It is important to describe weaknesses in rearing calves not only to improve their welfare, but also to detect areas where current scientific knowledge is poorly integrated into practice. A survey of preweaning calf-rearing practices was conducted using a farmer questionnaire. The survey included 136 farms, representing 11.9% of all dairy cows in the Czech Republic. Mean herd size (± standard deviation) was 326 ± 131.4 cows, and mean milk production 7,413 ± 1,389.5 kg per cow per year. We evaluated 59 farms with Holsteins (H) and 77 with the Czech Fleckvieh breed (C). The survey revealed that (1) calving in group pens predominated (67.6% of farms); (2) no disinfection of calf navels occurred on 11.8% of herds; (3) pooled colostrum was fed on 15.4% of farms; (4) colostrum quality was controlled on only 44.1% of farms, and only 73.5% of farms had reserve colostrum stocks; (5) nonmarket waste milk was fed in 64.7% of herds but it was pasteurized in only in 6.8% of herds and acidified in 35.2% of herds; (6) milk replacer was mixed with nonmarket waste milk on 52.9% of farms; (7) 58.8% of farms enabled calves to obtain milk by sucking and 41.2% by drinking from a bucket; (8) the main criterion in weaning was calf age (61.7%), followed by acceptance of starter and concentrated feed (19.9%) and lack of housing capacity (18.4%); and (9) newborn calves were individually housed on 96.7% of farms and group-housed on 3.3% of farms. The most marked differences in calf-rearing management between Holstein and Czech Fleckvieh farms were (1) a higher proportion of operations calving in tie-stalls or stanchions in C (6.5%) versus H (1.7%) farms; (2) a higher proportion of untreated navels on C (15.6%) versus H (6.8%) farms; (3) a lower proportion of C (11.7%) versus H (20.4%) farms feeding pooled colostrum; (4) a lower proportion of C (39%) versus H (50.9%) farms monitoring colostrum quality; (5) sucking milk from nipple buckets predominated (61%) on C farms, whereas drinking from an open bucket was most common (64.4%) on H farms; (6) age was the main criterion in weaning calves of both breeds (C farms: 55.8%, H farms: 69.5%), whereas the second most important criterion was lack of housing capacity (28.6% of farms) on C farms and the amount of consumed starter (25.4%) on H farms. We observed a difference in duration of colostrum period between C herds (median 5d) and H herds (median 4d). A tendency was observed for age of calves at weaning (C herds: median at 9.1 wk, H herds: median at 10 wk).

Disbudding is a routine practice in many dairy herds due to the effort to decrease the risk of injuries. Although the disbudding practice is regulated, it can vary among farms. The variation may be caused by many factors, such as herd size or type of breed, but also by farmers' perception of pain caused by disbudding. Hence, the aim of this study was to specify the disbudding practice on dairy farms in the Czech Republic and to assess these practices, including the use of pain mitigation medication, by breed, herd size, and sex of the disbudded calves. We analyzed data from 106 Czech dairy farms, which were collected by a trained interviewer at dairy meetings in 2014-2015. The farmers answered questions regarding the farm's basic characteristics, disbudding practice, and his/her attitude to the pain caused by disbudding. To test the influence of breed, herd size, and sex of disbudded calves on different variables, logistic regression models were used. Disbudding was performed in 92.5% of the surveyed farms; 63.3% of dairy calves were disbudded before 4 wk of age, and Czech Fleckvieh calves were 2.8 times more likely to be disbudded before 4 wk of age than Holstein calves. The hot-iron method was the most used method (69.4%). Calves were 4.5 times more likely to be disbudded by hot iron in herds where both heifers and bulls were disbudded than in herds where only heifers were disbudded. Most (>90%) surveyed farms did not use any pre- or post-procedure medication to mitigate the pain caused by disbudding. The disbudding procedure was performed mainly by farm personnel (94.9%), who were trained by a veterinarian or veterinary technician (46.9%) or by other farm personnel (37.8%) or were not trained (15.3%). Two-thirds of farmers observed behavioral changes in calves after disbudding. Most farmers estimated the pain caused by disbudding to be mild or moderate (20.4 or 45.9%, respectively) and 15.3% of farmers estimated it to be severe. Almost a quarter of interviewed farmers were unable to assess the duration of pain, 39.8% farmers estimated that the pain lasts only several minutes, and 20.4% estimated that the pain lasts up to 6 h. We detected a tendency that farmers of larger herds estimated pain duration to be shorter (odds ratio = 1.2). To improve calves' welfare, training is needed in disbudding practice, focusing on the advantage of pain mitigation.

