Associations of production characteristics with the on-farm presence of Fasciola hepatica in dairy cows vary across production levels and indicate differences between breeds.

ABSTRACT: Fasciola hepatica is one of the economically most important endoparasites in cattle production. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the relevance of production level on the associations of on-farm presence of F. hepatica with farm-level milk yield, milk fat, and milk protein in Holstein cows, a specialised dairy breed, and in Simmental cows, a dual purpose breed. Furthermore, we investigated whether differential associations were present depending on breed. Data from 560 dairy farms across Germany housing 93,672 cows were analysed. The presence of F. hepatica antibodies was determined via ELISA on bulk tank milk samples. Quantile regression was applied to model the median difference in milk yield, milk fat, and milk protein depending on the interaction of breed and fluke occurrence

SUBMITTER: Oehm AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10656002 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature