A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine antimicrobial drug resistance patterns of E. coli O157:H7 isolates and estimate the level of the pathogen. A total of 194 cloacae swab samples were collected randomly in two poultry farms. Standard cultural, biochemical, and serological (latex agglutination) methods were used to isolate E. coli O157:H7. The isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using disc diffusion method. Out of 194 cloacae samples examined, 13.4% (n=26) were found to be positive for E. coli O157:H7. The finding indicated differences in E. coli O157:H7 infection among the different risk factors. Chicken from Adele Poultry Farm showed higher E. coli O157:H7 infection (OR = 3.89) than Haramaya University poultry farm and young birds had more infection (OR = 4.62) than adult birds. Of the total 14 antimicrobials included in the panel of study, the susceptibility results were varied with 96.15% and 0% E. coli O157:H7 isolates expressing resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, spectinomycin, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Multidrug resistance to more than two antimicrobial agents was detected in 24 (92.30%) of the isolates. The study showed high presence of antimicrobial resistant isolates of E. coli O157:H7. Further study is required to better understand the ecology and evolution of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents.

Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of different treatments for BRD on health and welfare in fattening bulls. A total of 264 bulls were enrolled. Welfare was assessed on day 2 (T0) and day 15 (T1) after arrival. A decrease in the welfare level was observed from T0 to T1. All bulls were inspected clinically at T0 and T1 revealing an increase of skin lesions and lameness in T1. In both periods, a high incidence of respiratory disease was observed. A prevalence of 79.55% and 95.45% of Mycoplasma bovis using RT-PCR and culture at T0 and T1 respectively was observed. Blood samples were collected for haematology at T0 and T1. At T0, 36 animals were individually treated for BRD with an antimicrobial (IT), 54 received a metaphylactic treatment with tulathromycin (M), 150 received a metaphylactic treatment with tulathromycin plus a second antimicrobial (M + IT) whereas 24 were considered healthy and therefore not treated (NT). Additionally, 128 were treated with a non-steroid anti-inflammatory (NSAID). Neutrophils of M + IT were significantly higher than groups NT and M and the lymphocytes of M + IT were significantly lower than that of IT. White blood cells, neutrophils and N/L ratio of animals treated with an NSAID was significantly higher than that not treated. Lung inspection of 172 bulls at the abattoir indicated that 92.43% presented at least one lung lesion. A statistically significant effect of the NSAID treatment on the lung lesions was observed. Our findings indicate that BRD was a major welfare and health concern and evidence the difficulties of antimicrobial treatment of M. bovis.

Dromedary camels are the preferable livestock species in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Most of the world’s camel populations are managed under a subsistence/extensive system maintained by migratory pastoralists but intensification is getting more frequent. Even though recently the welfare of camels has been receiving more attention, in many countries there are no regulations to protect their health and welfare. The objectives of this article were to explore the main research topics related to camel welfare, their distribution over time and to highlight research gaps. A literature search was performed to identify records published in English from January 1980 to March 2023 on Dromedary camel welfare via Scopus^®, using “Camel welfare,” “Camel behaviour,” “She-camel” and “Camel management” as search words. A total of 234 records were retained for analysis after automatic and manual screening procedures. Descriptive statistics, text mining (TM) and topic analysis (TA) were performed. The result shows that even though there were fluctuations between years, records on camel welfare have increased exponentially over time. Asia was the region where most of the corresponding authors were located. The first five most frequent words were, “milk,” “calv,” “behaviour,” “femal,” and “breed,” the least frequent word was “stabl.” TA resulted in the five most relevant topics dealing with “Calf management and milk production,” “Camel health and management system,” “Female and male reproduction,” “Camel behaviour and feeding,” and “Camel welfare.” The topics that contained the oldest records were “female and male reproduction” and “camel health and management system” (in 1980 and 1983, respectively), while the topic named “camel behaviour and feeding” had the first article published in 2000. Overall, even though topics related to camel behaviour and welfare are receiving more attention from academia, research is still needed to fully understand how to safeguard welfare in Dromedary camels.