No abstract

the aim was to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility of most frequently isolated streptococci from czech dairy herds. A total of 3,719 quarter milk samples were collected and cultivated between January 2017 and June 2018 from cows with clinical or subclinical mastitis from 112 farms. only one isolate of each species, collected from the same farm per six-month period, was included in the susceptibility testing. the susceptibilities of Streptococcus uberis (163 isolates) and S. dysgalactiae (25 isolates) to 10 antimicrobials (penicillin -pen, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid -Amc, ceftiofur -eft, clindamycin -cli, gentamicin -Gen, streptomycin -str, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole -SXT, enrofloxacin -ENR, tetracycline -TET, rifampicin -RIF) from 9 groups were determined by measuring their minimum inhibitory concentrations. the percentages of resistant S. uberis isolates to the antimicrobials were as follows: tet (63.2%), str (52.1%), cli (30.1%), and rif (2.5%). intermediate susceptibility was found to rif (63.2%), pen (35%), enr (2.5%), eft (1.8%), and Amc (1.2%). All the S. uberis isolates were susceptible to Gen and sXt (100%). however, only 6.7% of S. uberis isolates were susceptible to all tested antimicrobials, and 38.7% of isolates were multidrug resistant (≥ 3 groups of antimicrobials). All the S. dysgalactiae isolates were susceptible to pen, Amc, eft, Gen, sXt, and enr (100%). resistant S. dysgalactiae isolates were found to tet (60%), str (28%), cli (12%), and intermediate to tet (24%) and rif (20%). sixteen percent of S. dysgalactiae isolates were multidrug resistant. the relatively high occurrence of (multiple) resistance, relative to mastitis pathogens, highlights the importance of monitoring this condition in dairy herds.

Prevalence of failure of passive transfer (FPT) of immunity remains relatively high worldwide.The aim of this study was to estimate the FPT prevalence in Czech dairy calves and to evaluate the selected factors -breed, herd size, sex of calves, single versus twin births and the influence of the season of birth. A total of 1,175 serum samples were taken from calves of Czech Fleckvieh and Holstein breed from 33 herds between October 2015 and October 2017. Serum IgG concentration was determined by reference method for IgG determination -radial immunodiffusion. Statistical evaluation was performed by Kruskal-Wallis test. The concentration of IgG ranged from 1.5 to 46.6 g / L with average value 13.7 g / L and was significantly influenced by breed, size of the herd and season. Using the criterion IgG < 10 g / L, it was found that 34.6 % of calves had FPT. The prevalence of FPT by breed was 42.9 % vs. 24.2 % (Czech Fleckvieh vs. Holstein), by size of the herd 45. 0, 44.4, 25.5 and 22.0 % (< 200, 200 - 399, 400 - 599 and ≥ 600 cows per herd, respectively) and by season 25. 3, 34.6, 29.9 and 52.5 % (spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively). The sex of calves was not found to be a statistically significant factor. The study in newborn calves showed that FPT is still an important problem in Czech dairy herds, especially in the Czech Fleckvieh breed. In smaller herds and especially in the winter, the prevalence of FPT was very high.

