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Cloned sheep can live long and healthy live
Three weeks after the scientific world marked the 20th anniversary of the birth of Dolly the sheep new research, published by The University of Nottingham, in the academic journal Nature Communications has shown that four clones derived from the same cell line — genomic copies of Dolly ...Read more -
Cattle Tail Lice
P. E. Kaufman, P. G. Koehler, and J. F. Butler The cattle tail louse, Haematopinus quadripertusus (Figure 1), is the most important damaging cattle louse in Florida. In other parts of the United States the short-nosed cattle louse is the major pest. While much information is available for...Read more -
Cattle Management is the Key to Your Herd’s Health
The health of each animal on your farm is important, but livestock health is often discussed in terms of the whole herd. That’s because whether you have two cattle or 200, what distresses one easily can affect the others. Transmissible diseases, environmental conditions, and weather may aff...Read more -
Bovine tuberculosis shows genetic diversity throughout Africa
Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis that affects cattle as well as other animals and humans. Now, by combining genotyping M. bovis samples from cows across African countries, researchers have been able to study the diversity and evolution of the disea...Read more -
Bluetongue
What is bluetongue? Bluetongue is a disease of ruminant livestock that is caused by the bluetongue virus. Bluetongue virus does not cause disease in humans. This virus is transmitted to livestock by selected species in the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). These small insects are bitin...Read more -
Researchers find biological treatment for cow disease
A University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher and his colleagues are far more certain now that a new biological treatment could prevent dairy cattle from getting uterine diseases, which might improve food safety for people. That’s because Kwang Cheol “...Read more -
Vaccine developed for devastating pig virus
In less than a year, University of Saskatchewan (U of S) scientists have developed and tested a prototype vaccine that could protect the North American swine industry from a virus that has killed more than eight million pigs and cost more than $400 million in lost income since 2013. The Porcine ...Read more -
BLACKLEG
Blackleg is a highly fatal disease of young cattle caused by the spore forming, rod shaped, gas producing bacteria Clostridium chauvoei. The spores of the organism can live in the soil for many years. The bacteria enters the calf by ingestion and then gains entrance to the body through small p...Read more -
Anthrax
Anthrax, a highly infectious and fatal disease of mammals and humans, is caused by a relatively large spore-forming rectangular shaped bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. Most outbreaks occur in areas where animals have previous died of anthrax, as the spores remain viable for decades. The pr...Read more -
‘Antelope perfume’ keeps flies away from cows
In Africa, tsetse flies transfer the sleeping sickness also to cattle. This leads to huge losses in milk, meat and manpower. The damage in Africa is estimated to be about 4.6 billion US dollars each year. Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the Univ...Read more -
Treatment of humans, pigs may reduce endemic tapeworm infection
The transmission of Taenia solium, a pork tapeworm species that infects humans and causes late-onset seizures and epilepsy, can be stopped on a population-wide level with mass treatments of both pigs and humans, researchers have shown. Researchers from several institutions, including Georgia Stat...Read more -
Water troughs are key to E. coli contamination in cattle
A major study led by Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine researchers reveals for the first time that water troughs on farms are a conduit for the spread of toxic E. coli in cattle, which can then spread the pathogen to people through bacteria in feces. The study was recently publish...Read more -
Challenges for controlling bovine tuberculosis in South Africa
All effects taken together, bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has a long-term detrimental effect on bovine herds and many wildlife species in South Africa. The disease is not only found in domestic cattle but also in African buffaloes and has to date been diagnosed in 21 wildlife species, including sever...Read more -
Bovine rumen impaction caused by ingestion of Gonometa postica cocoons in eastern-central Namibia
Cases of rumen impaction caused by ingestion of Gonometa postica cocoons occurred at a farm in eastern-central Namibia. Ten animals died on the farm over the previous 5 months. Rumenotomies were successfully performed on three affected animals. The authors were of the opinion that the affected an...Read more -
Insecticide treatment of cattle to kill sand flies and combat leishmaniasis
With an estimated 500,000 human infections and 50,000 deaths annually, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the second most prevalent parasitic killer, behind malaria. Leishmania parasites are transmitted through the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases...Read more -
How to Improve Pregnancy Rate in Dairy Cattle
Research at the University of Illinois has shown that adding methionine to the diets of Holstein cows during the prepartum and postpartum periods may impact the preimplantation embryo in a way that enhances its capacity for survival. “Methionine is the first limiting amino acid for dairy ca...Read more -
Cattle-killer: Two parasites are better than one
When calves are infected by two parasite species at the same time, one parasite renders the other far less deadly, according to a new study published in the current journal of Science Advances. The international team of scientists has quantified, for the first time, how co-infection significantly...Read more -
Horse care: Start mosquito protection methods now, veterinarians urge
Start thinking now about protecting yourself and your horse from West Nile virus, says a Kansas State University veterinarian. Beth Davis, professor and head of the equine medicine and surgery section at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Health Center, says there was an increa...Read more -
Ancient wild ox genome reveals complex cow ancestry
The ancestry of domesticated cattle proves more complex than previously thought, reports a paper published in the open access journal Genome Biology. The first nuclear genome sequence from an ancient wild ox reveals that some modern domestic cow breeds, including the Scottish Highland and Irish K...Read more -
A horse of a different color: Genetics of camouflage and the dun pattern
The results of this study reveal a new mechanism of skin and hair biology, and provide new insight into horse domestication. Most horses today are treasured for their ability to run, work, or be ridden, but have lost their wild-type camouflage: pale hair with zebra-like dark stripes known ...Read more -
Risk to small children from family dog often underestimated
Children love petting dogs, playing with them and crawling after them. They especially love to hug or cuddle the family dog. Unwanted close contact sometimes causes dogs to feel harassed and they respond by snapping at the child. Many cases of dog bites involving small children happen in everyday...Read more -
Research suggests a way to identify animals at risk of blood clots
Patients who are critically ill, be they dog, cat or human, have a tendency toward blood clotting disorders. When the formation of a clot takes too long, it puts them at risk of uncontrolled bleeding. But the other extreme is also dangerous; if blood clots too readily, it can lead to organ failur...Read more -
Newly discovered infectious prion structure shines light on mad cow disease
Groundbreaking research from the University of Alberta has identified the structure of the infectious prion protein, the cause of “mad cow disease” or BSE, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which has long remained a mystery. The infectiou...Read more -
New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat
In the largest study of its kind, an international team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has shown that both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products. Analyzing data from around the world, the team reviewed 196 p...Read more
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