Fresh cow evaluations and treatments on California dairies

Abstract

Minimizing the risk of antibiotic resistant organisms and antibiotic residues in dairy and dairy-beef products is a topic of nationwide interest. Our long term goal is to achieve this objective, based on decreasing unnecessary antibiotic use on dairies. To design an effective outreach program on judicious use of antibiotics, it is imperative to describe the actual practices on dairies. The objective of this study is to describe the identification techniques for sick cows and treatments decisions for fresh cows (FC) based on cow-side observations.