A register-based study of the antimicrobial usage in Danish veal calves and young bulls

Abstract

High antimicrobial usage and multidrug resistance have been reported in veal calves in Europe. This may be attributed to a high risk of disease as veal calves are often purchased from numerous dairy herds, exposed to stress related to the transport and commingling of new animals, and fed a new ration. In this study, we used national register data to characterize the use of antimicrobials registered for large Danish veal calf and young bull producing herds in 2014. A total of 325 herds with veal calf and potentially young bull production were identified from the Danish Cattle database. According to the national Danish database on drugs for veterinary use (VetStat), a total of 537,399 Animal Daily Doses (ADD200) were registered for these 325 herds during 2014. The amount of antimicrobials registered in 2014 varied throughout the year, with the highest amounts registered in autumn and winter. Antimicrobials were registered for respiratory disorders (79%), joints/limbs/CNS disorders (17%), gastrointestinal disorders (3.7%) and other disorders (0.3%). Of the registered antimicrobials, 15% were for oral and 85% for parenteral administration. Long-acting formulations with a therapeutic effect of more than 48h covered 58% of the drugs for parenteral use. Standardized at the herd-level, as ADD200/100 calves/day, antimicrobial use distributed as median [CI95%] for starter herds (n=22): 2.14 [0.19;7.58], finisher herds (n=24): 0.48 [0.00;1.48], full-line herds (n=183): 0.78 [0.05;2.20] and herds with an inconsistent pattern of movements (n=96): 0.62 [0.00;2.24]. Full-line herds are herds, which purchase calves directly from a dairy herd and raise them to slaughter. Furthermore, we performed a risk factor analysis on the 183 herds with a full-line production. Here, we investigated, whether the number of suppliers, the number of calves purchased, the frequency of purchase, the average age at introduction, the average time in the herd and vaccination influenced the amount of antimicrobials used in the herds. The final multivariable regression analysis revealed that the number of calves introduced was positively associated with the antimicrobial use in the herd.

Risk factors for antimicrobial use in veal calves and the association with mortality

“…As previously observed, respiratory diseases are the main indication for AMU (Pardon et al, 2012a;Fertner et al, 2016;Lava et al, 2016b). Logically, initial empirical treatment was directed toward Mycoplasma bovis, the dominant respiratory pathogen in veal systems (Pardon et al, 2011), which may have reduced the need for retreatment.…”

“…Available studies on AMU in different species all demonstrate the large variation in usage, with farms hardly using any antimicrobials and others very intensively (Timmerman et al, 2006;Pardon et al, 2012a;Agunos et al, 2017). In other words, there appears to be a major window of opportunity to reduce usage, but the factors driving AMU in the veal industry are poorly understood (Fertner et al, 2016;Lava et al, 2016b;Jarrige et al, 2017). Knowledge on these drivers is essential to design effective campaigns and intervention measures to rationalize AMU in the short term and for the development of sustainable veal production systems in the future.…”

Factors potentially linked with the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in selected bacteria from cattle, chickens and pigs: A scoping review of publications for use in modelling of antimicrobial resistance (IAM.AMR Project)

“…In Canada, vaccines are routinely recommended and applied in livestock production systems (Codes of Practice for the care and handling of farm animals [n.d.]; https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice). Studies have reported the relationship between vaccination and antimicrobial use (Del Pozo Sacristán, Michiels, Martens, Haesebrouck, & Maes, ; Fertner, Toft, Martin, & Boklund, ; Lava, Schüpbach‐Regula, Steiner, & Meylan, ); however, an assessment of these combined actions on the occurrence of resistance has not been published to our knowledge. The absence of vaccination and other nonantimicrobial use factors at the farm level of the agri‐food chain in this review represents an important data gap in the literature.…”

Associations between group sizes, serum protein levels, calf morbidity and growth in dairy-beef calves in a Finnish calf rearing unit

“…Very precise follow-up and 292 measurement of the temperature of every calf, when even only slightly suspected, could have contributed to 293 the extensive antimicrobial usage, although NSAIDs alone were used for mildly sick calves with elevated 294 temperature. Antimicrobials were used in our study mostly to treat respiratory disease, similarly as for calves 295 in Denmark (Fertner et al, 2016), other indications being recorded only occasionally. were male, for which the care on source farms is sometimes questioned.…”