PSX-30 Scratching the Surface: Investigating the Nature and Potential Causes of Pruritic Cattle
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Depending on the year, during the winter months, cattle begin to rub bare patches on their skin due to pruritus which leads to concern from cattle producers, especially the purebred breeders. Upon further investigation by veterinarians, the cause is not always caused by lice, as many may think. This study aimed to provide insight into the cause and potential prevention/treatment of pruritic beef cattle in western Canada by examining herds that met the study’s criteria of having more than 30% of the herd exhibiting pruritus. Seven herds were examined in the winter of 2023: one from Manitoba, two from Saskatchewan, and four from Alberta. Producers from each herd completed a detailed survey on treatments, nutrition, and environmental conditions and provided feed, water, and bedding samples. Within each herd, five cattle considered non-pruritic, and ten cattle considered pruritic by visual appraisal were enrolled for standard data collection consisting of documentation and photos of skin lesions localized to pruritic areas, general health clinical exam, lice exam/collection, mite exam/collection of hairs, skin hydration (corneometer), blood chemistry and vitamin/minerals, and kidney/liver enzymes for mycotoxins. A subset of the group (1 non-pruritic and 4 pruritic) was selected for advanced data collection, including dermal hypersensitivity (grass, alfalfa, grain, weeds, and molds) measured by swelling score and infrared camera temperature measurement compared with positive and negative controls, skin punch biopsies for eosinophils (IgE) and liver biopsies for copper levels. Only 21/101 cattle had lice (18 animals < 10 lice per 6.5 cm2). No significant correlation was observed between cattle with lice and being pruritic (P > 0.05). Dermal hypersensitivity was very low across both pruritic and non-pruritic cattle and was not different (P > 0.05). Skin hydration readings within animals comparing pruritic and non-pruritic areas on their body showed only one herd having significantly (P < 0.05) drier skin on pruritic locations compared with normal locations. Vitamin A, E, and copper blood analysis showed no significant difference between pruritic and non-pruritic cattle. However, liver biopsy copper levels were (P = 0.01) less in pruritic than non-pruritic cattle. Results suggest that the cause of pruritic cattle is not necessarily a result of intense lice infestations but rather multifactorial in nature, and a decision tree for producers and veterinarians should be developed to aid in determining the correct course of action to alleviate pruritic cattle in the field.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".