Pinkeye Insights
Insights from a recent research study about pinkeye (infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis) in Australian Angus cattle are now available.
This study being jointly funded by Angus Australia and CSIRO. The underpinning survey was conducted between December 2021 and January 2022, with the related analysis carried out by Dr Pâmela Alexandre from CSIRO’s Animal Genomics team.
The survey attracted responses from 238 participants across all states of Australia. It showed that pink eye affected most Angus herds, with the incidence averaging 5% of animals per year, but occasionally being much higher.
The data and insights from this survey will help create strategies to reduce pinkeye incidence, particularly through the development of a standardised pink eye phenotyping guide.
The long-term aim is to use aggregated pink eye data on individual Angus animals, from across the Angus Australia membership, to analyses and understand the genetic basis of this disease and potentially produce an EBV for pink eye resilience.