A study was carried out to determine the prevalence of abomasal nematodes of sheep and goats slaughtered in Awassa town from January 2006 through June 2006 with special emphasis given to Haemonchus spp. and to characterize vulvar morphs of female Haemonchus worms. During the study period 180 abomasa of sheep and 132 abomasa of goats were examined. Three genera of nematodes were identified in both sheep and goats abomasa with overall prevalence of 91.1 % and 87.1 % respectively. The specific prevalence rates observed were 81.1 % for Haemonchus spp., 47.2 % for Trichostrongylus axei, and 19.4 % for Teladorsagia spp. in sheep and 76.5 % for Haemonchus spp., 39.4 % for T. axei and 20.5 % for Teladorsagia spp. in goats. Out of 653 female Haemonchus recovered from sheep, 37.8 % had a linguiform vulvar flap, 30 % knobbed and 35.4 % smooth vulvar morphs. Out of 448 female Haemonchus recovered from goats, 43.8 % had linguiform vulvar flaps, 27.2 % knobbed and 29 % smooth morph type. A total of 239 linguiform female Haemonchus from sheep were further classified in to 15.1 % linguiform A (LA), 17.5 % linguiform B (LB), 39.7 % linguiform C (LC) and 27.6 % linguiform I (LI) and similarly from goats 196 linguiform female Haemonchus were further classified into 11.2 % LA, 12.2 % LB, 44.9 % LC and 31.6 % LI. Similar findings were observed in both host species regarding the worm burden, prevalence of infection and morphological pattern of Haemonchus species. Generally a high infection rate with abomasal nematodes was observed in both sheep and goats of the study area.

Heat stress represents significant challenges for livestock, adversely affecting their production, reproduction, and overall welfare. This study aimed to explore the interrelationships between environmental and animal-related factors and the flank temperature (FT) and eye temperature (ET) recorded using IRT in dromedary camels. This study was conducted in the Cholistan Desert in 2023, and IRT images of the eyes and flanks were captured from 510 camels across 54 herds. During the image analyses, pictures taken from 499 camels were of good quality and included. The camels were of both sexes and of various ages (minimum 3 years, pubertal and adult stages), and they had diverse physiological statuses (breeding, immature, lactating, non-lactating, and pregnant). Before taking the IRT pictures, ambient temperature and humidity were registered using a weather station, and light intensity was recorded using a lux meter. The ET was associated only with physiological status (p < 0.05), with pregnant females showing the lowest values, while no effects of physiological status, sex, or age were found for FT. The environmental temperature showed a positive correlation with both ET (r = 0.7887) and FT (r = 0.6280), highlighting the sensitivity of camel thermoregulation to temperature fluctuations. As expected, a strong positive correlation between ET and FT (r = 0.6643) was found. Conversely, a significant negative correlation was observed between humidity and ET (−0.7444) and FT (−0.5519), indicating that higher humidity levels lead to decreased temperatures in both regions. Light intensity (lux) exhibited minimal influence on both temperatures, with correlations of 0.1019 for ET and 0.2650 for FT. This study contributes to the field of precision livestock farming by suggesting a possible application of IRT for detecting thermal stress in camels in pastoral settings.

Standardized welfare assessment protocols are crucial to enhance animal welfare; up to date, there is no data on the level of welfare of camels kept under pastoralism. A tailored protocol for measuring welfare in dromedary camels kept under nomadic pastoralist conditions was recently developed, drawing from the currently available welfare protocol for dromedary camels kept in intensive systems. This study, therefore, aimed to apply the newly developed tailored protocol and assess the welfare of dromedary camels kept under pastoralism in the Southern Punjab Province of Pakistan. A total of 44 welfare indicators (animal-, resource, and management-based measures) aligning with animal welfare principles (“Good Feeding”, “Good Housing”, “Good Health”, and “Appropriate Behavior”) were gathered into two assessment levels: “Caretaker-Herd level” and “Animal level”. Data were collected in 2023 in the Cholistan desert in the southern Punjab province. Fifty-four herds were evaluated for a total population of 1,186 camels, of which 510 (495 females and 15 males; average age: 5–6 years old) were assessed at the animal level. The indicators were scored and aggregated to obtain Principle Aggregated Indexes (PAIs) and a total Welfare Index (TWI). Using the PAIs classification, 4 herds were categorized as excellent, 42 satisfactory, and 8 unsatisfactory. Total Welfare Index (TWI) varied from 55.7 to 82.2, and the thresholds for classification into tertiles were 65.4 and 70.6. Good feeding and Good housing were the most problematic PAIs, with Good feeding as the most influential variable for classification into welfare categories. As expected, camels kept under pastoralism had a higher level of welfare than those reported in the literature for intensive systems, especially concerning the Appropriate Behavior principle. Our findings are a first step in proposing welfare standards for dromedary in Pakistan and worldwide.