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Background: Omphalitis is the third most common cause for diseases and infections in newborn calves. Its risk factors are well described in dairy production, but data in beef production is limited., Objective: To identify and quantify the risk factors of omphalitis in cow-calf operations with seasonal indoor calving period., Animals: Nine hundred sixty-four calves included from 22 cow-calf operations in central France were included., Methods: A prospective cohort study involved data collection during two visits for each calf. Simple and multivariable logistic regression analyses evaluated the association between omphalitis and the variables., Results: Among 964 included calves, 311 (32.3%) calves had an omphalitis. Accounting for farms' random effect, risk factors for omphalitis highlighted by the univariable analysis were: absence of navel disinfection (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, [1.45-3.04]), wetness of bedding calving area (OR = 1.8-2.1, [0.78-2.83]-[0.63-3.57]), cleanliness of calves' pen (OR =1.6-2.8, [1.22-2.27]-[2.02-3.84]), wetness of calves' pen bedding (OR = 1.7-3.2, [1.12-2.06]-[3.08-3.84]), calf weight at birth >50 kg (OR = 2.0-5.0, [1.02-2.38]-[1.51-11.1]), umbilical cord length <3 cm (OR = 2.2-2.3, [1.53-3.11]-[1.24-4.38]), and sex (male vs female) (OR = 2.6, [2.08-3.69]). The multivariable analysis, accounting for farms' random effect, showed that the absence of navel disinfection (OR= 2.2, [1.44-3.09]), wetness of bedding calving area (OR = 1.9-2.4, [0.55-2.83]-[0.59-3.28]), calf weight at birth >50 kg (OR = 1.9-2.6, [1.03-2.56]-[1.43-12.5]) and sex (male vs female) (OR =2.4, [2.09-3.49]) were risk factors for omphalitis., Conclusions and Clinical Importance: These observations may help identify animals at early risk (>50 kg, male, short umbilical cord) and pay particular attention to the wetness of bedding and cleanliness of housing. This study highlights the importance of calving-pen bedding, calf characteristics and navel disinfection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

French veterinarians are authorised to both prescribe and deliver drugs. This situation of conflict of interest is sometimes denounced as a potential source of over-prescription and overuse of veterinary antimicrobials, even if no evidence is available up to now. This leads to regular calls for separating prescription from drug delivery, even if the consequences of such separation are unknown. The present work aims at describing the business model of French veterinary offices and the expected impact of separation on those offices. A dataset of 15 million observations was built with structural and accounting data collected for the period 2015-2017 from French mixed veterinary offices. Results of the baseline scenario indicate that veterinary offices' profit generated from farm animal activities is mainly driven by drug delivery (about 70%), while profit from companion animal activities is mainly driven by medical acts (i.e., consultation and advice, surgery, and laboratory analysis) and sale of accessory products (about 65%). The net margin rate is higher than 25% for all activities, except for material selling. If drug delivery or sales associated with a medical act (same day, same client, and same animal) do not require additional human resources (alternative scenario), the net margin is reduced for medical acts. For both scenarios, a high variability is observed between veterinary offices. This shows that the profit of each activity is highly driven by time spent on the activities. Our results suggest that, in the case of restrictions on drug delivery by veterinarians, their profit may dramatically decrease, especially for farm animal practitioners and those with low medical acts profitability. Further work is needed to account for the high diversity of situations faced by veterinary offices and the sensitivity of their profitability to production costs., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aims at evaluating the costs of the movement restriction policy (MRP) during the 2006 BTV-8 epidemic in France for the producers of 6-9 month old Charolais beef weaned calves (BWC), an important sector that was severely affected by the restrictions imposed. This study estimates the change in the number of BWC sold that was due to the movement restrictions, and evaluates the economic effect of the MRP. The change in BWC sold by producers located inside the restriction zone (RZ) was analyzed for 2006 by using a multivariate matching approach to control for any internal validity threat. The economic evaluation of the MRP was based on several scenarios that describe farms' capacity constraints, feeding prices, and the animal's selling price. Results show that the average farmer experienced a 21% decrease in animals sold due to the MRP. The economic evaluation of the MRP shows a potential gain during the movement standstill period in the case of no capacity constraint faced by the farm and food self-sufficiency. This gain remains limited and close to zero in case of a low selling price and when animals are held until they no longer fit the BWC market so that they cannot be sold as an intermediate product. Capacity constraints represent a tremendous challenge to farmers facing movement restrictions and the fattening profit becomes negative under such conditions. The timing and length of the movement standstill period significantly affect the profitability of the strategy employed by the farmer: for a 5.5 month-long standstill period with 3.5 months of cold weather, farmers with capacity constraints have stronger incentives to leave their animals outside during the whole period and face higher mortality and morbidity rates than paying for a boarding facility for the cold months. This is not necessarily true for a shorter standstill period. Strategies are also sensitive to the feed costs and to the food self-sufficiency of the farm. Altogether, the present work shows the farmer's vulnerability to animal movement restrictions and quantifies the costs of the standstill. These results should assist decision-makers who seek to calculate adequate subsidies/aid or to efficiently allocate resources to prevent future outbreaks., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)