Francisco Javier Diéguez

• DVM, PhD
• Professor at University of Santiago de Compostela

Simple Summary Similar to humans, dogs could suffer a syndrome similar to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Several studies suggest that dogs can serve as a model for studying ADHD. This condition leads to behavioral issues like impulsivity, attention problems, hyperactivity, and sometimes aggression, affecting both the dog’s and the...

The study aimed to analyse serum haptoglobin concentrations by calving number and lactation phase in clinically healthy dairy cattle and to determine the correlation between concentrations in serum and milk samples. For this purpose, serum samples were collected from 228 clinically healthy cows after milking from 14 randomly selected herds. Additio...

Simple Summary Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a relatively common neurodevelopmental disorder mainly affecting children and adolescents. ADHD is associated with significant social stigma, psychosocial adversities, and reduced working abilities. As with humans, dogs can suffer from ADHD-like behaviors, but to date, there are few...

The implementation of biosecurity measures in livestock production systems can be affected by the psychosocial factors of its stakeholders, which can be observed through their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions/practices. In Spain, there are no regulations per se to promote biosecurity. Of all stakeholders, farmers and veterinarians have been add...

Simple Summary Milk fatty acid composition has gained the interest of both manufacturers and consumers during recent years. The present paper aimed to perform an analysis of fatty acid composition in cow’s milk in relation to the type of ration, parity, lactation phase and season. Milk fatty acid profile varies significantly through the studied eff...

Introduction In Spanish dairy cattle farms, veterinarians working with farmers in the field mainly influence the implementation of biosecurity measures. However, veterinarians working in governmental institutions may also influence such implementation. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of veterinarians in official services in rel...

The present paper was designated to assess the perceived frequency of problematic rabbit behavior in a sample of pet rabbit owners and to characterize this behavior. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 423 rabbit owners from Spain and Latin America. The collected data was processed descriptively and using multiple correspondence a...

The Can de Palleiro (CP) is an autochthonous canine breed from Galicia (NW Spain). Interestingly, no previous research has been published about the behaviour of this breed. Thus, the aim of the present study was to obtain a deeper understanding of CP behavioural and temperamental traits and detect any potentially problematic behaviour by using the...

The impact of an outbreak of bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) on reproductive performance and milk production was investigated in 28 Spanish dairy herds using an observational study design. Mean calving to conception interval (CCI), mean number of inseminations per conception (AI/P) and mean daily milk yield were recorded from herds affected by outbreak...

En Galicia y Cataluña se han llevado a cabo diversos estudios con ganaderos, veterinarios y administración pública, quienes tienen determinados grados de influencia en la aplicación de bioseguridad en las granjas de bovinos de leche.

This study was carried out in two regions in Spain (Catalonia and Galicia) through eight focus groups; four for dairy farmers and four for veterinarians. The results showed that dairy farmers and veterinarians attributed responsibility to one another for not following biosecurity practices. The study brings to light contradictions among veterinaria...

Simple Summary Paratuberculosis remains one of the most important diseases of cattle worldwide. Control of disease is difficult and offers important challenges at both diagnostic and management levels. This paper describes a study aimed at quantification of expert opinion on risk factors for paratuberculosis infection in dairy herds in Spain. For t...

A stochastic quantitative risk assessment model was developed to estimate the annual probability of introduction of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) on 127 dairy farms through indirect contacts. Vehicles transporting calves, cattle to slaughterhouse, dead animals, and mixture of feed, as well as visits by veterin...

Biosecurity has gained significant interest in farm animal health in recent years. However, in dairy cattle farms, there is slight, or no implementation of biosecurity practices recommended by official authorities and techno‐scientific experts. This situation might be explained by the tension between old farming traditions and routines and veterina...

Introduction: The implementation of biosecurity measures on dairy farms is influenced by the diversity of people and contexts on the farm, where veterinarians are the main source of information for farmers. Thus, the main objective of this study was to explore and examine communication dynamics between veterinarians and dairy farmers in relation to...

Simple Summary Bullfighting is one of the most controversial topics in animal welfare and ethics in recent years. This activity is an issue at the forefront of many animal welfare organizations. In the present study, an online questionnaire was used to seek Portuguese citizens’ opinions towards bullfighting and to relate these opinions to certain d...

Background: Biosecurity is a key measure to reduce and prevent the introduction of diseases to farms and minimise spread of diseases within a herd. The aim of the study was to characterise the current application of biosecurity measures on dairy cattle farms in Spain along with their bovine viral diarrhoea and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis stat...

