Leg lameness is a prevalent welfare concern in broiler chickens, and biologically-relevant environmental enrichment designed to increase physical activity and decrease leg disorders is lacking. Therefore, a novel enrichment device was developed with the objective to motivate broilers to voluntarily move, thus improving leg health, production outcomes, and overall animal well-being. Research completed thus far has shown that the enrichment device was successful in improving performance. The work described here aims to validate that the change in these performance outcomes, particularly feed intake, was due to the enrichment itself, and to study if the device directly led to the birds to the feeder. Results show that in the first 9 days, 71% of birds went to the feeder during 4-min enrichment periods or within 5 mins following enrichment. Over weeks 1-6, 61% of birds went to the feeder during or within 5 mins after the enrichment periods. These data indicate that the environmental enrichment was successful in leading birds to the feeder and improving performance.

A comparative study of the CowManager tag versus visual observations was conducted to measure the efficacy of cow behavior measuring technologies. The study used 30 Angus cross beef steers grouped into pens of 6. The steers were monitored once a week every other week for a total of 6 days. Each observation period was within 4 hours from the hours of 7am to 11am using the scanning method at an interval of 5 minutes. The behaviors that were monitored by the observer and CowManager technology included time spent ruminating, eating, and being active. Each behavior time was put on an hour time scale and compared. After SAS analysis there was no statistical difference in the time spent ruminating when using observational methods versus those that the CowManager reported. However, there was a statistical difference in time spent eating when comparing observational and CowManager data. The CowManager data appeared to under report the amount of time spent eating. These results indicate that CowManager tags can accurately measure rumination time but are unable to accurately measure feeding time when used in beef cattle production systems. This is significant for beef cattle research and industries looking to use this technology.

Streptococcus suis is an important pathogenic bacteria known to cause meningitis and fibrinous polyserositis in swine. Several bacterial real-time polymerase chain reaction assays (qPCRs) have been developed for use at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU VDL); however, qPCR protocols for the detection of S. suis were lacking. qPCR is often considered an appealing alternative to culture-based or immunoassay-based diagnostic methods because of its ability to rapidly test a large volume of samples with a high degree of target specificity. One hundred seventy-four clinical samples were obtained from the ISU VDL and were tested by qPCR targeting the recombination/repair protein (recN) gene. Samples were collected both prospectively and retrospectively. Ninety-three BacT positive samples were analyzed across sample type (brain, lung, heart, joint fluid). A Pearson χ2 value of 4.024 and a P-value of 0.1337 suggests anatomical location does not affect testing outcome when α=0.05. The data were then aggregated based on case level and compared to the case diagnosis. Using this method, a qPCR positive result agreed with a diagnosis of S. suis 59.7±10.3% of the time, while the isolation of S. suis agreed with a diagnosis of infection in 75±8.2% of diagnostic cases.

During scheduled times throughout the day, zookeepers will give educational presentations. It is important to allow animals to engage in natural behaviors. The objectives of this project were to (a) construct a wagon and (b) to ascertain if the wagon allowed for normal porcupine behaviors to be expressed during formal presentations at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. A wagon was designed and built, that took approximately 53 hours with two persons. To test the wagon’s effectiveness one North American Porcupine (7.3 kg) was used. Baseline: The porcupine spent ~76% of her time either on the stage or the floor within the Pavilion, spent ~43% eating and ~20% target training. Habituation: With the wagon, floor time decreased (~16%), time on the wagon was ~77% and target training was ~14%. Public: Wagon time was ~79%, stage/floor time decreased to ~19% and target training was ~9%. The porcupine’s eating time also increased from ~43% (baseline) to ~59% (public). In conclusion, the construction of the wagon was successful and it provided her enrichment allowing her to exhibit her natural behaviors in front of the general public.

