Intrauterine growth retardation as a cause of perinatal mortality in Japanese black beef calves.

Perinatal death is one of the major causes of calf mortality in Japanese Black beef herds. A series of experiments were carried out to determine causes of perinatal calf mortality in a region of northern Japan. An aetiological survey revealed that the incidence of perinatal mortality in 6475 calves was 4.5% and the majority of neonatal deaths were caused by weak calf syndrome. The weak calves delivered after a normal gestation period had a significantly lower body weight at birth than normal calves (P < 0.01), indicating growth retardation in the uterus during pregnancy. Haematological and histopathological examinations showed that the weak calves had anaemia characterized by a significant decrease of blood cell values and bone marrow hypofunction. The anaemia due to bone marrow hypofunction presumably caused intrauterine growth retardation of the foetus. Dams delivering the weak calves showed significantly lower serum concentrations of estrone sulphate during late pregnancy than those with normal calves (P < 0.01), indicating foeto-placental dysfunction as a possible cause of growth retardation. Effects of sires as well as the maternal family on the incidence of neonatal death and on the rate of weak calves in dead neonates were found in the survey. Intrauterine growth retardation associated with anaemia may be the most important cause of weak calf syndrome in Japanese Black beef calves. The bull and maternal family may also have an influence on the incidence of neonatal death.

Effect of a combination of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of respiratory disease in cattle.

Clinical effect of the administration of thiamphenicol (TP) and tylosin (TS) on bovine respiratory disease was investigated. Group I (n = 64) were administered TP (10 mg/kg) and TS (4 mg/kg), group II (n = 26) were given TP (5 mg/kg) and TS (2 mg/kg). For the control, TP group (n = 25) were given 20 mg/kg of TP and ampicillin group (n = 23) were given 10 mg/kg of ampicillin. As a result, improvement of clinical findings was more rapid and the cure rate was significantly higher in group I compared to those in the other 3 groups. These results showed that a combination therapy with minimal basic doses of TP and TS is very effective for some respiratory diseases in cattle.