totally confined herds, lactating and dry cows were housed throughout the summer and had no access to pasture. In semiconfined herds, lactating and dry cows had limited outdoor exposure to a small pasture or paddock but were still fed a ration that met all their nutritional requirements. The study was carried out between February 2002 and February 2003 in 65 herds enrolled with DHI and distributed in 4 regions in Canada and 1 state in the United States. Cows were randomly allocated to receive eprinomectin or a placebo, with treatment being administered on or close to day of calving. In May and June 2002, 8 fecal samples were collected from each farm and fecal egg counts (FEC) were determined. Monthly bulk tank milk samples from each farm were tested with an indirect ELISA using a crude Ostertagia ostertagi antigen. Monthly test-day milk production data were recorded for 200 d after calving. In general, FEC were very low (mean = 1 egg per gram, range = 0 to 27). Mean herd bulk milk ELISA optical density ratio (ODR) values for the whole year ranged between 0.22 and 0.80. The ODR values were dichotomized into high and low using a threshold of 0.5. Treatment effects were analyzed using a linear mixed model with herd and cow as random effects. The analysis was restricted to 4789 cows (23,956 test-day records) treated between 21 d before and 7 d after calving. Overall, there was no significant effect of treatment. However, there was a tendency for an interaction between treatment and ODR, as illustrated by a larger numerical difference in treated vs. untreated cows in high-ODR herds than in low-ODR herds. However, the confidence intervals for the treatment effects (kg/d of milk per cow) in high-ODR herds (-0.33 to 1.10) and in low-ODR herds (-0.53 to 0.14) were wide and included zero. Therefore, this study failed to show a beneficial effect of eprinomectin treatment in these totally or semiconfined herds.

Sithole F ，Dohoo I ，Leslie K ，DesCôteaux L ，Godden S ，Campbell J ，Stryhn H ，Sanchez J ... -  《JOURNAL OF DAIRY SCIENCE》

Effect of eprinomectin pour-on treatment around calving on reproduction parameters in adult dairy cows with limited outdoor exposure.

The objective of this study was to investigate if treatment of cows with eprinomectin around calving had any beneficial effects on the calving to first artificial insemination interval, calving to conception interval, and number of services per conception in totally- and semi-confined dairy herds. In totally-confined herds lactating- and dry-cows were housed throughout the summer and had no access to pasture. In semi-confined herds lactating- and dry-cows had limited outdoor exposure to a small pasture or paddock but were still fed a ration that met all their nutritional requirements. The study was carried out between February 2002 and February 2003 in 35 herds (2381 cows) located in Quebec, Ontario and Minnesota (USA) participating in a larger clinical trial. The herds kept electronic reproduction records. Cows were randomly allocated to receive eprinomectin or a placebo, with treatment being administered on or close to the day of calving. Monthly bulk tank milk samples from each farm were tested with an indirect ELISA using a crude Ostertagia ostertagi antigen and these data were averaged over the study year. The optical density ratio (ODR) values were then dichotomized into high and low using a cut-point of 0.50. Treatment effects were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards survival models with herd frailty effects for calving to conception and calving to first service intervals. Aalen's linear hazards model was used to investigate time-varying effects in the Cox models. A random effects poisson regression model was used to model the number of services per conception. Other predictor variables tested in the models were lactation number, calving season, study site, peak milk production, ODR and the lactating- and dry-cow housing variables. Overall, there was no significant effect of treatment on the three indices of reproductive performance. The effect of season of calving depended on how much time had passed since calving. Presumably this effect reflected a seasonal effect at the time of breeding. Hazard of conception in younger cows was higher than in older cows. Early bred cows tended to have a higher number of inseminations per conception than those bred late. The results of the study suggested that eprinomectin treatment at calving was not beneficial to reproduction.

Sithole F ，Dohoo I ，Leslie K ，DesCôteaux L ，Godden S ，Campbell J ，Keefe G ，Sanchez J ... -  《PREVENTIVE VETERINARY MEDICINE》

A longitudinal study of gastrointestinal parasites in Canadian dairy farms. The value of an indirect Ostertagia ostertagi ELISA as a monitoring tool.

