Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVI, Issue 2
Written by Elena RĂDUCANU, Daniela Mihaela GRIGORE, Dinu GAVOJDIAN, Gheorghe Emil MĂRGINEAN, Livia VIDU
Dairy calves are susceptible to a great range of welfare and health issues up to the age of weaning. This study aims to evaluate incidence of the main health disorders affecting dairy calves up to one year of age. The study was carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Research and Development Institute for Bovine Balotesti, Romania, were health data (epidemiological situation of coccidiosis, diarrhea, rickets and respiratory diseases) was collected for two consecutive years, between November 2017 and October 2019, from a number of 176 purebred Romanian Black and White calves. Diarrhea had the highest incidence in un-weaned calves (0-3months old), of 29.55±0.34%, significantly higher (p≤0.001) compared to 3-6 months (2.16±1.24) and 6-12 months age groups (5.88±2.17), respectively. Coccidiosis incidence was on average of 39.20±0.36% in un-weaned calves, 1.44±1.01% in the 3-6 months group and of 5.04±2.01% in the 6-12 months group, significantly higher (p≤0.001) in the 0-3 months age group, compared to older calves. The highest number of health affections in our study were attributed to coccidiosis and diarrhea, altogether affecting over two thirds of the calves.
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