Overweight and obesity on the island of Ireland: an estimation of costs.

Objectives: The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide continues to compromise population health and creates a wider societal cost in terms of productivity loss and premature mortality. Despite extensive international literature on the cost of overweight and obesity, findings are inconsistent between Europe and the USA, and particularly within Europe. Studies vary on issues of focus, specific costs and methods.

Resistance to macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics and associated risk factors on sheep farms in the lower North Island of New Zealand.

Aim: To estimate the prevalence of resistance to macrocyclic lactone (ML) anthelmintics over a 3-year period on sheep farms in the Taihape area, and to determine associations between the presence of ML resistance and farm management practices.

Methods: All farmers with >1,000 lambing ewes served by one veterinary practice in the Taihape area of the central North Island of New Zealand were invited to take part in the study (n=157); respondents were selected on their willingness to participate. Resistance to ML was measured during 2004-2006, using a standard faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) and a half dose of oral ivermectin (IVM; 0.

Evidence that moxidectin is a greater risk factor than ivermectin in the development of resistance to macrocyclic lactones by Ostertagia spp in sheep in south eastern Australia.

Aim: To determine associations between resistance of Ostertagia (=Teladorsagia) spp to macrocyclic lactone (ML) anthelmintics and history of use of anthelmintics, by type, on commercial sheep farms in temperate regions of southern South Australia and Victoria, Australia.

Methods: Faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRTs) were conducted during a 2.5-year period (from August 2001 to January 2004) and records of the type of anthelmintic used in the 5 years preceding the FECRTs were collected from commercial sheep farms (n=103) in southern South Australia and Victoria, and data analysed retrospectively.

Mortalities in bobby calves associated with long distance transport.

Objective: To investigate how distance of transportation and time of year affects mortality of bobby calves.

Method: The overall mortality of bobby calves transported by road to an abattoir in Northern Victoria was investigated by the analysis of mortality data from 1998 to 2000 from the abattoir records.

Results: Mortality of bobby calves increased exponentially with distance of transportation to the abattoir.

The effects of reducing the length of canine teeth in sucking pigs by clipping or grinding.

Objective: To provide production data that would support or discount current teeth clipping practices in sucking pigs.

Design: Intervention study of 207 litters of pigs on a commercial farm.

Procedure: Litters were assigned to one of three interventions undertaken at 1 day of age: clipped using hand-operated side cutter pliers, ground using a battery-operated grinder or left intact.

Estimate of the sensitivity of an ELISA used to detect Johne's disease in Victorian dairy cattle herds.

Objective: To estimate the sensitivity of the ELISA used in dairy cattle herds participating in the Victorian Bovine Johne's Disease Test and Control Program (TCP).

Procedure: The percentage of ELISA reactors in age and test cohorts was estimated from age-specific test data derived from TCP herds with long testing histories. Age-distribution data from production-tested herds enabled estimation of reactor rates in animals that were culled or died.

Infection rates in reactors to an absorbed ELISA used in a test and cull program for bovine Johne's disease.

Objective: To determine the proportion of cattle, whose sera gave positive reactions in a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for bovine Johne's disease, that were confirmed infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis by histology and culture of tissues.

Procedure: Dairy cattle (n = 493) from the Echuca district of Victoria, whose sera were positive in the ELISA, were slaughtered at an abattoir where standard specimens were collected for histology and culture. Only if samples were histologically negative were further samples submitted for culture.

A comparison of nematode control programs for cattle in south western Victoria.

Nematodiasis and its subsequent effect on production in Hereford weaner steers in western Victoria was studied during 1983 and 1984. In the first summer, steers were allocated to 2 replicates of 6 treatments--No treatment (Nil); Morantel slow release bolus in March (M1); Morantel bolus in March and June (M2); pour-on levamisole in January, May and July (R3); albendazole in January and July (V2) and albendazole in January, May and July, (V3). In 1984, treatment M2 was discontinued to provide extra replicates for Nil and M1.

Anthelmintic resistance and sheep management practices in south western Victoria.

Twenty-eight farms in 7 shires in south western Victoria were selected and tested for presence of benzimidazole-resistant nematodes between November 1979 and June 1981. Mean faecal egg counts of sheep were less than 100 strongyloid eggs/g on 11 farms. Faecal egg count reduction tests were conducted on the remaining 17 farms and thiabendazole was less than 90% efficient in reducing egg counts in sheep from 5 (29%) of these farms.

Effects of artificially induced infestations of the cattle louse, Linognathus vituli.

Groups of White Shorthorn calves, stanchioned to prevent self-grooming and given high or low levels of nutrition, were exposed to artificial infestations of the cattle louse, Linognathus vituli. Undernutrition caused a significant (P = 0.03) increase in lice numbers.

Efficacy of anthelmintics against cattle nematodes.

The efficacies of fenbendazole and thiabendazole against artifically acquired cattle nematodes and the efficacies of fenbendazole, prabendazole and levamisole against naturally acquired cattle nematodes were studied in western Victoria. Fenbendazole significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced numbers of late and early fourth stage larvae (greater than 96%), artificially acquired Cooperla spp (100%) and naturally acquired adult Ostertagia ostertagi (98%) and Trichostrongylus axei (90%).