John F. Mee

View publications by John F. Mee on Google Scholar

Calving and Calf Health

Abortion:

Invited review: Bovine abortion—Incidence, risk factors and causes. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, (2023) 00, 1–11. https://doi. org/10.1111/rda.1436614390531, Mee, J. F.

Stillbirths:

How to investigate a stillbirth on farm. In Practice, (2021), 43 (7): 373-387. Geraghty, T., Mee, J.F., Murphy, A. and Orr, J .

Prolonged gestation:

Overview of Prolonged Gestation in Cattle and Sheep, In. The Merck Veterinary Manual, (2022), Editor, Line, S, MSD/Merck Veterinary Manual Publishing, Mee, J.F.

Congenital defects:

Bovine congenital defects recorded by veterinary practitioners. Reproduction in domestic animals, 59(1), e14501. Mee, J. F., Murphy, D., & Curran, M. (2024).

Calving:

Calving Management: A Questionnaire Survey of Veterinary Subject Matter Experts and Non-Experts, Animals, (2021), 11, 3129. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113129.  Voß, A.L.; Heuwieser, W.; Mee, J.F.; Fischer-Tenhagen, C.

Pre-calving nutrition:

Impacts of dairy cow nutrition precalving on calf health. Journal of Dairy Science Communications, (2023) 4, https://doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2022-0281, Mee, J.F.

Calf mortality:

An observational study of calf mortality (1-100d) on Irish dairy farms and associations between biosecurity practices and calf mortality on farms participating in a Johne’s disease control programme. Journal of Dairy Science, (2023) 106:4966–4977, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22519 Conor G. McAloon, Jamie A. Tratalos, Luke O’Grady, Martin J. Green, Lawrence Gavey, David Graham, Simon J. More, Guy McGrath, Mee, J.F.

Calf health:

Managing calves/youngstock to optimise dairy herd health.  In: Improving Dairy Herd Health, (2021), Editor, Bouchard, E., Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, Cambridge, UK, (www.bdspublishing.com), Chapter 9, 265-297, Mee, J.F.

Calf respiratory disease:

Prevalence of respiratory disease in Irish preweaned dairy calves using hierarchical Bayesian latent class analysis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, (2023) 10:1149929. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1149929, Donlon JD, Mee J.F. and McAloon CG

Calf welfare:

Factors affecting the welfare of unweaned dairy calves destined for early slaughter and abattoir animal-based indicators reflecting their welfare on-farm. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. (2021), 8:645537, p.1-17, https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.645537, Boyle, L.A. and Mee, J.F.

Contract heifer rearing:

A survey of biosecurity and health management practices on Irish dairy farms engaged in contract-rearing, Journal of Dairy Science, (2021) 104: 12859-12870, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2021-20500,  McCarthy, M. C., O’Grady, L., McAloon C. G. and Mee, J.F.

Summer Scour Syndrome:

Summer scour syndrome in dairy calves: what do we know and what do we need to know? Proceedings of the Teagasc International Dairy Calf-to-Beef Conference, (2024), Wexford, 16-17 October, 39-45. Male Here, D., Mee, J.F., Sheehan, M., McGee, M., Donlon, J., Murphy, D., McGettrick, S., McAloon, C.I., Kenny, D. and Earley, B.

Herd Health and Welfare

Farm-Blindness:

Invited Review: Denormalising poor dairy youngstock management – dealing with ‘farm-blindness’, Journal of Animal Science, (2020), 98(S1): 140–149, doi:10.1093/jas/skaa137, Mee J.F.

Ruminant health:

Invited review: Ruminant health research – progress to date and future prospects, with an emphasis on Irish research. Irish Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, Special 60th Anniversary Issue, (2022) 1-32. DOI: 10.15212/ijafr-2020-0150. Mee, J.F., Barrett, D., Silva Boloña, P., Conneely, M., Earley, B., Fagan, S., Keane, O.M. and Lane, E.A.

Beef herd health:

Preventative Management of Beef Herd Health, In:  Prewencja Weterynaryjna, (2023) Editors R. Zabielskiego, T. Stefaniaka, Z. Gajewskiego,  Edra Urban & Partner spółką z o. o. z siedzibą we Wrocławiu, Poland, (in press), Urban-Chmiel, R. and Mee, J.F.

