A Review of the Quebec Dairy Herds Health Improvement (A.S.T.L.Q.) Project
(ASTLQ: Amélioration de la Santé des Troupeaux Laitiers du Québec)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro19975817Keywords:
veterinary practice, profitability, data bank, dairy cattle, health indices, reproduction, production, culling parameters, disease, tools, population medicineAbstract
The main objective of the A.S.T.L.Q. Project was to create new tools for the practicing veterinarian in reaching diagnoses and suggesting treatments to individual herds. This requirement was expected to help the veterinarians in assisting the producers to improve the profitability of their business. The specific objectives of the research project were as follows:
1) To build a data bank in animal health for dairy cattle.
2) From the data bank, to calculate health indices from associations between reproduction, production, disease and culling parameters.
3) To compare herds with regard to the indices calculated and to classify them as "healthy" or "sick".
4) To create tools (software, network, education ... ) to calculate and interpret the indices necessary to make a diagnosis in population medicine.
