Animal traceability across national frontiers in the European Union.

The authors identify the fundamental requirements of a new information infrastructure for transnational animal tracking and tracing systems for use within the European Union. Relevant data for individual animals should include identification, movement history and health records. This must be maintained and available within each Member State, and should be available to other Member States on demand. A prerequisite for effective traceability is a system of unique and secure identification based on tamper-proof/tamper-evident identifiers linked directly to a database. An effective transnational traceability system requires an information infrastructure that will support the following: accuracy of information, completeness of information, common standards for interpreting data relating to animals and fast response to tracking and tracing requests. Information technology has advanced rapidly in the period since the existing animal movement control systems for Europe were first developed in the mid-1980s. The authors discuss the opportunity to use new technologies to enhance the existing systems. In particular, extensible markup language (XML) can be used to address many of the problems with data standards and interchanges in the existing infrastructure.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of treatment alternatives for beef bulls with preputial prolapse.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an economic model for comparing cost-effectiveness of medical and surgical treatment versus replacement of beef bulls with preputial prolapse. DESIGN: Economic analysis. SAMPLE POPULATION: Estimates determined from medical records of bulls treated for preputial prolapse at our hospital and from information about treatment of bulls published elsewhere. PROCEDURE: Annual depreciation cost for treatment (ADC(T)) and replacement (ADC(R)) were calculated. Total investment for an injured bull equaled the sum of salvage value, maintenance cost, and expected cost of the treatment option under consideration. Total investment for a replacement bull was purchase price. Net present value of cost was calculated for each year of bull use. Sensitivity analyses were constructed to determine the value that would warrant treatment of an injured bull. RESULTS: The decision to treat was indicated when ADC(T) was less than ADC(R). In our example, it was more cost-effective for owners to cull an injured bull. The ADC(R) was $97 less than ADC(T) for medical treatment ($365 vs $462) and $280 less than ADC(T) for surgical treatment ($365 vs $645). Likewise, net present value of cost values indicated that it was more cost-effective for owners to cull an injured bull. Sensitivity analysis indicated treatment decisions were justified on the basis of replacement value or planned number of breeding seasons remaining for the bull. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The model described here can be used by practitioners to provide an objective basis to guide decision making of owners who seek advice on whether to treat or replace bulls with preputial prolapse.

Use of performance ratios to calculate the economic impact of thin cows in a beef cattle herd.

OBJECTIVE: To determine gross income lost that was attributable to thin cows in a beef cattle herd, to estimate the cost of added nutrition necessary to prevent thin cows in the herd, and to determine the financial outcome of the improved nutritional practices. DESIGN: Prospective, observational study. ANIMALS: Four hundred and twenty-two Santa Gertrudis cows and their calves. PROCEDURE: At pregnancy examination in the fall of 1992, cows were assigned a body condition score (BCS), using a scale of 1 (emaciated) to 9 (obese), and the ratio of the productivity of BCS-3 and BCS-4 cow groups (thin cows), compared with the mean productivity of BCS-5 and BCS-6 cows (cows in good condition), was determined. Measures of productivity evaluated included pregnancy rates, weaning weights, and prices per hundredweight of calves. The performance ratios of BCS-3 and BCS-4 cows were multiplied by the mean gross income of BCS-5 and BCS-6 cows to calculate their gross income. This was then subtracted from the mean income of BCS-5 and BCS-6 cows to estimate the amount of lost gross income per thin cow. The cost of a nutritional program that would prevent thin cows in the herd was subtracted from the lost gross income of the thin cows to yield the amount of increased net income that could be generated from a nutritional program that would maintain cows in the herd at a BCS of 5 or 6. RESULTS: Cows with a BCS of 3 were 0.48 as productive, and cows with a BCS of 4 were 0.74 as productive as the average of the BCS-5 and BCS-6 cows combined. Each BCS-3 cow generated $215.06 less, and each BCS-4 cow generated $107.53 less gross income than the average gross income of BCS-5 and BCS-6 cows. The added cost of nutrition that would have reconditioned BCS-3 and BCS-4 cows to a BCS of 5.5 was $91.48/BCS-3 cow and $43.67/BCS-4 cow. Implementation of the reconditioning nutrition program the previous fall would have resulted in an extra net income of $123.58/BCS-3 cow and $63.86/BCS-4 cow, received over a 2-year period. The 262 thin cows in the herd accounted for a total net income loss of $19,897. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The time of pregnancy examination is a strategic intervention point to estimate the past negative economic impact of thin cows and to implement a plan to prevent these losses in the future. Pregnancy examinations should be performed at least 100 days before the beginning of the calving season, and thin pregnant cows should be sorted into a special group and fed a reconditioning diet that will improve their body condition to an average BCS of 5.5 by the onset of the calving season.

