Evaluation of antimicrobial resistance and risk factors for recovery of intrauterine Escherichia coli from cows with metritis on California commercial dairy farms.

The goals of this study were to evaluate factors affecting recovery and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in intrauterine E. coli in post-partum dairy cows with and without metritis from commercial California dairy farms. Using a cross-sectional study design, a total of 307 cows were sampled from 25 farms throughout California, from which a total of 162 intrauterine E.

Correction: Risk factors affecting dairy cattle protective grouping behavior, commonly known as bunching, against Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) on California dairies.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Risk factors affecting dairy cattle protective grouping behavior, commonly known as bunching, against Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) on California dairies.

Bunching is the term used to describe the protective aggregating behavior of cattle against the painful bites of stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans), where cattle gather in a group with their heads to the center of the group and their tails to the outside to reduce stable fly attack. Both sexes of the stable fly feed on blood, and their painful bites negatively impact cattle health, productivity and welfare. A longitudinal study was conducted from April to July 2017 to estimate the stable fly activity on 20 California dairies (average herd size = 2466 ± 1050), to determine stable fly activity that induced bunching, and to evaluate the association between management and environmental factors, and cattle bunching.

Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on diarrhea and average daily gain in pre-weaned dairy calves: A double-blind, block-randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

The objective of this clinical trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation on diarrhea and average daily weight gain (ADG) in pre-weaned dairy calves. A total of 1,482 healthy Holstein heifer and bull calves from a large California dairy were enrolled at 24 to 48 hours of age until hutch exit at approximately 90 days of age. Calves were block-randomized by time to one of three treatments: 1) placebo, 2) zinc methionine (ZM), or 3) zinc sulfate (ZS) administered in milk once daily for 14 days.

Molecular epidemiology of coagulase-negative species isolated at different lactation stages from dairy cattle in the United States.

Background: Coagulase negative (CNS) species are currently the most prevalent intra-mammary pathogens causing subclinical mastitis and occasional clinical mastitis or persistent infection in lactating dairy cattle. More than 10 CNS species have been identified, but they are generally managed as one group on most dairies in the United States. However, improved management decisions and treatment outcomes may be achieved with better understanding of the prevalent species, pathogenicity and strain diversity within and across dairies.

Association between herd management practices and antimicrobial resistance in spp. from cull dairy cattle in Central California.

Background: In this study cull dairy cows from six California dairy herds were sampled seasonally over the course of a year. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) spp. shed in cull cow feces, and the factors associated with fecal shedding of AMR and multidrug resistant (MDR) .

Measuring Liver Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Proton Leak Kinetics to Estimate Mitochondrial Respiration in Holstein Dairy Cattle.

Oxygen consumption, proton motive force (PMF) and proton leak are measurements of mitochondrial respiration, or how well mitochondria are able to convert NADH and FADH into ATP. Since mitochondria are also the primary site for oxygen use and nutrient oxidation to carbon dioxide and water, how efficiently they use oxygen and produce ATP directly relates to the efficiency of nutrient metabolism, nutrient requirements of the animal, and health of the animal. The purpose of this method is to examine mitochondrial respiration, which can be used to examine the effects of different drugs, diets and environmental effects on mitochondrial metabolism.

Multiple episodes of 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) intoxication in a California calf-raising operation.

Over a 1-y period, a California calf-raising operation experienced 4 separate episodes of sudden death in 4-6-mo-old steers. Each episode occurred in 1-3 contiguous pens on 1 of 3 properties owned by the operation, but eventually all 3 properties were involved. In each episode, animals appeared normal at the evening feeding but at the subsequent morning feeding were found dead or dying.

Reliability of sampling strategies for measuring dairy cattle welfare on commercial farms.

Our objective was to evaluate how the proportion of high-producing lactating cows sampled on each farm and the selection method affect prevalence estimates for animal-based measures. We assessed the entire high-producing pen (days in milk <100; range = 81-241 cows) on 10 California farms using measures from the Welfare Quality Protocol for Cattle. Cows were restrained in head locks and visually evaluated for body condition, dirtiness, skin alterations (hair loss, lesions, or swelling), discharge (ocular, nasal, vulvar), diarrhea, and impaired respiration.

Epidemiology of Salmonella sp. in California cull dairy cattle: prevalence of fecal shedding and diagnostic accuracy of pooled enriched broth culture of fecal samples.

Background: The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the crude, seasonal and cull-reason stratified prevalence of Salmonella fecal shedding in cull dairy cattle on seven California dairies. A secondary objective was to estimate and compare the relative sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) for pools of 5 and 10 enriched broth cultures of fecal samples for Salmonella sp. detection.

Effect of Three Colostrum Diets on Passive Transfer of Immunity and Preweaning Health in Calves on a California Dairy following Colostrum Management Training.

Following colostrum management training, a randomized field trial was conducted on a California dairy to determine the effect of supplementing pooled colostrum with either colostrum-derived replacer (CDR) or second-milking colostrum (transition milk) on failure of passive transfer (FPT) and preweaning morbidity risks. A total of 166 calves were randomly assigned to 4L first-milking pooled colostrum (treatment 1), 2L first-milking pooled colostrum and 2L of CDR (treatment 2), or 2L first-milking pooled colostrum and 2L second-milking pooled colostrum (treatment 3). Mean 24-hour serum TP and IgG for treatments 2 (TP 5.

Cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies using quantitative real-time PCR and bacterial culture to identify contagious mastitis cases in large dairy herds.

Diagnostic strategies to detect contagious mastitis caused by Mycoplasma bovis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus agalactiae in dairy herds during an outbreak have been minimally studied with regard to cost and diagnostic sensitivity. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies for identification of infected cows in two California dairy herds during contagious mastitis outbreaks. M.

Floating call boys and agile homosexuals: homophobia/Venice/history.

Because works of nonfiction are always composed of literary tropes and metaphors, they have to be read critically for the ways in which their truth claims are potentially structured by ideologies and stereotypes. This essay reads passages from Richard Sennett's sociological analysis Flesh and Stone, The Body and the City in Western Civilization and Joseph Brodsky's memoir Watermark in order to demonstrate how these alleged works of nonfiction shore up some dishearteningly familiar literary stereotypes of male homosexuality and participate in a tradition, dating from the 19th century, of linking the city of Venice with homosexuality and death.

A randomized controlled trial on preweaning morbidity, growth and mortality in Holstein heifers fed a lacteal-derived colostrum replacer or pooled maternal colostrum.

Background: The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effect of feeding a commercial lacteal-derived colostrum replacer (CR) or pooled maternal colostrum (MC) on preweaning morbidity, growth and mortality in Holstein heifer calves. A total of 568 calves were randomly assigned to be fed either 3.8 L of pooled MC or two doses (200 g IgG) of a CR.

Walt Whitman, our great gay poet?

This article surveys the critical debates around Walt Whitman's "Calamus" cluster, arguing that a "queer" reading of Whitman--one that does not see him as, for example, a closeted homosexual who censored his work for fear of being "outed"--is both historically accurate and politically efficacious. While previous efforts to reclaim Whitman as "our great gay poet" are understandable--particularly given critical readings of Whitman that denied the homoeroticism of his poems--today, a reading of Whitman as homosexual threatens to simplify our understanding of the history of homosexuality and to blunt the power of Whitman's poetry to continue to "queer" normative understandings of sex and gender identity categories and their relationship to politics.