This study assessed potential risk factors associated with introduction of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) into dairy cattle herds in the Galicia region, northwestern Spain. The study was carried out with data collected from 93 dairies enrolled in a voluntary MAP control program. Information on potential risk factors was obtained th...

A quantitative risk assessment model was developed to estimate the annual probability of introducing bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) at the farm level through animal movements. Data from 2017 official animal movements, biosecurity questionnaires, scientific literature, and expert opinion from field veterinarians...

This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between on-farm welfare, milk production, and reproductive performance in dairy herds in northwestern Spain. Data on the welfare status from 31 herds were collected using the Welfare Quality® protocol. Linear regression was applied to assess associations between WQ criteria/principle scores on f...

Background: In Spain there are various veterinarian profiles in dairy cattle farms: private veterinarians (e.g. clinical, reproduction, milk quality or nutrition, among others); veterinarians involved in animal health programs (either in an animal health defence associations (HDA) or a public company) and official veterinary services. This heteroge...

Organic farm management combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, preservation of natural resources and high animal welfare standards. To meet these criteria, farmers must have livestock well adapted to local organic conditions and information about how different breeds and crosses perform under different conditions. The...

Biosecurity measures are a set of management procedures that prevent the risk of introducing and spreading infectious diseases to a farm, although these measures are rarely implemented in dairy farms. There are some studies that have identified that the decision to implement biosecurity measures can be influenced by several psychosocial factors (at...

Aim of study: To examine the frequency and diversity of bovine viral diarrhea viruses infecting dairy cattle Area of study: The study was carried out in Galicia (NW Spain), the main dairy cattle area of Spain Material and methods: A total of 157 BVDV isolates (from 140 dairy herds) were typed. Typing was based on a 288-bp sequence from the 5′ untra...

This study evaluated the microbiological quality of wash water used in dairy farms from Galicia (NW Spain) based on the total coliform, faecal coliform and faecal streptococci counts. The paper aimed to identify geographical areas that are at a high risk for bacterial contamination of wash water and to study the temporal distribution of positive sa...

Simple summary Knowledge of physiological portal and hepatic blood flow in cattle is essential for the use of Doppler ultrasound for diagnostic purposes. In this paper, we describe a protocol for the systematic ultrasonography evaluation of the portal and hepatic system in cattle and report the reference values for healthy cows. Abstract In the pa...

Attention to biosecurity has been highlighted as the most important measure to reduce and prevent the introduction of diseases to farms. There is little published information about the biosecurity of dairy cattle in Spain. We therefore aimed to assess and characterize the current application of biosecurity measures on dairy cattle farms in Spain, a...

This study was designed to assess the effect of puppies and juvenile dogs' attendance at puppy classes on the behavior of the dogs at their adult age. For this purpose, 80 dogs (32 of which had attended puppy classes and the other 48 had not) were evaluated using the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire that was filled out by own...

Cow routines and behavioral responses are altered substantially following the installation of robot milking. The present study was designed to analyze the effect that switching from milking parlor to automatic milking system (AMS) had on the culling rate (due to various causes) of dairy cattle. For this purpose, culling records and causes for culli...

The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the dairy cattle welfare in a population from the Galicia region (NW Spain) according to the Welfare Quality® protocol guidelines. For this purpose, 37 dairy farms were randomly selected. The on-farm welfare was evaluated according to Welfare Quality® guidelines. At principle level, the categorical class...

The application of biosecurity measures owns a central role in disease prevention. Knowing which biosecurity measures are used, how they are applied, and which elements can limit their correct submission are fundamental to elaborate strategies that allow the optimization of them. Different issues may affect the actual application of biosecurity mea...

The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the dairy cattle welfare in a population from the Galicia region (NW Spain) according to the Welfare Quality® protocol guidelines. For this purpose, 37 dairy farms were randomly selected. The on-farm welfare was evaluated according to Welfare Quality® guidelines. At principle level, the categorical class...

There is a strong case to be made to teach veterinary students without resorting to the use of animals in teaching in the first place, although some authorities may disagree. It is worth examining this issue in light of new developments and new knowledge in the field of cognitive animal ethology as well as a general increase in awareness and concer...

The present paper accounts for the study of an outbreak of abortions within a sheep herd over a span of three months. To this purpose, one of the aborted fetuses that tested positive for bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), specifically BVDV-2, was analysed by RT-qPCR. Afterwards, sera from all the animals in the herd were collected in order to per...

