Gastrointestinal strongyle infections are a common challenge in dairy goat farming, potentially impacting animal health and milk production. We, therefore, conducted a study to evaluate the efficacy of pour-on eprinomectin (EPM) in early-lactating dairy goats naturally infected with gastrointestinal strongyles and to verify the related effects on milk yield and quality. A total of 42 pluriparous Camosciata delle Alpi goats, from two farms (F1 and F2), were involved in the trial. In each farm, the goats were divided into two groups: untreated (CONTROL) or treated (EPM, 1 mg/kg BW). Following the treatment, faeces were individually collected weekly for one month, subjected to copromicroscopic analysis, a faecal egg count reduction (FECR) test, and coproculture; according to the same time schedule, individual milk yield was recorded, and individual milk samples were collected and analysed (fat, protein, lactose, and somatic cell count). Data were statistically analysed by a mixed-model procedure for repeated measures over time. The low efficacy of EPM was demonstrated at all experimental times; overall FECR percentages (90% CI lower and upper bounds) were 39.00% (30.12–50.53) for F1 and 38.82% (30.08–50.10) for F2. Coprocultures allowed the identification of larvae of the genera Haemonchus, Teladorsagia, and Trichostrongylus. Goats treated with EPM showed a lower prevalence of Teladorsagia and Trichostrongylus larvae, and higher prevalence of Haemonchus larvae, compared with CONTROL goats (p < 0.001). The treatment did not significantly improve milk yield or overall milk composition.

This study evaluated the short-term response to pour-on eprinomectin (EPM) treatment in buffaloes naturally infested by Haematopinus tuberculatus, focusing on haematobiochemical parameters, serum and milk cortisol levels, and milk production. Twenty-four Italian Mediterranean buffaloes were allocated to two groups: an untreated Control group and a group receiving 0.5 mg EPM/kg body weight. From treatment day (T0), blood was sampled every 14 days, while milk yield was recorded and milk samples collected every 7 days for 4 weeks. Haematobiochemical parameters, serum and milk cortisol, and milk composition were analysed. Data were statistically analysed using a linear mixed-effects model including treatment, time (as fixed categorical effects) and their interaction, T0 as a covariate and the animal as a random effect. No differences were detected for cortisol and most haematobiochemical parameters between groups (p > 0.05). Haptoglobin showed lower values in EPM-treated buffaloes when compared to Controls (34.8 vs. 43.6 μg/mL; p = 0.026). Milk yield remained unaffected by treatment (p > 0.05), whereas milk fat was higher (83.1 vs. 69.1 g/kg; p = 0.011) and milk urea was lower (36.1 vs. 40.1 mg/dL; p = 0.002) in EPM-treated buffaloes. Overall, EPM treatment against H. tuberculatus infestation was associated with limited short-term changes in physiological and productive responses in lactating buffaloes, including lower serum haptoglobin concentrations and differences in selected milk composition traits.

This study deals with the evaluation of inter-observer reliability (IOR) among three raters in the case of dichotomous and trichotomous individual animal-based welfare indicators. The performance of the most documented agreement indices proposed in the literature was compared, using udder asymmetry (UA) as a dichotomous indicator and body condition score (BCS) as a trichotomous indicator, both obtained from the AWIN Goat protocol. Nine dairy goat farms, exploiting three alpine pastures (AP1 to AP3), were used for data collection. Krippendorff’s α, the agreement indices belonging to the Kappa statistic and their weighted forms were in some cases affected by the paradox behaviour. This phenomenon was observed for both UA and BCS [e.g., P_0(BCS-AP2) = 80%; Fleiss’ K = 0.22]. In the case of UA, Gwet’s γ(AC₁), followed by BP coefficient and Quatto’s S, gave the best agreement results [e.g., P_0(UA-AP1) = 86%; γ(AC₁) = 0.84]. In the case of BCS, the best agreement results were obtained with Gwet’s γ(AC₂), followed by the weighted forms of BP and S. When the evaluation is performed by three raters, γ(AC₁), BP and S are suggested to evaluate IOR in the case of both dichotomous and trichotomous indicators, while the related weighted forms are suitable for trichotomous indicators only.