Farm Financial Standards.

The Farm Financial Standards were developed by a national effort to encourage standardization. Standardization includes financial statement formats, terminology, and calculations for measuring financial position and format. Comparative analysis and education efforts are enhanced greatly by standardization. The Standardization Performance Analysis (SPA) system was developed on the basis of the performance standards for beef cattle and sheep enterprises. This article summarizes the Farm Financial Standards and illustrates the calculations with a worksheet.

Stocker/feeder cattle standardized performance analysis.

The Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) for stocker/feed cattle is a recommended set of production and financial performance analysis guidelines developed specifically for the grazing, growing, and finishing phases of beef cattle production. Guidelines were developed by members of the National Cattlemen's Association (NCA), Extension Specialists, and the National Integrated Resource Management Coordination Committee to provide beef cattle producers with a comprehensive, standardized means of measuring, analyzing, and reporting the performance and profitability of an operation. This article describes and illustrates through an example the performance measures chosen. The NCA certifies software and education materials conforming to the Stocker/Feeder Guidelines.

Seedstock beef cattle: SPA.

The Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) for seedstock beef cattle (SPA-SB) is a recommended set of production and financial performance analysis guidelines developed specifically for the seedstock cow-calf, replacement heifer, and the sale bull enterprises. These guidelines were developed by members of the National Cattlemen's Association (NCA) and the National Integrated Resource Management Coordinating Committee to provide beef cattle producers with a comprehensive, standardized means of measuring, analyzing, and reporting the performance and profitability of an operation. This article describes and illustrates through an example the performance measures chosen. NCA certifies software and education materials conforming to the Seedstock SPA Guidelines.

Learning by selection in the trion model of cortical organization.

The basic issue of whether mammalian learning in cortex proceeds via a selection principle, as stressed by Edelman, versus an instructional one is of major importance. We present here a realization of selection learning in the trion model, which is based on the Mountcastle columnar organizational principle of cortex. We suggest that mammalian cortex starts out with an a priori connectivity between minicolumns that is highly structured in time and in space, competing between excitation and inhibition. This provides a "naive" repertoire of spatial-temporal firing patterns that stimuli and internal processing map onto. These patterns can be learned with small modifications to the connectivity strengths determined by a Hebbian learning rule. As various patterns are learned, the repertoire changes somewhat in order to respond properly to various stimuli, but the majority of all possible stimuli still map onto spatial-temporal firing patterns of the original repertoire. In order to show that the example presented here is showing true selectivity and is not an artifact of more stimuli evolving into the learned pattern, we develop a selectivity measure. We suggest that some form of instructional learning (in which connectivities are finely tuned) is present for difficult tasks requiring many trials, whereas very rapid learning involves selectional learning. Both types of learning must be considered to understand behavior.

Reversal of epileptic state by patterned electrical stimulation suggested by trion model calculations.

The trion model is based on the Mountcastle columnar organizational principle of cortex. A trion represents an idealized minicolumn with three levels of firing activity and is highly structured in time and in spatial connections. A network of trions has a large repertoire of quasi-stable, periodic spatial-temporal firing patterns, MPs, which can be excited and each MP can be readily enhanced by a Hebb learning rule. A particular MP present in most repertoires has all trions firing together in synchrony, which we identify as the 'Epileptic' MP (EMP). In trion model simulations, the EMP can be enhanced via the Hebb rule after electrical stimulation so that an epileptic focus with after discharge (about 3-6 Hz) is formed and spontaneous firing of the EMP occurs (as in kindling). Following this, by using a small array of closely-spaced stimulating electrodes out of phase, other MPs are enhanced via the Hebb rule eliminating the dominance of the EMP. We strongly urge that these predictions be tested in the animal models for possible clinical relevance.