The Prevalence and Cost of Important Endemic Diseases and Fertility in Dairy Herds in the UK

The incidence and prevalence of the major diseases in UK dairy herds is surprisingly difficult to determine, due to the lack of a centralised database for disease recording, and a lack of joined‐up communication between the disparate systems that might be used for disease recording on‐farm. Costs of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBovine Medicine pp. 323 - 337
Main Authors Macrae, Alastar, Esslemont, Richard
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 26.05.2015
Subjects
endemic disease
fertility
lameness
leptospirosis
UK dairy herds
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Summary:The incidence and prevalence of the major diseases in UK dairy herds is surprisingly difficult to determine, due to the lack of a centralised database for disease recording, and a lack of joined‐up communication between the disparate systems that might be used for disease recording on‐farm. Costs of disease are usually broken down into two parts: direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are those that are obvious to the farmer such as discarded milk due to antibiotic residues, or veterinary time and treatments. Due to the close inter‐relationships of many of these diseases, the indirect costs (such as an increased risk of culling or reduced fertility) often exceed the direct costs. It is well recognised that lameness in dairy cows is under recorded on UK dairy farms. Leptospirosis is also endemic in UK dairy herds, with serological surveys suggesting that approximately 75% of cattle have been exposed.
ISBN:1444336436
9781444336436
DOI:10.1002/9781118948538.ch33