Dairy Calf Gastrointestinal Disease: Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Education

Addressing the Problem of Dairy Calf Gastrointestinal Disease Through Enhanced Diagnostics, Novel Therapeutics, and Practical Education

Course Description:

This course provides an overview of preliminary results and methods from a project focused on improving classifications for neonatal dairy calf GI disease through enhanced diagnostics, including epigenetic and microbial community evaluations. Diarrhea-associated neonatal calf gastrointestinal (GI) disease remains one of the most important diseases in dairy calves. Severe diarrhea impacts animal welfare and results in significant economic losses due to high mortality rates, high medical costs, and low weight gain. However, our ability to distinguish between the different pathologies associated with GI disease, i.e. our analytic accuracy of identifying different GI disease phenotypes, is hindered by limited availability and use of on-farm diagnostics and particularly the limited implementation of postmortem evaluations. Given the high proportion of affected calves treated with antimicrobials, improving on-farm diagnostic skills and therapeutic options are key for improving agriculture’s stewardship of antimicrobial use.

This program is 59 minutes long and will provide 1 CE credit for $50.00

Course recorded April 2019

Webinar Instructor:

Craig McConnel, DVM, PhD
Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine Extension

Washington State University 
College of Veterinary Medicine