The objectives of this study were to determine the immunoglobulin G concentration of colostrum in Czech dairy cows, to compare refractometer results with results achieved using the radial immunodiffusion method and to evaluate the reliability of three types of refractometers and recommend the best solution for the evaluation of colostrum quality. Colostrum samples (n = 1522) were collected from 38 herds between 2015 and 2017. The immunological quality of colostrum was estimated using Brix refractometers (optical, simple digital, digital Misco) and compared with the immunoglobulin G concentration assessed using radial immunodiffusion. We found high variability in the quality of colostrum. The minimum, maximum and median of individual measurements were the following: radial immunodiffusion immunoglobulin G – 5.2, 199.1, 76.9 g/l; optical refractometer – 9.5, 32.0, 23.1% Brix; simple digital refractometer – 5.4, 35.0, 19.1% Brix; digital refractometer Misco – 9.8, 37.4, 23.2% Brix. On the basis of immunoglobulin G concentration assessed using radial immunodiffusion, 20.9% of colostrum samples were of low quality (immunoglobulin G &lt; 50 g/l). The Spearman correlation coefficients between radial immunodiffusion and the Brix refractometer readings were 0.62–0.67 (P &lt; 0.001) according to the type of refractometer. The cut-off evaluation of the readings from optical and Misco digital refractometers both showed 20% Brix, with sensitivities of 89.4% and 88.2%, specificities of 73.2% and 74.5% and accuracies of 86.0% and 85.4%, respectively. The cut-off level for the simple digital refractometer showed 17% Brix with a sensitivity of 77.5%, specificity of 80.4% and an insufficient accuracy of 78.1%. For optical and Misco refractometers we recommend the use of two cut-off levels for the evaluation of colostrum: 23% Brix for the selection of good quality colostrum suitable for freezing and 19% Brix to discard poor quality colostrum. The different cut-off levels obtained by measuring with different types of refractometers indicate the need to check the quality of the instruments prior to their use in practice and, where appropriate, to determine their cut-off levels by comparison with results obtained using the reference method.

Restrictions on the use of antibiotics in pigs lead to the continuous search for new probiotics serving as an alternative to antibiotics. One of the key parameters for probiotic bacteria selection is the absence of horizontally transmissible resistance genes. The aim of our study was to determine antibiotic susceptibility profiles in 28 Lactobacillus amylovorus isolates derived from the digestive tract of wild boars and farm pigs by means of the broth microdilution method and whole genome sequencing (WGS). We revealed genetic resistance determinants and examined sequences flanking resistance genes in these strains. Our findings indicate that L. amylovorus strains from domestic pigs are predominantly resistant to tetracycline, erythromycin and ampicillin. WGS analysis of horizontally transmissible genes revealed only three genetic determinants (tetW, ermB and aadE) of which all tetW and ermB genes were present only in strains derived from domestic pigs. Sequence analysis of coding sequences (CDS) in the neighborhood of the tetW gene revealed the presence of site-specific recombinase (xerC/D), site-specific DNA recombinase (spoIVCA) or DNA-binding transcriptional regulator (xre), usually directly downstream of the tetW gene. In the case of ermB, CDS for omega transcriptional repressor or mobilization protein were detected upstream of the ermB gene.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of udder and legs formation on longevity traits (average lactation at culling, lifelong production) and milk production (maximum amount of milk per lactation, fat content in % and kg, protein content in % and kg) in Czech Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde and their crossbreds. Total 2725 culled Czech Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde cows, and their crossbreeds from two farms were put into dataset. Statistical analysis was performed by SAS 9.3 program. The model equation contained effect of breed, housing, legs formation, and udder formation. The groups for legs (<74.61 points, 74.61 -81.90 points, >81.90 points) and udder (<76.94 points, 76.94 -81.75 points, >81.75 points) formation were created according arithmetic means and standard deviation. The best results for longevity were in legs formation parameters achieved in group <74.61 points. On the other hand, the best results for milk yield parameters were in legs formation achieved in group >81.90 points. In evaluation udder formation groups were the best and significant (P < 0.05 -0.01) results for longevity and milk production achieved in group >81.75 points. Only parameters fat and protein percentages were better in group <76.94 points according udder formation. Generally, we can conclude that udder formation was more important than legs formation. From the results we can also conclude that cows with correct exterior do achieve higher longevity and milk production. This confirmed the importance of choosing cows for breeding purposes not only with high potential for milk production, but also for correct exterior parameters and formation.