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Potentials of using milk performance data and FAMACHA score as indicators for Targeted Selective Treatment in Lacaune dairy sheep in Switzerland

  • Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) is one approach to slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance. Its success is closely linked to the correct identification of animals in need of treatment. In dairy goats it has been proposed to use milk yield as TST indicator and to focus treatments on high yielding dairy goats. In dairy sheep the relationship between milk performance and infection with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) is not well known. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between milk yield and GIN infection in dairy sheep and based on this, to evaluate milk performance data as a potential TST indicator. Overall 1159 Lacaune ewes of 15 dairy sheep farms in Switzerland were included in the study. The ewes were phenotyped once between August and December 2019, when they were at least 70 days in milk (DIM). Individual faecal samples were taken from every ewe to determine the nematode egg concentration per gram faeces (EPG). In addition, the clinical parameters FAMACHA score and packed cell volume (PCV)Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) is one approach to slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance. Its success is closely linked to the correct identification of animals in need of treatment. In dairy goats it has been proposed to use milk yield as TST indicator and to focus treatments on high yielding dairy goats. In dairy sheep the relationship between milk performance and infection with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) is not well known. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between milk yield and GIN infection in dairy sheep and based on this, to evaluate milk performance data as a potential TST indicator. Overall 1159 Lacaune ewes of 15 dairy sheep farms in Switzerland were included in the study. The ewes were phenotyped once between August and December 2019, when they were at least 70 days in milk (DIM). Individual faecal samples were taken from every ewe to determine the nematode egg concentration per gram faeces (EPG). In addition, the clinical parameters FAMACHA score and packed cell volume (PCV) were measured. Linear mixed models were used to analyse the effects of the collected parameters on EPG. EPG increased significantly with increasing test day milk yields (P = 0.002), indicating high yielding ewes to be less resistant to GIN infections than low yielding ewes. The effect was most pronounced in earlier lactation but remained within a moderate range. Overall, our results indicated the potential of using milk yield data of rather early lactation as TST indicator in dairy sheep. On farms with predominantly H. contortus the combination with FAMACHA might improve the correct identification of highly infected ewes, as FAMACHA was correlated with EPG (r = 0.37, P < 0.001).show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Katharina Schwarz, Beat Bapst, Mirjam Holinger, Susann Thüer, Inga Schleip, Steffen Werne
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-5698
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vpoa.2020.100030
ISSN:0304-4017
Parent Title (English):Veterinary Parasitology
Publisher:Elsevier
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2020
Date of first Publication:2020/09/10
Publishing Institution:Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde
Release Date:2023/05/25
Tag:Gastrointestinal nematodes; Dairy sheep; Milk yield; Targeted selective treatment; Organic farming; Anthelmintic resistance
Issue:277
Article Number:100030
Institutions / Departments:Fachbereich Landschaftsnutzung und Naturschutz
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
University Bibliography:University Bibliography
Zweitveröffentlichung
Peer-Review / Referiert
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International
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