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Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy

Lameness is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting dairy and beef cattle, resulting in decreased animal performance, decreased animal welfare, and substantial economic loss. In extensive beef cattle farming, the risk factors for this multifactorial disease are largely unexplored. This study ai...

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Autores principales: Morrone, Sarah, Scanu, Antonio, Gerolamo, Masala, Crovace, Alberto Maria, Romeo, Stella Maria Teresa, Saderi, Laura, Sotgiu, Giovanni, Columbano, Nicolò
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10204999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37220159
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285840
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author Morrone, Sarah
Scanu, Antonio
Gerolamo, Masala
Crovace, Alberto Maria
Romeo, Stella Maria Teresa
Saderi, Laura
Sotgiu, Giovanni
Columbano, Nicolò
author_facet Morrone, Sarah
Scanu, Antonio
Gerolamo, Masala
Crovace, Alberto Maria
Romeo, Stella Maria Teresa
Saderi, Laura
Sotgiu, Giovanni
Columbano, Nicolò
author_sort Morrone, Sarah
collection PubMed
description Lameness is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting dairy and beef cattle, resulting in decreased animal performance, decreased animal welfare, and substantial economic loss. In extensive beef cattle farming, the risk factors for this multifactorial disease are largely unexplored. This study aims to conduct a preliminary epidemiological survey of risk factors in beef cattle in extensive breeding, evaluate the farmer’s perception of lameness, and determine the recurrence frequency of the pathologies under investigation in treated animals. The study was conducted in Sardinia, Italy. The population of the study consisted of 14379 cattle from 230 farms. An ad hoc questionnaire was developed to collect all the necessary data. A strong association was found between breed and the occurrence and recurrence of lameness (p < 0.0001). In addition, the Country of origin of both bulls and cows was found to be correlated with the incidence of lameness (p < 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). Farmers who indicated on the questionnaire that lameness was not important on their farm had more animals with recurrences (p < 0.0001) than other farmers. The veterinarian’s treatment choice differed significantly by farmer concern (p = 0.007) and was associated with less disease recurrence (p < 0.0001), resulting in greater farmer satisfaction (p < 0.007). Pure cow breed, French bull origin, and farmer’s age were detected as significant predictors of lameness issues, with pure cow breed and French bull origin having the strongest associations (p = 0.009). Even though the results of this study are preliminary, they indicate that breed selection is crucial in extensive beef farms to reduce lameness prevalence. In addition, it would be reasonable to train breeders to prevent and diagnose lameness early in order to collaborate with veterinarians to prevent recurrence.
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spelling pubmed-102049992023-05-24 Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy Morrone, Sarah Scanu, Antonio Gerolamo, Masala Crovace, Alberto Maria Romeo, Stella Maria Teresa Saderi, Laura Sotgiu, Giovanni Columbano, Nicolò PLoS One Research Article Lameness is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting dairy and beef cattle, resulting in decreased animal performance, decreased animal welfare, and substantial economic loss. In extensive beef cattle farming, the risk factors for this multifactorial disease are largely unexplored. This study aims to conduct a preliminary epidemiological survey of risk factors in beef cattle in extensive breeding, evaluate the farmer’s perception of lameness, and determine the recurrence frequency of the pathologies under investigation in treated animals. The study was conducted in Sardinia, Italy. The population of the study consisted of 14379 cattle from 230 farms. An ad hoc questionnaire was developed to collect all the necessary data. A strong association was found between breed and the occurrence and recurrence of lameness (p < 0.0001). In addition, the Country of origin of both bulls and cows was found to be correlated with the incidence of lameness (p < 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). Farmers who indicated on the questionnaire that lameness was not important on their farm had more animals with recurrences (p < 0.0001) than other farmers. The veterinarian’s treatment choice differed significantly by farmer concern (p = 0.007) and was associated with less disease recurrence (p < 0.0001), resulting in greater farmer satisfaction (p < 0.007). Pure cow breed, French bull origin, and farmer’s age were detected as significant predictors of lameness issues, with pure cow breed and French bull origin having the strongest associations (p = 0.009). Even though the results of this study are preliminary, they indicate that breed selection is crucial in extensive beef farms to reduce lameness prevalence. In addition, it would be reasonable to train breeders to prevent and diagnose lameness early in order to collaborate with veterinarians to prevent recurrence. Public Library of Science 2023-05-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10204999/ /pubmed/37220159 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285840 Text en © 2023 Morrone et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Morrone, Sarah
Scanu, Antonio
Gerolamo, Masala
Crovace, Alberto Maria
Romeo, Stella Maria Teresa
Saderi, Laura
Sotgiu, Giovanni
Columbano, Nicolò
Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title_full Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title_fullStr Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title_full_unstemmed Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title_short Retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern Sardinia, Italy
title_sort retrospective study of lameness in beef cattle in northeastern sardinia, italy
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10204999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37220159
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285840
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