Animal & Veterinary Sciences

Jan joined the veterinary program at CSU from The Netherlands in May 2007. After graduating in 2000 from Utrecht he worked as a practitioner in dairy cattle practice until 2002, before returning to Utrecht to teach, deliver services from the ambulatory clinic and complete his PhD on udder health and welfare of dairy cattle. In 2005 he completed his Master of Science in Veterinary Epidemiology and Statistics. Jan is the subject coordinator for Veterinary Case Studies and Population Medicine, his particular research interests are lameness and mastitis in dairy cattle and herd health programs related to food safety in general.

 

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Research Interests

• Epidemiology
• Veterinary Public Health (food borne zoonotic diseases)
• Herd Health Production Management Programs

 

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Ongoing projects

Biomarkers in milk, a novel differential diagnostic tool to detect Staphylococcus aureus mastitis in dairy cows

Milk from cows with mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria is unsafe for human consumption and therefore detection of these bacteria is essential for food safety. Standard bacterial culture for detection of this bacterium is slow as a result of culture times and repeat sampling . Biomarker proteins reveal the presence of a bacterium or a response by the host to infection and therefore we will screen milk for rapidly detectable biomarkers for S. aureus.

Prediction of the herd somatic cell count as a management tool in herd health programs

Successful udder health management requires a regular monitoring of the individual and herd somatic cell count data, the farmer’s management and seasonal fluctuations. A useful supplementary tool is the prediction of the Herd Somatic Cell Count (HSCC) of the consecutive month to support interventions in the farmer’s management, individual treatment of cows or culling of high somatic cell count cows. In a previous study the variables seasonal factors, herd characteristics and management practices were combined into a Linear Mixed Effect (LME) model to quantify the contribution of these variables to the herd SCC (HSCC) within a low, medium and high category of HSCC. The current study uses this LME model to predict the HSCC of the consecutive month.

Workplace stress and veterinarians (co-supervisor of Peter Hatch, PhD student Adelaide University)

Burnout, a result of workplace stress, has been extensively investigated initially in human service providers (medical practitioners, nurses, fireman, police teachers etc) but veterinarians have not been included. The interest in mental health and well being of veterinarians has paralleled a similar pattern to other professions and the public generally. Stress has been reported to be significant in veterinarians in Australian and overseas. Normative data has been published with respect to the general Australian population but there are no published reports of any studies available yet. Therefore in the current study workplace stress, mental health, and burnout are investigated among veterinarians by means of a questionnaire. (Source Peter Hatch).

Milk: A healthy product but is it also safe?
C Petzel, N Lees and J Lievaart

The aims of this research project are to quantify the treatment success rate of the major pathogens involved in intramammary infections (Staphyloccocus aureus, Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus dysgalactia and Escherichia coli) and to identify the risk factors that are associated with an unsuccessful treatment.

Dairy goat’s a rare species or a suitable animal model to study intra mammary infections in dairy cattle?
J Lievaart, K Lievaart-Peterson and H McGregor

The technique of biomarkers will be used to identify biomarkers in dairy goat milk and the assessment of the goat being a model for dairy cattle. The specific aims are:

• To identify for the first time the biomarkers in goat milk for different stages of lactation
• To describe the biomarkers related to an intra mammary Staphylococcus aureus infection  in dairy goats
• To compare the identified biomarkers of a Staphylococcus aureus infection in dairy goats and dairy cattle and assess if the dairy goat is a potential model for mastitis research in dairy cattle

Improving sow efficiency through better lactation and pre-weaning survivability (funded by the porkCRC funded and in collaboration with Rivalea Australia)
J Lievaart, J Glastonbury, P Wynn and S Knott

The principle objective of this project is to examine the risk factors related to milking disorder(s) in sows and the relation to preweaning mortality and growth rates in piglets on three different farms and other Australian pig operations to see if similar problems exist. This will be achieved by describing, identifying and resolving causal pathways directed towards the milk disorders in sows and subsequent increased preweaning mortality rates and decreased growth rates of piglets.

Field epidemiology and bio security; basic skills of 21st century professionals in disease control
J Lievaart, B Gummow (James Cook University) and K Doyle (AVA)

This study includes questions related to bio security and epidemiology. The information will help us to assess how best to improve and make more relevant both undergraduate training within universities and continuing education courses for graduate veterinarians.

Animal health and treatment of beef cattle
J Lievaart, T Morton (LHPA Hume), S Whittaker (LHPA Hume)

The aim is to evaluate how you assess animal health and what sources of information you use to select a suitable antibiotic. The outcome of this study will help us consider the best way of getting information on the monitoring of animal health and various treatments, back to farmers such as you.

