[A study in veal calves for a possible correlation between serum immunoglobulin levels, nutrition levels and risk of disease in the first few weeks of the fattening period]. / Een onderzoek bij vleeskalveren naar een mogelijke correlatie tussen de serumimmuunglobuline concentratie, het voederniveau en het ziekterisico in de eerste weken op het mestbedrijf.

Seventy-eight Friesian bull calves were purchased in a cattle market and housed in a veal calf unit. There was a correlation between the risk of enteric disorders and the quantity of milkreplacer supplied during the first fortnight. The risk of respiratory disease did not show significant correlation with- and globulin levels and with serum protein and IgG1 levels at the time of purchase. No significant relationship could be shown to be present between growth and serum protein, IgG1, or globulin levels. Calves with diarrhoea during the first three weeks showed an average decrease in growth of 1.6 kg during the first ten weeks (p greater than 0.1), and calves with respiratory disease showed an average reduction of growth of 5.4 kg during the period from 0 to 10 weeks (p less than 0.01). There was no evidence to suggest that the low serum protein levels during the first six weeks of the fattening period are affected by a lower of higher feed intake during the first fortnight.

[Chloramphenicol at a veal-calf stock farm]. / Chlooramfenicol in de vleeskalverhouderij.

Chloramphenicol is used in the treatment of respiratory infections in veal calves. Antibiotic resistance of Pasteurella to chloramphenicol was rarely observed upto 1984. The increase was recorded from 1984. The following dosages are recommended on the basis of findings reported in the literature: a daily dosage of 40 mg/kg body weight of chloramphenicol palmitate by oral route, and a daily dosage of 20-50 mg/kg body weight of chloramphenicol administered parenterally and preferably given in two injections daily. Malabsorption and aplastic anaemia were observed as toxic effects when a dose of 100 mg/kg daily was administered for five days and ten days respectively. Chloramphenicol may give rise to aplastic anaemia in human individuals, but also to idiosyncrasy, allergy and diminished activity of the bone marrow. Foods of animal origin should be free from residues of chloramphenicol. A three-week interval between administration of chloramphenicol to veal calves and slaughter would appear to be reasonable. Experience of alternatives to chloramphenicol in the treatment of Pasteurellosis in veal calves, such as flumequine and doxycylin, is still too limited in actual practice to conclude that chloramphenicol can be dispensed with.

[Nitrofuran poisoning in veal calves]. / Nitrofuraanvergiftiging bij vleeskalveren.

Prolonged administration of furazolidone to calves may give rise to chronic furazolidone poisoning: retardation of growth, thrombocytopenia and leucopenia, occasionally changing into haemorrhagic diathesis. In acute nitrofuran poisoning neurological signs are observed as a consequence of monoamine oxidase inhibition. Five incidents of acute nitrofuran poisoning on veal calf farms are reported in the present paper, each with a mortality rate varying frm 46.7 per cent ot 70 per cent. Ten times the recommended dose of furazolidone or furadoltone was administered in each case.