A successful dairy farm develops individualized mastitis prevention and treatment programs using the milk quality profile of their herd. Port-Haven Dairy’s 230 Brown Swiss milking cow herd’s monthly DHIA somatic cell count data was used to select cows requiring milk sampling. Each quarter of selected cows and cows with clinical mastitis were sampled following a CMT paddle test. Milk samples were cultured and organisms that grew were identified visually and with subsequent tests. A composite sample was also cultured from each fresh cow to test for mycoplasma organisms. Eight positive staphylococcus aureus cows and zero positive mycoplasma cows were found. Two trials of sampling determined that the prevalent mastitis organisms in the herd included environmental streptococcus and skin staphylococcus. Using antibiotic sensitivity results, a treatment program was established for the Staphylococcus aureus cows using Pirsue. The predominant environmental organisms lead to the examination of milking procedures, the barn environment, and teat end callouses. These results directed the formation of immediate herd goals including eliminating mycoplasma threats and keeping the bulk tank somatic cell count below 300,000. Increasing the square footage per cow in each barn to decrease environmental organisms and somatic cell count stands as a long term goal.

The impact of supplemental zinc concentrations and either ractopamine hydrochloride or dietary energy content on blood metabolite measures P. E. Wise, R. N. Carmichael and S. L. Hansen This study researched whether increased dietary zinc supports growth within the beta-agonist cascade (Exp. 2) or by ulterior mechanisms (Exp. 1—dietary energy content). Angus-type steers received one of three Zn supplementations (ZNTRT). ZNTRT included CON (0 mg Zn/kg DM supplemental zinc), ZS (120 mg Zn/kg DM as ZnSO4), and ZA (60 mg Zn/kg DM as ZnSO4 + 60 mg Zn/kg DM as Zn-AA complex). In Exp. 1, half received LOW diets (~1.6 kg/d ADG fed for initial 60 d to all steers) and half HI diets (~2 kg/d ADG). In Exp. 2, half received a beta-agonist—RAC (300 mg ractopamine HCl·steer ·-1d ·-1) and half did not—NON (0 mg ractopamine HCl·steer ·-1d ·-1 ). Blood was sampled throughout the trial periods (four days for Exp. 1 and five days for Exp. 2) and analyzed for blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations. Overall, NEFA concentration was unaffected by ZNTRT but was affected by energy in Exp. 1 (P = 0.02). BUN concentration increased in Exp. 2 during pre-RH and RH periods when fed ZA diets (P < 0.01, P = 0.09, respectively). BUN concentration in Exp. 2 decreased with supplementation of RAC (P = 0.01).

Bovine Respiratory Disease is a multifactorial syndrome, which negatively impacts performance and welfare among cattle. BRD is associated with viral and bacterial pathogens; but other causal factors include management techniques and environmental stresses. Low stress handling methods use the natural behavior and innate responses of cattle to minimize negative consequences potentially associated with handler interactions. Acclimation methods familiarize cattle with their environment and, therefore, decrease stress. It was hypothesized that cattle that were acclimated and handled with LSCH techniques would vocalize less and display calmer behavior in a squeeze chute compared to cattle that had not been acclimated and had been handled conventionally. Cattle were assigned to one of two treatments by pen, five control pens and five LSCH pens. Video was recorded, then scored using an ethogram for frequency of vocalizations, chute behavior, exit behavior and whether a calf fell upon exiting. There was no observed difference in vocalization frequencies between control and LSCH (2.04±0.27 and 2.63±-0.47, respectively; p=0.37), nor observed difference in chute scores (p=0.10), exit scores (p=0.39), and probability of falling upon exit (p=0.25). Our results demonstrated no observed effect of acclimation or LSCH on chute behaviors on Day 3 after arrival at the feedlot.

Spurred on by heavy antimicrobial use in healthcare systems worldwide, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a preeminent global health crisis. Antimicrobials are also economically important as antimicrobial growth-promotants (AGPs) for food animals. Due to connections between antimicrobial use in food animals and increased AMR arising in zoonotic pathogens, many governments worldwide have enacted or proposed legislation intended to curb veterinary antimicrobial use. Starting in 2012, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to release a set of industry guidances that proposed a phase-out of medically important antimicrobials as AGPs in food animals. Effective January 1st, 2017, these new regulations have left many questions as to their economic and logistical impacts on the food animal industry, as well as their effects on food animal and human health. The European Union and its member states have had similar regulations for several decades now, with the constituent nations of Sweden and Denmark being particularly strong examples. These nations and their data-collection infrastructures offer a wealth of information as to the possible economic and health effects of AGP restrictions in the United States. We reviewed this information to propose possible implications of the recent AGP regulations in the United States.