The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between the results obtained with the ELISA technique for antibodies to Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in serum and bulk tank milk at the herd level. For this purpose, 203 samples of bulk tank milk were analyzed with 2 commercial ELISA from dairy herds with a prevalence of sero...

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a member of the genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae, causes significant losses in cattle farming worldwide because of reduced milk production, increased mortality of young animals and reproductive, respiratory and intestinal problems. The virus is characterized by an important genetic, and consequently an...

The paper was designed to assess the influence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection status of cows at culling (antibody positive vs negative) on carcass traits: weight and conformation and fat cover scores. A generalized least squares linear model was used to assess the influence of MAP on weight. Subsequently, a random ef...

The aim of the present study was to establish a relationship between the results obtained with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique for antibodies (against bovine herpesvirus 1) in serum and those in milk at the herd level. For this purpose, 275 samples of bulk-tank milk were analysed with glycoprotein E (gE) antibody ELISA and 2...

This study examined the frequency and diversity of bovine viral diarrhoea viruses (BVDVs) infecting cattle in Galicia (northwestern Spain). A total of 86 BVDV strains were typed in samples of serum from 79 persistently infected animals and 3 viraemic animals and of abomasal fluid from 4 fetuses. Samples came from 73 farms participating in a volunta...

The study was designed to determine the relation between β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentrations in milk from dairy cows after calving and the length of the previous lactation, the dry period and the 305-day normalized production, and to assess the influence of BHB concentrations on culling and test-day milk productions and somatic cell counts (SCC)...

The objective of this study was to investigate the variability in cow´s milk somatic cell counts (SCC) depending on the type of milk meter used by dairy farms for official milk recording. The study was performed in 2011 and 2012 in the major cattle area of Spain. In total, 137,846 lactations of Holstein-Friesian cows were analysed at 1,912 farms. A...

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) sero-status of dairy cows on different milk production variables and reproductive traits. The study was carried out on 40 herds from the region of Galicia (North-West Spain). These herds were randomly selected from a larger group that h...

The present paper was designed to assess the effect of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection status (antibody positive vs antibody negative, as measured by ELISA) on time to culling and calving difficulty in dairy cows. The study was carried out in 8 dairy farms in Galicia (north-west Spain). All of them were taking part in an...

The aim of the present paper was to analyze the causes for culling Holstein dairy animals using data from the Dairy Herd Improvement Program in Galicia. The information in this study was analyzed from records from the dairy herds involved in this program with data concerning only Holstein cattle. To determine the main causes for culling in the herd...

El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar las causas de eliminacion de vacas lecheras utilizando datos del Control Lechero Oficial en Galicia. La informacion se analizo a partir de los registros de rebanos de ganado vacuno lechero de raza frisona incluidos en ese programa. Se analizaron los registros de 22.177 animales (a partir de 2.016 granjas de...

The aim of the paper was to determine the long-term responses in dairy cattle herds after vaccination with inactivated bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) vaccines with regard to antibodies against p80 protein, as detected by ELISA, in bulk tank milk samples. Thirty-three dairies that were going to be vaccinated for the first time with inactivated vaccine...

This study was designed to determine long-term responses in dairy herds after vaccination with 1 of 3 inactivated bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) vaccines with regard to antibodies against p80 protein in bulk tank milk samples, as detected by ELISA. In the present study, 29 dairy herds were vaccinated with Bovilis BVD (MSD Animal Health, Milton...

The present study was designed to analyse the causes for culling in dairy herds with different Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection status and to compare these causes with those observed over the general dairy cattle population. During 2009, causes for culling were registered in two different groups of farms: (1) farms with seropos...

The aim of the present study was to determine the serological response of heifers after vaccination with two inactivated bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) vaccines by means of various ELISA tests. Three dairy farms were selected from the Galicia region of Spain. In each herd, a batch of heifers to be vaccinated for the first time was selected and...

This study was designed to analyse the evolution in the use of beef bull semen for dairy cattle insemination and, mainly, to assess calving difficulty, gestation length and proportion of stillbirths after breeding pure Holsteins or crossbreeding. Data were collected during 2004 to 2011 for 552 571 Holstein calvings (457 070 Holstein × Holstein, 43...

The aim of the present study was to establish a relationship between the results obtained using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique for antibodies in blood serum and milk at herd level. For this purpose, 325 samples of bulk tank milk were analyzed with 4 antibody ELISAs from dairy herds with a prevalence of seropositive animals;...