Syndromic surveillance:

Using herd frailty estimates from survival models in a mortality-based syndromic surveillance system. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, (2026),106785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2026.106785. Jaden M. Carlson, T. Brendan Murphy; Luke O’Grady; Jonas Brock; Maria P. Guelbenzu-Gonzalo; David A. Graham; Guy McGrath; Jamie A. Tratalos; Rafael de Andrade Moral; Niamh Mimnagh; Niamh L. Field; Mee, J.F.; Damien J. Barrett; Elizabeth A. Lane; Conor G. McAloon.

Welfare:

Welfare of dairy cows, EFSA Journal, (2023) Volume 21, Issue 5,  e07993 https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7993.  EFSA AHAW Panel (EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin‐Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt CG, Herskin M, Michel V, Miranda Chueca MA, Padalino B, Roberts HC, Spoolder H, Stahl K, Velarde A, Viltrop A, De Boyer des Roches A, Jensen MB, Mee J, F., Green M, Thulke H-H, Bailly‐Caumette E, Candiani D, Lima E, Van der Stede Y and Winckler C.

Lameness:

Perceptions about the causes, treatment and prevention of lameness in a pasture-based dairy industry. In: Proceedings of the 16^th International Congress on Production Diseases in Farm Animals, (2016), Wageningen, The Netherlands, p.37, Marchewka, J., Mee, J.F. and Boyle, L.

Nutrition:

Feeding system effects on dairy cow rumen function and milk production. Animals, (2022). 12, 523. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12040523, McAuliffe, S., Mee, J.F., Lewis, E., Galvin, N. and Hennessy, D.

Infectious diseases

Johne’s disease:

Characteristics (sensitivity and specificity) of herd-level diagnostic tests for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in cattle — A systematic review. The Veterinary Journal,  (2022) 279: 105786, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2022.105786,  Field, N.L., Mee, J.F. and McAloon, C.G.

Salmonellosis:

Sensitivity, specificity and predictive probability values of serum agglutination test titres for the diagnosis of Salmonella Dublin culture-positive bovine abortion and stillbirth. Transboundary & Emerging Diseases. (2017), DOI: 10/1111/tbed.12784, p. 1-11. Sánchez-Miguel, C, Crilly, J., Grant, J. and Mee, J.F.

Neosporosis:

Neospora caninum detection in bovine aborted fetuses submitted to the Veterinary Pathology Laboratory (UFMT), Brazil. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports, (2025) p.101331. dos Santos Hofmeister, K., Quillas, L.J.A., da Silva, W.D.M., Moura, L.S.P., dos Santos Costa, M.T., Nakazato, L., Mee, J.F., de Almeida Souza, M. and Pescador, C.A.,

Mycoplasma bovis:

Herd-Level Risk Factors Associated with Mycoplasma bovis Serostatus in Youngstock on Irish Dairy Farms.  In: Disease Epidemiology in Farm Animal Production. (2026)  Guest Editors Gianmarco Ferrara and Serena Montagnaro. ISBN 978-3-7258-6761-5 (PDF), https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-6761-5, p. 22-41 Marie-Claire McCarthy, Luke O’Grady, Conor G. McAloon and John F. Mee

External Parasites:

Comparisons of Ixodes Ricinus populations in adjacent habitats on a pasture-based dairy farm. In: Proceedings of the 27^th Conference of the World Association for Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, (2019), 7-11 July, Madison, USA, p. 181-182. Zaid, T., Brosnan, S., Schmidt, O., Newton, J., Browne, J., Dubourdieu, T., Gray, J., O’Connor, J., Mee, J.F. and Zintl, A.

Internal Parasites:

Controlling nematodes in dairy calves using targeted selective treatments. Veterinary Parasitology (2015), 209, 221-228, O’Shaughnessy, J., Earley, B., Mee, J.F., Doherty, M., Crosson, P., Barrett, D., and de Waal, T.

Schmallenberg:

Pathogenicity and teratogenicity of Schmallenberg virus and Akbane virus in experimentally infected chicken embryos.  Veterinary Microbiology, (2018), 216: 31-37, Collins, Á. B., Mee, J.F. and Kirkland, D.

