Survey of Minnesota dairy veterinarians on the occurrence of and potential risk factors for Jejunal Hemorrhage Syndrome in adult dairy cows

Abstract

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Minnesota, USA, has, over the past two years, recognized an increased rate of cases of adult dairy cattle with a disease syndrome described as "jejunal haemorrhage syndrome". Two separate surveys were administered to Minnesota bovine practitioners, one by mail in March 2000, and the second at the annual conference of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association in February 2001. The objectives of these two surveys were: (1) to gather preliminary data describing how frequently this disease syndrome is being diagnosed by dairy veterinarians and (2) to generate some hypotheses as to potential cow or herd management-related risk factors which may warrant future study. For the two surveys, between 50 and 59% of survey respondents reported having diagnosed one or more cases of jejunal haemorrhage syndrome (JHS) in the previous 12-month period. Many of these veterinarians reported its occurrence in multiple client herds, and between 40 and 56% reported the diagnosis of multiple cases in individual herds. The majority of respondents indicated that they believe this is an important disease syndrome that deserves further study. Potential cow and management-related risk factors for JHS that warrant future study include parity, stage of lactation, season, herd size and feeding management system.