Abstract
A newly developed milk dot blot test was used to detect anti-bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) antibody in milk samples from 2079 lactating adult cows from among 61 herds. The milk dot blot test was highly repeatable; the concordance rate, compared with the agar gel immunodiffusion test performed on serum, was 83.5%. All herds contained BLV-positive cows; the prevalence rate was 36%. BLV-positive cows tended to come from larger herds and were older and more often later in lactation. Fourteen production and related variables (herd size, age, days open, days in milk, milk somatic cell count, milk, fat, and protein produced in the current lactation, projected production of milk, fat, and protein, and breed class average deviations for milk, fat, and protein) were compared between BLV-positive and BLV-negative cows. Although somatic cell count, milk produced, and projected production of milk and protein were related significantly to BLV status using simple tests of association, once the variables herd size, age and days in milk were controlled, these differences were removed. Further analyses using logistic (outcome: individual cow BLV status) and least-squares regression (outcome:herd proportion of BLV-positive cows) failed to show an association between any of the measured production or related variables and BLV-positivity. We concluded that the effect of BLV on production and related variables in dairy cows was below the sensitivity of our analytical techniques or was non-existent.
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Abbreviations
- ABCA:
-
herd average breed class average for milk, fat, and protein production
- AVGAGE:
-
average age of the herd
- ADIM:
-
herd average for days in milk
- AGID:
-
agar gel immunodiffusion
- AVGSCC:
-
herd average milk somatic cell count
- BCA:
-
breed class average, a milk, fat and protein production index calculated by comparing a cow's actual 305-day lactation production to the corresponding BCA standard for the same breed, age, and month of calving
- BLV:
-
bovine leukaemia virus
- CALVINT:
-
calving interval
- COWAGE:
-
cow age
- DBCA:
-
breed class average deviation for milk, fat, and protein production, the difference between an individual cow's BCA and the herd average
- DIM:
-
days in milk
- HS:
-
herd size corresponding to the number of lactating cows in a herd
- LACT:
-
actual amount of milk, fat, and protein produced in a cow's lactation
- ODHIC:
-
Ontario Dairy Herd Improvement Corporation
- PCTPOS:
-
percentage of herd that is BLV-positive
- PROJ:
-
projected 305-day production for milk, fat, and protein by fitting to a standard lactation curve adjusted for days in milk and age at calving
- RHBCA:
-
rolling herd average for breed class average for milk, fat, and protein production, the average for all cows that completed a lactation (cows must have completed a 305-day lactation) during the previous 12 months
- SCC:
-
milk somatic cell count
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Jacobs, R.M., Heeney, J.L., Godkin, M.A. et al. Production and related variables in bovine leukaemia virus-infected cows. Veterinary Research Communications 15, 463–474 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346546
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346546