Omphalitis is the third most frequent disease in newborn calves after neonatal diarrhea and bovine respiratory disease (BRD), but limited data on the prevalence and risk factors are available in the literature. Failure of passive immunity transfer (FPIT) is recognized as a major risk factor for diseases and mortality in calves. However, the association between omphalitis and FPIT remains poorly described. To assess this association, 964 suckler beef calves from 22 farms were included in a longitudinal cohort study for 5 months. Each calf was examined twice (mean ages: 4.4 and 11.1 days old) to diagnose omphalitis through clinical examination and ultrasonographic evaluation (USE) if necessary. Measurements of the total solids percentage (TS-%Brix) and total protein (TP) were performed on the serum during the first visit to evaluate the calves’ passive immunity status. FPIT (fair and poor) was defined as serum %Brix < 8.1 or TP < 5.1 g/dL; among calves with omphalitis, 14% had FPIT and among calves without omphalitis 12% had FPIT. The omphalitis prevalence was 32.3% in calves without any other disease (overall prevalence of 30.9%). No statistical association between the prevalence of omphalitis and FPIT was observed. Further research is needed to identify the risk factors and promote the prevention measures for omphalitis in cow–calf systems, such as calving difficulty, hygiene of housing, and navel disinfection.

Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum)-caused calf diarrhoea (scours) is widespread and leads to calf mortality in cattle industries worldwide. A recent discovery of a glycopeptide epitope on the Cryptosporidium parasite recognized by a monoclonal antibody has led to the development of a new vaccine. It was designed for cows to pass on passive immunity to their neonatal calves. This vaccine has been demonstrated to be safe and efficacious in pre-clinical studies. In the process of marketing registration, two clinical studies were conducted with this vaccine on 16 commercial dairy and beef farms collecting data, assessed by the European Medicine Agency. In these studies, its effectiveness in the field was evaluated. The natural challenge and clinical disease caused by Cryptosporidium parvum in the calves in these studies was, however, not high enough to show a significant reduction of most of the clinical signs, although all trends were in favour of the vaccination groups. Nonetheless, the duration of the diarrhoea episodes of the dairy calves was significantly shorter in the vaccination group. Additionally, the levels of Gp40 antibodies in the blood of the calves was notably higher in the vaccination groups, demonstrating the principle of passive immunization. Overall, this vaccine, which can be used concurrently, non-mixed with Bovilis^® Rotavec^® Corona, introduces an additional approach to mitigate the impact of C. parvum infections in neonatal calves.

This study compared the relative effect of two trace mineral supplementation strategies recom-mended in France for newborn beef calves. 600 calves were supplemented with 20 mg oral sele-nium (OTM group) at birth (D0) or by injection (ITM group) of a multi-mineral solution (60 mg of Zn, 10 mg of Mn, 15 mg of Cu, 5 mg of Se) on D0, D30 and D60. Mortality and the incidence rate of diseases, including diarrhea, omphalitis, pneumonia, as well as medicinal treatments, were recorded from D0 to D210. The incidence rate of omphalitis was significantly lower in the ITM group than in the OTM group (respectively 11% vs. 17%, P = 0.036). The cumulative inci-dence rate of all health troubles was lower in the ITM group than in the OTM group (P=0.007). Except for pneumonia, incidence of diarrhea (24% vs. 22%), use of oral (7% vs. 6%) or IV rehydra-tion therapy (4% vs. 2%) or use of antibiotics (43.3% vs. 38.0%) and mortality (3% vs 2%) were numerically higher in OTM group than in ITM group (n.s.). In this study, ITM supplementation is as efficient as oral supplementation regarding calves' health status. It reduces the risk of ompha-litis at the calf level effectively.