The general objective of this study was to evaluate a crude Ostertagia ostertagi antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for monitoring gastrointestinal parasites in lactating dairy cattle. A longitudinal study of gastrointestinal parasites in lactating dairy cows was carried out in 38 herds in four provinces of Canada (Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan) from September 1999 to October 2000. Bulk tank milk, cow milk, serum and fecal samples were collected monthly or quarterly from all these farms. Information on herd management factors was collected by a standard questionnaire and individual cow production data were obtained from an electronic database. The overall mean optical density ratio (ODR) was 0.30 and ranged from -0.05 to 1.55. Although a clear seasonal pattern was not observed, the ODR values tended to decrease during the housing period and start increasing in the spring before the cows went out to pasture. The second and third or greater lactation cows had significantly higher ODR values compared with first lactation animals. The individual cow ODR had a very low correlation with individual squared root fecal egg counts but showed a reasonably high correlation when herd averages values were computed (r=0.73). A moderate correlation (r approximately 0.50) between the bulk tank and herd average ODR was observed. Milk yield was negatively associated with individual cow milk ODR and a quadratic effect on ODR was observed for days in milk. Twenty-eight of the herds participated in a clinical trial of eprinomectin (Ivomec Eprinex) treatment at calving. The cow level ODR values determined late in the previous lactation had a marginally significant effect (P=0.07) on treatment response, suggesting that high OD cows responded better to the anthelmintic treatment. However, because of the small sample size available in this model, more research is needed to better understand this relationship. In conclusion, the indirect ELISA using an O. ostertagi crude antigen appears useful as a technique for monitoring gastrointestinal parasite burdens in adult dairy cows and holds promise as a potential predictor of response to anthelmintic treatment.

Sanchez J ，Dohoo I ，Nødtvedt A ，Keefe G ，Markham F ，Leslie K ，DesCôteaux L ，Campbell J ... -  《VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY》

The use of an indirect Ostertagia ostertagi ELISA to predict milk production response after anthelmintic treatment in confined and semi-confined dairy herds.

An indirect Ostertagia ostertagi ELISA was used in late lactation milk samples from cows in confined and semi-confined dairy herds to determine if it could predict milk production response after endectocide treatment at calving. Holstein cows from 9 dairy farms from Prince Edward Island (PEI), 5 from central Nova Scotia and 16 from southern Ontario that were participating in a clinical trial of endectocide treatment around calving were used in this study. The cows were randomly treated with either eprinomectin pour-on endectocide or a placebo solution. Milk samples were obtained from cows late in the lactation before treatment was applied. These samples were tested for antibodies to gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) using the indirect ELISA with the results expressed as optical density ratios (ODR). Production records were obtained from a computerized database of dairy herd improvement data. Pre-calving ODR showed a seasonal pattern. They were higher in the summer and fall and lower during the winter months. Older animals had higher pre-calving ODR values compared with younger cows. Similarly, cows from semi-confined herds had higher parasite antibody levels compared with cows from confined herds. The endectocide treatment did not affect the milk production response in the overall study population. However, the interaction effect between treatment and pre-calving ODR on milk production response after endectocide treatment was significant (P = 0.02), with some evidence of positive treatment response in cows with an ODR > 0.4. The relationship between pre-calving ODR and production response appeared to be quadratic rather than linear.

Sanchez J ，Dohoo I ，Leslie K ，Keefe G ，Markham F ，Sithole F ... -  《VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY》

The effect of eprinomectin treatment at calving on reproduction parameters in adult dairy cows in Canada.

A clinical trial was carried out in two provinces of Canada to investigate the effect of treatment with eprinomectin at calving on production parameters in adult dairy cattle in 1999-2000. One of the objectives of this study was to evaluate the impact of treatment on reproductive performance as measured by: calving-to-conception interval, calving-to-first service interval and number of services per conception. The ability of an indirect ELISA using a crude adult Ostertagia ostertagi antigen to predict response to treatment also was evaluated. All lactating cows in 20 dairy herds were allocated randomly to receive either eprinomectin pour-on or placebo at calving. Information on reproductive parameters was obtained from computerised cow records. Survival models were used to evaluate the effect of treatment on the two intervals and a Poisson model was used to evaluate the number of services to conception. A total of 549 cows were included in these analyses. A marginally significant treatment effect on calving-to-conception interval was observed (hazard ratio=1.24, P=0.06) but not on calving-to-first service interval. A significant reduction in the number of breedings to conception for treated animals also was observed with a longer effect in cows with short interval to first service. Milk samples from a subset of 109 late-lactation cows were tested for antibodies against O. ostertagi. The ELISA optical-density ratio (ODR) values obtained between 120 days before calving and drying off were categorised as high ODR (>or=0.5) and low ODR (<0.5). Among untreated animals, the hazard of conception was lower (hazard ratio=0.38, 95% CI=[0.19,0.75]) for high-ODR cows compared to low ODR cows suggesting that higher parasite burdens had an adverse effect on reproductive performance. Treated high-ODR cows had a hazard of conception equivalent to the hazard for all cows in the low-ODR group (indicating that treatment prevented the negative effect associated with these higher parasite burdens).

Sanchez J ，Nødtvedt A ，Dohoo I ，DesCôteaux L ... -  《PREVENTIVE VETERINARY MEDICINE》