The Secret Behind Cattle Abortions: A Swiss Study on Neospora caninum

You know how sometimes cows have abortions? Well, a lot of the time, it's because of a tiny parasite called Neospora caninum. This little bugger can pass from momma cow to her unborn calf, causing abortions, stillbirths, or even sick calves that don't show any signs. In the Swiss canton of Grisons, a study was done to see how often this happens and what makes it more likely. Researchers looked at over 400 cows from 356 farms that had abortions between March 2021 and March 2022. They checked their blood, placentas, and even the tiny brains of their aborted calves. They found that about 11% of the cows and 14% of the farms had been infected with Neospora caninum.

When they tested the placentas and brains, they found that most of the time, the momma cow passed the infection to her calf. But if the momma cow didn't have the infection, neither did her calf. The farmers filled out two surveys. The first one was to help figure out what makes infection more likely. But since not many cows were infected, they couldn't really tell. The second survey showed that farmers who found out their cows were infected were happy they knew, and they wanted more help to keep their cows safe. They wanted dog walkers to be careful not to leave dog poop on pastures and some help paying for prevention.

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