Pooling of interdigital swab samples for PCR detection of virulent Dichelobacter nodosus.

Virulent ovine foot rot is a contagious foot disease. Given the development and validation of a real-time PCR to detect Dichelobacter nodosus isolates that contain the virulence-associated protease genes aprV2 and aprB2, the diagnosis of foot rot has made considerable progress. We evaluated pooling methods to reduce the number of samples during a foot rot control program. Samples of individual feet were compared to a 4-feet sample of the same sheep. All further analyses based on 4-feet samples (pools-of-5 and pools-of-10 4-feet samples) were compared to samples of individual sheep, and a risk-based herd sampling was evaluated and compared to the whole flock. The sensitivity and specificity of the 4-feet samples for detection of aprV2-positive strains was 93.8% (CI: 87.6-97.5%) and 98.3% (CI: 96.5-99.3%), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the pools-of-10 was 86.7% (CI: 78.4-92.7%) and 100.0% (CI: 97.4-100%), respectively. Pools-of-5 were not significantly more sensitive than pools-of-10. The pooling of 4 individual foot samples into one 4-feet sample is an adequate method to reduce the number of samples of individual sheep. The sensitivity of pools-of-5 and pools-of-10 is too imprecise for a control program. Risk-based sampling allowed for a substantial reduction of samples to be tested, had a sensitivity of 95.8% (CI: 78.9-99.9%) and specificity of 100.0% (CI: 88.1-100.0%) when determining the foot rot flock status, and represents an adequate methodology to predict within-flock freedom from infection.

Experience with the delegation of anaesthesia for disbudding and castration to trained and certified livestock owners.

BACKGROUND: Anaesthesia is mandatory for disbudding and castrating calves and lambs of any age, in Switzerland. According to the "anaesthesia delegation model" (ADM), anaesthesia for disbudding calves <3 weeks of age and castrating calves and lambs <2 weeks of age may be administered by certified farmers. Experience with this unique model is not available. The aim was to evaluate the experience of the veterinary practitioners with the ADM. The response rate was 42%. The survey consisted of one questionnaire for each procedure. Procedure I was the delegation of anaesthesia for disbudding calves and procedures II and III were anaesthesia for castrating calves and lambs. RESULTS: Procedure I was performed with local anaesthesia in all farms of 51.8% of the veterinary practices, while this was only 39.3% and 7.6% for procedures II and III (p < 0.001). Anaesthesia for procedure I was administered technically correctly by farmers in at least 66% of the farms of 58.3% of the practitioners, while this was 45.4% and only 23.6% for procedures II and III (p < 0.001). The ADM was assessed as a moderate to very good model to reinforce the legal obligations for procedures I, II, or III by 74.8%, 76.5% and 62.0% of the veterinary practitioners (p < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The delegation of anaesthesia to certified farmers may be a promising model to reinforce the obligation to provide local anaesthesia for disbudding and castrating calves, but to a lesser extent for castrating lambs.

Occurrence of congenital disorders in Swiss sheep.

BACKGROUND: The rates of congenital disorders in Swiss sheep were determined by a questionnaire which was sent to 3,183 members of the Swiss Sheep Breeders' Association. FINDINGS: A total of 993 questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 31.2%. Of these, 862 questionnaires originated from farms keeping one of the predominant Swiss sheep breeds: Swiss White Alpine sheep, Brown-Headed Meat sheep, Swiss Black Brown Mountain sheep and Valais Blacknose sheep. During a 10-year-period, entropion was reported in 33.6% of the farms, brachygnathia inferior in 29.5%, abdominal/umbilical hernia in 15.9%, cryptorchidism in 10.5% and torticollis in 10.5%. The most significant difference between the four breeds (P<0.001) occurred for entropion in Swiss White Alpine sheep and Brown-Headed Meat sheep, brachygnathia inferior in Swiss Black Brown Mountain sheep, and scrotal/inguinal hernia in Valais Blacknose sheep. The Swiss White Alpine breed showed a significantly higher animal prevalence of entropion (6.2% in 2011 and 5.5% in 2012) than other breeds (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate a breed-specific necessity for action, particularly regarding Swiss animal welfare legislation, especially entropion in Swiss White Alpine sheep is concerned. In general, careful selection of breeding stock is to be recommended.