Recommendations for Recording and Presenting Selected Clinical Diseases of Dairy Cattle

Abstract

As the North American dairy industry prepares for increased global competition, there is a growing interest in the recording of cattle health data, pertaining to diseases of economic significance. These data are needed to further investigate the genetic component of disease occurrence and resistance, to describe, compare and investigate disease occurrence on a national and regional basis, to modify management practices that promote animal health, and to monitor the health status of the national dairy herd. A major impediment to this initiative is the lack of national standards for disease definition and presentation. To deal with the confusion over mastitis case definition, the International Dairy Federation has recently proposed international guidelines for the recording and presentation of mastitis data.