Biosecurity:

Use of conjoint analysis to weight biosecurity practices on pasture-based dairy farms to develop a novel audit tool—BioscoreDairy. Front. Vet. Sci. (2024) 11:1462783. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1462783, O Donovan SM, McAloon CG, O’Grady L, Geraghty T, Burrell A, McCarthy M-C, Donlon J, Tratalos JA and Mee JF

Vaccination:

Cattle vaccination information leaflet for Irish farmers, advisors and vets. AHI Biosecurity Leaflet Series, (2019), p. 1-9. Mee, J.F., Citer, L., Conroy, S., Cowley, B., Kirwan, P., McAloon, C., Moriarty, J., O’Grady, L., Ramsbottom, G., Ryan, E. and Sexton, M.

Reproductive Physiology and Performance

Declining fertility:

Invited plenary: Reversing dairy cow reproductive decline. In: Proceedings of the 36th World (Virtual) Veterinary Association Congress, (2020), Auckland, New Zealand, 5-7th April, p. Mee, J.F.

Reproductive disorders:
Risk factors for reproductive disorders (metritis, endometritis, cystic ovaries, anovulation, low conception rate, embryonic mortality) in dairy cows. Cattle Practice, (2014), 22: 42-53, Mee, J.F.

Management systems:
Reproductive issues arising from different management systems in the dairy industry. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, (2012) 47: 42-50,
Mee, J.F.

Hormonal protocols:
Invited plenary: Heat detection or hormonal intervention in dairy cows – which should vets advise? In: Proceedings of the XX International Congress of AEMV-UTAD, (2017), 14th & 15th Oct, Villa Real, Portugal, p. 1-3, Mee, J.F.

Heifer reproduction:
The effect of growth rate on reproductive outcomes in replacement dairy heifers in seasonally calving, pasture-based systems, Journal of Dairy Science, (2019) 102: 5599-5611, Hayes C.J., McAloon, C, Carty, C, Ryan, E, Mee, J.F. and O’Grady, L.

Presentations

Invited, international, oral conference & workshop presentations (2016-2026)

World Buiatrics Congresses (WBC): Istanbul, Turkiye (2026), Cancun, Mexico, (2024), Madrid, Spain (2022), Sapporo, Japan (2018), Dublin, Ireland (2016), (all plenary keynotes)

World Veterinary Association Conferences (WVAC): Auckland, New Zealand, (2020)

European Association for Animal Production (EAAP): On-line (2023)

European Buiatrics Forum Congress: Nantes, France, (2025), Bilbao, Spain (2017)

European Society of Domestic Animal Reproduction (ESDAR) Annual Conferences:  Belgrade, Serbia, (2024), Saint Petersburg, Russia, (2019), Bern, Switzerland, (2017), Lisbon, Portugal, (2016)

European Symposium on Animal Reproduction: Nantes France (2023)

European Conference on Veterinary and Medical Education, Leipzig, Germany (2026)

Middle European Buiatrics Congress (MEBC):   Kocise, Slovakia (2025), Brno, Czech Republic (2024), Ostlyn, Poland (2021)

AEMV-UTAD/AEF-MV International Lecture Series: Lisbon (2024), Vila Real, (2017) Portugal

American Dairy Science Association Annual Conference: Kansas City, USA (2022)

Anembe Congreso Internacional de Medicina Bovina: Sevilla, (2019), Santiago de Compostela, (2016), Spain

BovINE Network Europe AH&W Conference: On-line (2021)

Bulgarian Buiatrics Association Cattle Seminar: Pravets, Bulgaria (2019)

Cattle Association of Veterinary Ireland (CAVI) Vet Annual Conferences: Killarney (2025), Cork, (2017, 2022, 2023)

Dairy-Beef Calf Health Seminars, IRTA: On-line (2022)

Dairy Event Conferences: Bremen, Munich, Germany (2022)

Diploma/Masters in Bovine Reproduction, University of Liverpool, UK, (2026, 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018, 2016)

Dyrlaeger & Ko, Veterinary Practitioner Calf Health CPD Meeting, (2019), Hovborg Kro, Denmark.