The aim of the paper was to assess the utility of immunochromatographic test strips for the diagnosis of calf diarrhoea. The results obtained using strips were compared with those obtained using standard laboratory methods on the same panel of samples. Fifty-two faecal samples were collected from 52 diarrhoeic calves and inmunochromatographic test...

Obtaining a high milk quality is dependent on what happens during its production at dairy farms. The hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) methodology has been developed and implemented on dairy cattle farms. This system focuses on the influence that milking equipment and cooling tank have on the milk quality. The hazards related to t...

The objective of this work was to identify factors associated with the 56-day non-return rate (56-NRR) in dairy herds in the Galician region, Spain, and to estimate it for individual Holstein bulls. The experiment was carried out in herds originated from North-West Spain, from September 2008 to August 2009. Data of the 76,440 first inseminations pe...

Herd and individual animal seroprevalence for Neospora caninum (N. caninum) in dairy, beef and mixed cattle were obtained in all populations within the Galician Farmer Sanitary Defence Associations (ADSG) in 2004. All animals ≥1 year of age were examined serologically by indirect ELISA. 1147 dairy herds (37,090 animals), 1464 beef herds (20,206 ani...

A survey was carried out to evaluate the importance of postpartum intra-mammary infections (IMI), on the basis of somatic cell count (SCC), by characterising the behaviour of Linear Score (LS) in cows at calving, during lactation and at drying-off.Throughout 2007, a follow-up was made of 25,216 Friesian cow lactations from 1984 farms within Galicia...

Bacteria from genera Listeria, Campylobacter and Arcobacter are potentially zoonotic pathogens for humans and they may be detected in dairy cattle farms. In this study the presence of these bacteria was considered in dairy cattle farms in Galicia (northwest of Spain). In the first part of the study, bulk tank milk samples were collected to determin...

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) is a highly infectious disease of cattle caused by bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) that causes considerable economic losses to the dairy and beef industry. This report describes the results of two surveys in which prevalence of serum antibodies against BHV-1 in Galicia (NW Spain) was determined. The first was pe...

The paper was designed to assess the effect of the type of milk meter used by dairy farms for official milk testing to obtain individual milk samples for fat and protein determination. This study was performed in 2006 in Galicia, which is Spain's main dairy cattle region; data were collected from 2,149 Holstein cow farms enrolled for official milk...

The aim of this study was to compare the cumulative incidence of mortality, clinical diarrhoea and respiratory disease in calves, during their first six months of age, in herds with different bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) infection status. Calves’ health indicators were tested by comparing proportions in 101 farms with dissimilar infection co...

This study was designed to assess the relationship between antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) determined in the bulk tank milk (BTM) and the within-herd seroprevalence. We also assessed the efficiency of measuring antibody levels in BTM samples to monitor BVDV infection status in a herd. In the 81 farms included in the study, BTM...

The ATP bioluminescence method was used to evaluate the cleanliness of milking equipment surfaces (teat cup rubbers, teat dip containers, milk receivers, and pipeline joints) in dairy farms in Galicia (northwest Spain) with parlour, pipeline tie-stall or bucket tie-stall milking systems. The cleanest surfaces were teat cup rubbers. The use of non-c...

During 2004, a survey of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (map) was conducted in 101 randomly selected dairy herds to investigate associations between the infection status of the herds, different management practices, and possible disease indicators, such as indices of mastitis and reproductive performance. Data were collected by mea...

During the first 3 months of 2006, a study was performed on four dairy cattle herds with a history of clinical paratuberculosis, to evaluate different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Serum samples obtained from 326 animals were analysed using four ELISAs to detect antibodies to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Kappa (...

Prior to establishing a control and prevention program for Johne's disease in cattle in Galicia (northwest Spain), a survey was conducted to estimate the prevalence of the disease. For this survey, 61,069 animals of at least 1-year of age from 2735 randomly selected herds were bled and samples analyzed with a commercial ELISA. The estimated true in...

This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of Listeria spp. in bulk-tank milk on dairy farms in the region of Galicia in northwest Spain. The aim was to identify management practices associated with the presence of Listeria spp. and possible effects on milk hygienic quality. A total of 98 farms was randomly selected on the basis of an exp...

RESUMEN Durante los años 2005 y 2006 se realizó un estudio para valorar los riesgos en relación a la posibilidad de existencia del principal vector del virus de la lengua azul (Culicoides imicola) en distintas zonas de Galicia y evaluar a su vez la probabilidad de introducción de animales virémicos que constituyan una fuente de infección. Para dete...