Dairy R&D in SA

The aim of the paper by the authors cited below was to review the state of fertility of female dairy cattle in South Africa and to compare it with international efforts at improving fertility. Fertility in dairy cows is defined as the ability to conceive from first insemination soon after calving and to carry the calf full term to calving.

There are several causes of hepatogenous or secondary photosensitisation in ruminants in South Africa, e.g. hepatotoxic plants, water-borne cyanobacteria, the mycotoxin, sporidesmin, found in spores produced by the saprophytic fungus Pithomyces chartarum etc. In cattle, hepatogenous photosensitivity associated with the feeding of crops comprising certain cultivars and/or hybrids of forage Brassica, namely turnip (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa), rape (B. napus ssp. biennis) and swedes (rutabaga, B. napus ssp. napobrassica) has been reported from Australia  and New Zealand.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): The results of an antibiotic susceptibility testing trial of Staph. aureus isolates showed that 75-80% isolates were multidrug resistant. The isolates were found to be 100% resistant to amoxicillin, ampicillin and penicillin G, 95% resistant to cephalexin, 82% resistant to streptomycin, 75% resistant to oxacillin, 64% resistant to erythromycin, 50% resistant to tobramycin, 46% resistant to tetracycline and 39% resistant to vancomycin. None of the Staph.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to human and veterinary medicine. Often it is not known to which antimicrobials specific mastitis-causing pathogens such as Streptococcus uberis are resistant or to which new antimicrobials they are sensitive to. A complicating factor is that one of the resistance strategies of many pathogens which makes it more difficult to treat than their planktonic counterparts, is biofilm formation. A further complicating issue is that virulence factors of Str.

Discipline: nutrition/feeding; 

Discipline: breeding; 

This overview was kindly provided by Prof Esté van Marle-Köster of the University of Pretoria.

Genomics defined in broad terms:

Discipline: grazing/pastures; 

Discipline: mastitis; 

Discipline: mastitis; 

Discipline: mastitis;