Dutch Calf Health Symposium: Apeldoon, The Netherlands, (2018)

Healthy Calf Conferences: Ontario, Canada, (2016)

International Congresses of the Hungarian Association for Buiatrics: Eger (2022)

International Conference on Production Diseases in Farm Animals. (2019), Bern, Switzerland,

International Conference on Veterinary Science and Livestock Disease Control (ICVSLDC-25), Antalya, Turkiye, (2025)

International Ruminant Reproduction Symposium: Galway (2023)

International Staff Week – Animal Husbandry, (2024) Burdur University, Turkiye

Iranian National Stillbirth & Neonatal Mortality in Dairy Cows Conference: On-line (2021)

Italian Buiatrics Association Annual Conference: Cremona (2023), Bologna, (2018), Italy

Jornadas Internacionales sobre Medicina Reprodcutiva Bovina, (2019), Valencia, Spain

Leipziger Tierärztekongress, VetExpo Europe, Leipzig, Germany, (2026)

Congresso Animal Health Multispecie (2025), Florence, Italy

Nordic Society for Veterinary Pathology Annual Conference (2025), Riga, Latvia

Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners Conference, (2024, 2019), Guelph, Canada

Orion Veterinary Event, Espoo, Finland, (2026)

Physiology and Pathology of Reproduction 58th Annual Conference and 50th Joint Conference of Veterinary and Human Reproductive Medicine, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany (2025)

Polish Academy of Sciences Seminar on Welfare in Farm Animals: Magdalenka, Poland (2016)

Polskiego Towarzystwa Nauk Weterynaryjnych: On-line (2021)

Progeo Societa Cooperativa Agricola Seminar on Calf Health (2019), Reggio Emilia, Italy

SANIBOVIII, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil, (2026)

Societa Italiana Buiatria Calf Health Workshop: Bologna, Italy (2019)

Studienamiddag: Veepeiler Rund: Ghent University, Belgium, (2016)

Turkish International Herd Health & Management Conference: Antalya, Turkey (2018)

Turkish and Italian International Joint Congress on Animal Reproduction (TIAR-2024), Antalya, Turkiye (2024).

Turkish International Sheep & Goat Health Conference:  Marmais, Turkey (2023), Kyrenia-Cyprus (2019)

WAFL-Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level: Cork, (2021)

Wroclaw University Annual Conferences on Cow and Calf Health: Wroclaw, Poland, (2016-2026)

Mentoring postgraduate students

Siobhan O’Donovan, B.AgSci, Biosecurity status of Irish dairy farms – assessment and intervention, (PhD, University College Dublin)

John Donlon, MRCVS – Associations between dairy calf housing environmental variables and prevalence of calf respiratory disease, (PhD, University College Dublin)

Niamh Field, MRCVS – Comparison of environmental sampling to conventional testing methods for the detection of herds infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis, (PhD, University College Dublin)

Dwayne Shields, BAgSci – Ewe and lamb behaviour and lamb mortality during the periparturient period – effects of genotype and management, (PhD, co-supervised with Tim Keady)

Ciara Hayes, MRCVS –  Bovine abortion: risk factors, pathogens and diagnostics (PhD, University College Dublin)

John Gilmore, MRCVS – Ticks and Tick-borne Pathogens in Sheep (PhD, University College Dublin)

Colin Grimes, B.Sc –  Coccidiosis in dairy calves – management practices and novel diagnostics (MSc, University College Dublin)

David Krol, DVM – Role of infectious agents in stillbirths in Polish dairy herds, (PhD, Wroclaw University of Life Sciences, Poland)

Sebastian Umaña Sedó, DVMS – Peri- and pre-weaning calf mortality on Canadian dairy farms (DVS, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada)

John also mentors undergraduate veterinary students from the School of Veterinary Medicine, UCD as part of their CEMS.

Lecturing under- and post-graduate students

Module Leader & Lecturer on the Bachelor in Dairy Business Degree (School of Agriculture, UCD)

Module Leader & Lecturer on the Bachelor in Agricultural Science Degree (Dairy Science Department, UCC)

Lecturer on the Professional Diploma in Dairy Farm Management course (School of Agriculture, UCD)

Invited lecturer on the Bachelor in Veterinary Medicine Degree course (School of Veterinary Medicine, UCD)

Invited lecturer on the Bachelor in Agricultural Science Degree course South East Technological University (SETU)

Invited lecturer on the Postgraduate Certificate in Dairy Herd Health (School of Veterinary Medicine, UCD)

Invited lecturer/Demonstrator on the Postgraduate Diploma in Bovine Reproduction (Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK).

Invited lecturer/Demonstrator on the Postgraduate Diploma in Pathophysiology of Reproduction of Domestic Animals (Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production,
University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy)

Invited lecturer on the Certificate in Ruminant Nutrition Course, QQI Fetac Level 6. (Teagasc, Moorepark Research Centre)