Table 1.

Variables related to birth and prophylaxis categories associated with diarrhoea in the univariable model of diarrhoea in 3047 French beef calves in 92 herds (December 1995–April 1996)

Variable	Levels	Sample		Diarrhoea		$P$
		$N$	%	Cases	%
Number of calves born	Single	$2944$	96.6	429	97.5	0.36
	More	103	3.4	11	2.5
Calves born prematurely	No	$3027$	99.3	437	99.3	0.51
	Yes	20	0.7	3	0.7
Calves born with malformation	No	$3030$	99.4	437	99.3	0.39
	Yes	17	0.6	3	0.7
Respiration of calves at birth	Normal	$2832$	92.9	401	91.1	0.001
	Dyspnea	220	7.1	39	8.9
Curative use of stimulants (orexigenic or other) at birth	No	$3012$	98.9	437	99.3	0.34
	Yes	35	1.1	3	0.7
Preventive use of stimulants (orexigenic or other) at birth	No	$2291$	98.2	433	98.4	0.76
	Yes	56	1.8	7	1.6
Navel dipping	Yes	$1860$	61.0	271	61.6	0.78
	No	$1187$	39.0	169	38.4
Navel dipping product	No	$1207$	40.0	169	38.4	0.05
	Iodine	880	29.0	146	33.2
	Other	960	31.0	125	28.4
First colostrum feeding assisted by the farmer	Yes	$2250$	74.0	335	76.1	0.53
	No	797	26.0	105	23.9
Time of first feeding colostrum	>6 h	$2684$	88.0	392	89.1	0.47
	<6 h	363	12.0	48	10.9
Frequency of feeding on the first day of life	$\text{Sufficient}\ge 3$	$2549$	84.0	353	80.2	0.06
	$\text{Insufficient}>3$	498	16.0	87	19.8
Month of birth	December 1995	434	14.3	76	17.2	>0.001
	January 1996	754	24.7	67	15.2
	February 1996	963	31.6	131	37.9
	March 1996	896	29.4	166	29.7
Ease of calving	No assistance	$1785$	58.6	226	51.3	0.002
	Easy pull	795	26.1	138	31.3
	Hard pull	467	15.3	76	17.4
Frequency of feeding calf on second to third days of life	$\text{Sufficient}\ge 3$	$2553$	84.0	361	82.0	0.36
	$\text{Insufficient}>3$	494	16.0	79	18.0
Sex of newborn	Male	$1490$	50.0	235	53.4	0.08
	Female	$1463$	50.0	202	46.6
Cleanliness of calves ($\text{level}\le 2.5$)	Clean	78	84.7	374	85.0	0.02
	Dirty	14	15.3	72	15.0