From the Back Cover
This comprehensive textbook provides detailed information on calving management in dairy and beef cattle. Enriched with diverse learning opportunities, it conveys the fundamentals of reproductive anatomy and physiology, parturition, birth complications and various obstetrical manoeuvres, as well as dam and calf care. In order to promote best practices in this specialized subject, the book covers all significant points from conception to calving and the perinatal period. Clear chapter structures, a wealth of illustrations and videos, obstetrical case studies, and question-and-answer lists round out the reading experience, making the book a unique source of information on how to support mother cows and obtain viable offspring. Readers can additionally download the free Springer Nature Flashcards App and benefit from 77 digital study questions to test their knowledge.
The reproductive health status in cattle farms is crucial to immediately initiate lactation and new conception. Assistance by technical personnel, dystocia and stillbirth occurrences can reach ca. 50%, 14% and 6% of parturitions, respectively. Hence, zootechnical and veterinary management of calving is of great importance for animal welfare.This work makes a valuable contribution to teaching and everyday practice in cattle medicine and obstetrics. Veterinary students, residents, practitioners and technical personnel will discover it to be a rich learning and reference resource.
"For many years, animal health and welfare has been an increasingly important part of animal science and livestock production. One reason for this is that it has a very significant impact on the acceptance of livestock production systems by consumers and the economic success of farms. It is important to note that, most of the time, farmers are confronted first with animal health problems, even before the veterinarians. Normally the 'first aid' like calving assistance, including moderate dystocias, is performed by people working on farms or by related professionals. Therefore it is essential that also these people have the best knowledge to better know the different steps of all related processes, to be able to implement the best management plans (e.g. for calving) and to use the best available practices. Only this can assure the highest possible level of animal welfare and health. The book by João Simões and George Stilwell is therefore highly recommended for teachers and students of animal science, and for practitioners looking to acquire profound knowledge on the subject of 'healthy calving', i.e., unassisted calving where dam and calf can express their full natural behaviour. As such, I wish the book every success."
Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias GaulyPresident of the EAAP - The European Federation of Animal Science Rome, Italy
João Simões is a Professor of Large Animal Medicine and Reproduction at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD). As a clinician and academic, he has dedicated 27 years of his professional career to veterinary students and producers, and collaborated with national and European animal production associations. On the basis of this work experience and research, he has written numerous scientific and technical publications. In recent years, he has also edited several books and special issues on animal production and veterinary medicine for scientific journals.
George Stilwell worked as a practitioner mainly with farm animals for over 15 years before joining the Veterinary Medicine Faculty (FMV) in Lisbon, where he now lectures on Farm Animal Clinics and Deontology and Bioethics. He did his PhD on cattle pain management and is a Diplomate at the European College of Bovine Health Management (ECBHM). He leads the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Lab (CIISA-FMV). George has been involved in various European projects on ruminant health and welfare (AWIN, Anicare, BovINE) and in several EFSA working groups. He is a board member of the Portuguese Veterinary Council and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and several books on farm animal health and welfare.