Future projects

• Spatial analysis of Hydatids infections in sheep (a collaboration between CSU and DPI)
• Food Safety in 2020: the development of a tailor made on farm HACCP program (a new intitative within the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation)
• The implementation of economic data into dairy herd health software

 

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Publications

• J.J. Lievaart, H.W. Barkema, J. van den Broek, J.A.P. Heesterbeek, W.D.J. Kremer Prediction of the Herd Somatic Cell Count of the Following Month Using a Linear Mixed Effect Model. Accepted for the J of  Dairy Science
• Jan Lievaart, Herman Barkema, Henk Hogeveen and Wim Kremer Reliability of the bulk milk somatic cell count as an indication of average herd somatic cell count. Accepted for the J of Dairy Research
• J.J. Lievaart,  J.P.T.M. Noordhuizen, D.Buckley The marketing of herd health and production management services on Dutch dairy farms; perceptions of dairy farmers and their veterinary surgeons. Irish Vet. Journal Oct 2008
• J.S.C. Boersema, J.P.T.M Noordhuizen, Ana Vieira, J.J. Lievaart ,W. Baumgartner Imbedding HACCP-principles in Dairy Herd Health & Production Management: case report on calf rearing. Irish Vet. Journal Sept 2008
• JPTM Noordhuizen, MJ van Egmond, RJorritsma, H.Hogeveen, T van Werven, PLAM Vos, JJ Lievaart Veterinary advice to entrepreneur-like Dutch dairy farmers: from curative practice to coach-consultant: what needs to be changed? Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunde 2008 Jan
• J.J. Lievaart, H. Barkema, W.D.J. Kremer, J. van de Broek., J. Verheijden, and J.A.P. Heesterbeek. Effect of herd characteristics, management practices, and season on different categories of the herd somatic cell count. J Dairy Sci. 2007 Sep;90(9):4137-44.
• J.J. Lievaart, W.D.J.  Kremer and H.W. Barkema Short communication: Comparison of bulk milk, yield-corrected, and average somatic cell counts as parameters to summarize the sub clinical mastitis situation in a dairy herd.  J Dairy Sci. 2007 Sep;90(9):4145-8.
• J.J. Lievaart, Parlevliet J.M., Dielman S.J.,Rientjes S., Bosman E., Vos PL.Trans vaginal aspiration as first treatment of ovarian follicular cysts in dairy cattle under field circumstances 2006 (In Dutch) Tijdschrift voor DiergeneeskundeJun 15;131(12):438-42
• J.J. Lievaart, Noordhuizen J.P., van Beek E., van der Beek C., van Risp A., Schenkel J., van Veerssen J. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point's (HACCP) concept as applied to some chemical, physical and microbiological contaminants of milk on dairy farms. A prototype Veterinary Quarterly 2005 Mar;27(1):21-9.

 

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International presented posters, oral communications, conference papers

Science week, Australian College of Veterinary Scientist, Gold Coast, 2009 (invited speaker)

• Dairy Herd health programmes for public health issues

Mega Repro Conference, Australia, Gold Coast, 2009 (invited speaker)

• Livestock Reproduction and Enterprise Profitability
• Quality Control of Semen for Livestock AI (poster presentation with Peter Chenoweth)

ISVEE, Durban South Africa, 2009

• Prediction of the Herd Somatic Cell Count of the Consecutive Month Using a Linear Mixed Effect Model (oral presentation)
• Reliability of the bulk milk somatic cell count as an indication of average herd somatic cell count (poster presentation)

Australian Veterinary Association Annual Conference Perth 2008

• Workplace stress, mental health and burnout in veterinarians in Australia. P. H.  Hatch, H. R. Winefield, B. A. Christie, and J. J. Lievaart

Australia Cattle Annual Conference Perth 2008, Geelong , Australia; oral communication

• Herd health schemes aiming to promote public health: Is it possible?

Buiatrics 2006, Nice, France; 2 oral communications

• The effect of trans vaginal needle aspiration of ovarian follicular cysts in Holstein Friesian dairy cattle
• The difference between bulk milk somatic cell count and the calculated average herd somatic cell count

Buiatrics 2006, Nice, France; 2 poster presentations

• The hazard analysis critical control points concept applied in the process steps of milk harvesting and cow treatment
• The effect of separating first-calving heifers on body condition, milk yield, fat and protein contents during the stable period

Congress of the Int. Society for Anim. Hygiene , 2004,France

• Noordhuizen JPTM, Lievaart JJ. 2004. Veterinary Quality Management: the Dutch total touch. In: Proc. Congress of the Int. Society for Anim. Hygiene, Vol 2, 503—505 (F Madec & G Clement, editors), St Malo (F) October 11—13

 

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