The reaction of imported British Shire horses to African Horse Sickness: A case report.
Summary Twelve (12) heavy horses of the Shire breed imported into Nigeria in 1974 died within two months after importation. This was because of inclement weather and non-availability of AHS vaccine.
Species distribution and abundance of Culicoides Latreille (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) in Nigeria
Abstract In a country-wide survey of Culicoides in Nigeria 31 species were caught in light-traps set on the eaves of livestock pens. Three species, namely C. imicola Kieff., C. schultzei (End.) and C. milnei Aust., were most numerous and were found in all parts of the country. C. austeni C., I. & M. was predominant in mangrove swamps, C. schultzei in the hot Sudan zone and C. milnei was dominant on the plateaux. C. imicola and C. milnei were predominant in the forest zone while C. schultzei and C. imicola were dominant in the savanna zones. C. quinquelineatus Goetgh. was a southern species and was replaced in the north by C. moreli Clastrier. Peak catches of most species were between 01.00 and 05.00 h and a large proportion of the Culicoides were engorged with blood. The presence of large numbers of engorged Culicoides, especially C. imicola and C. milnei, around livestock indicates the danger of bluetongue virus transmission.
Stroking different body regions of dairy cows: effects on avoidance and approach behavior toward humans.
Understanding perception of dairy cows to common human contact such as stroking is important for improving the human-animal relationship, animal welfare, and production. We hypothesized that repeated stroking of body regions licked most during social grooming, especially the ventral neck, would reduce cows' avoidance of and increase their approach to humans. Sixty tethered dairy cows were randomly allocated to 4 treatment groups that received 5 min of daily human contact 5 d/wk during 3 consecutive weeks: 3 groups were stroked on different body regions. The first group was stroked on the ventral part of the neck (neck); the second group on the withers (both licked often in social grooming); the third group on the lateral side of the chest (chest, licked rarely); and the last group (control) was exposed to simple human presence. The reactions to the person who had provided the treatment were measured using 2 tests in the home tie-stall assessing avoidance from an approaching person who tried to touch the head (approaching person test) and avoidance/approach reactions to a stationary person (stationary person test). Approach behavior was recorded in a novel environment using a standard arena test. In the home tie-stall, cows stroked on the neck showed less avoidance (median avoidance score: 3.33) in the approaching person test compared with cows stroked on the chest and the controls (both: 4.00). That is, at least 75% of the animals stroked on the neck tolerated the touching of their heads (75th percentile <or= 3.75), whereas at least 50% of the cows in the other treatment groups did not accept it. The stationary person test did not reveal any differences between the treatment groups. In the arena test, the 3 stroked groups showed more approach behavior (median latencies to contact: from 145 to 240 s) compared with simple human presence (300 s), but stroking treatments did not differ from each other. Stroking, particularly the neck, reduced avoidance of and increased approach reactions to humans in both the home tie-stall and the arena. Increasing acceptance of being touched after being stroked on the neck suggests that this procedure should be adopted to improve routine handling of dairy cattle.