The presentpaperwasdesignedtoassesstheeffectof Mycobacteriumavium subsp.
paratuberculosis (MAP) infectionstatus(antibodypositive vs antibodynegative,as
measuredbyELISA)ontimetocullingandcalvingdifficultyindairycows.Thestudy
wascarriedoutin8dairyfarmsinGalicia(north-westSpain).Allofthemweretakingpart
in anongoingparatuberculosiscontrolprogram,aswellasinadairyherdimprovement
program.InordertoestimatetherelationbetweentimetocullingandMAPserological
status of dairycows,thepresentstudyfollowedtheAndersen–Gill modelforsurvival
analysis.Similarly,inordertoevaluatetheinfluenceoncalvingdifficultyanordinal
logisticregressionmodelwasapplied.Theresultsindicatedthatseropositivecowswere
more likelytobeculledduetodeath/urgentslaughter(hazardratio¼1.88),low
productivity (hazardratio¼2.55),infertility(hazardratio¼4.64)andothercauses(hazard
ratio¼1.67).Additionally,theprobabilityofdifficultiesatcalvingtimewas2.74times
higher forseropositivecows.Theestimatedeffectscoulddeterminetheeconomicbenefits
of aparatuberculosiscontrolprogram.