healthy animals = healthy people

Now here's something I've told many of the dairy and beef clients here for years...


"Veterinarians and livestock farmers: a winning partnership"


That's the theme of this year's World Veterinary Day, which is today and celebrated the last Saturday of April each year.


Some more information from the British Veterinary Association is shown here


The pictured scene? Not the Jersey shore! - it's farmers in The Gambia herding some of their cattle.

vaccines and beer!

I just read this article in Beef Magazine(written by Clint Peck, Director, Beef Quality Assurance, Montana State University)and he highlights many of the concerns i've spoken to producers about regarding vaccine use and handling, as well as providing a particularly apt analogy. Treat your vaccines like beer!

1. storage and handling is essential - improperly handled vaccine might look good in the bottle, but be worthless in protecting your cows.

2. vaccines are fragile - they must be kept chilled in a proper cooler, but never frozen. if doing large groups, mix/rehydrate vaccines as you go, but not all at once - as the article states, is every beer opened at the beginning and set on the fence or tailgate to be used a few hours later warm and flat? With any vaccine that is re-mixed, there are modified-live components in them that need to be in the cow - not out in the sun, and not warming up over several hours.

3. likewise with a partially open vial of vaccine/can of beer - don't save it till the next day. chuck it in the bin - the few dollars lost not saving it is trivial compared to the animals left unprotected because they were vaccinated with a vaccine worthless because of mis-handling.

4. important point about syringes and needles - they do cite washing syringes, which is more typical in larger feedlot operations. here, the best advice is using disposables and changing needles. they too are cheap compared with spreading disease cow to cow and/or vaccine inactivation due to presence of soap/disinfectant on the needles and syringe.

to quote the article, "if you don't do it to your beer, don't do it to your vaccine".

test, don't guess

many mastitis cases, especially chronic ones, would benefit from being diagnosed - you may find something that is a surprise and that will result in a different treatment or different management to eliminate future cases.

some cases that 'look' like a coliform can be staph aureus; definitely a case where the cow should be managed differently to prevent further infection to the herd. other times what looks like a typical coliform isn't e.coli - a recent case seen in an on-again/off-again mastitis cow showed a klebsiella when i cultured her here. that is a very tough organism to cure and her quarter was dried up.

preliminary results can be seen as soon as 18-24 hours for some cases, so if you have an increase in mastitis cases, or increasing SCC, save samples aseptically and freeze or call and arrange to get them here so they can be plated right away and you can find out what is the cause instead of guessing.

norz-hill sale

on a gorgeous spring day, the norz-hill dairy sold their milking holsteins, having a very strong sale, averaging close to $1,700, with cows selling to 11 states and canada.

news coverage included video from channel 4 new york and new jersey network, plus this photo gallery from the courier-news



Original Video - More videos at TinyPic




Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

take two aspirin and ?

Giving your cows aspirin for pain relief? some new research from Kansas State University shows that it because it has a half-life of 30 minutes, it must be dosed at least twice a day, if not more frequently. Another fact was that oral aspirin showed a very poor bioavailability to the cow - only 30% was available to be absorbed.

As an example, pain-relief/analgesia for dehorning. All calves should be nerve blocked(lidocaine injected around the cornual nerve)which is a simple method of lowering the stress and pain of hot-iron dehorning. Lidocaine is not long-lasting though and consideration should be given for a longer lasting analgesia - prescribed use of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory such as flunixin(given IV)can provide a continued relief to the calf at this time, lowering stress and helping them recover more quickly. Aspirin in these situations is likely not the most appropriate medication to give an animal to provide more long-lasting pain relief. And if you're not using a cornual nerve block for dehorning your calves - you should! Just ask, and at the next farm visit, it can be demonstrated and put into use for your animals.

norzhill sale

two weeks from today the norz-hill cows and bred heifers will sell - some really nice well bred holstein cows, with over 22 EX cows having been bred here in hillsborough new jersey - 270+ head will sell on april 2nd.

the view

what do cows see? almost everything; nearly a 360 degree view around them when their heads are lowered and grazing because of the placement of their eyes on the sides of their head and the horizontal pupils. that kind of wide view is a huge advantage to prey animals like sheep and cattle but something to keep in mind is that they don't have much depth perception and have week eye muscles, keeping them from focusing quickly. ever wonder why when driving a tractor in the field a cow might not move nearly until the tire touches her? she may not know if you are 5 feet or 30 feet away, even though it happens nearly daily. watch them to see what they do - raising the head up and down is their attempt to focus and gain information on how close something is to them. realizing how they see the world can help with handling - the poor depth perception can make even a shadow on the ground look like deep hole and thus the cows balk at crossing it(or finally decide to leap over it, as many holsteins do over the gutter). when handling cattle remember they don't like being approached in a straight line, and especially if you are directly behind them; the opposite of what you want will happen as they will turn and face you. approach from the sides and let them see you there - also by keeping moving instead of being completely still this reassures the animal that you are not a predator and that you want to see and be identified. and don't forget the blind spot right behind the cow - walking up directly behind a cow, especially a kicker, without letting her know you're there will be a good way try and not get hurt.