Pinkeye is also known as keratitis contagiosa, infectious keratitis, contagious ophthalmia, New Forest eye, blight and most commonly as infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK).
The heritability of pinkeye in Angus cattle is estimated to be low to moderate (around 0.1)
Pinkeye is a herd disease with high incidence (more than 2% in calves and 0.6% in cows) that spreads rapidly.
Clinical signs are restricted to the eye and include conjunctivitis and/or keratitis with a significant number of infected animals (10% or more) developing corneal ulceration
Producers are invited to take part in a research study about pinkeye (infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis) incidence in Angus cattle. Across Australia, the impact of pinkeye incidence is estimated over $10 million each year due to lost production, cost of treatment and reduction in sale value.
This survey aims to aggregate and interpret data relevant to the genetic description of pinkeye resilience in Australian Angus cattle, including the definition of a phenotyping guide.
This data will help us to create strategies to reduce pinkeye incidence. The study is being carried out by Dr Pâmela Alexandre from CSIRO’s Animal Genomics team and it is being jointly funded by Angus Australia and CSIRO.
-Angus Australia