Latest News From Animal health

Aflatoxin, produced by Aspergillus fungus, is the most common mycotoxin in corn and other grains used in cattle feed.
Mycotoxins: Test and Monitor to Reduce Risk

Mycotoxins represent a broad category of toxic agents produced by various naturally occurring fungi, mostly soil borne and environmentally dependent.

Drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras have been buzzing over a research feedlot near Amarillo, as researchers develop test methods to identify feverish animals before they show symptoms of illness, like eating less feed or infecting other animals.
AgriLife Research Targets Feverish Cows with Drones

Scientists at Texas A&M University are testing new technologies at a feedlot in the Texas Panhandle to find ways to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock and provide consumers with a healthy meat supply.

In this study, 60% of treated cattle were diagnosed pregnant from fixed-time AI compared with 51% in the control group.
Trace Minerals Can Boost Fertility

Mineral status plays an important role in cattle fertility, and using an injectable mineral product could provide more consistency than dietary supplements alone.

Results of the Kansas State University trial indicate cattle feeders can boost the percentage of energy in the receiving ration while use limit-feeding strategies to minimize negative effects.
Limit Feeding Allows Higher-Energy Receiving Rations

The transition to high-energy rations, particularly those with high starch levels, can involve risk of acidosis, stress and compromised immunity in feeder calves.

Extreme weather fluctuations put extra stress on calf immune systems.
Calves Need Extra Care in Winter

As snow and frigid temperatures remind us that it’s still winter, it’s a good time to remind cattle producers that calves are especially vulnerable in these conditions.

The bacteria, C. perfringens Type C in nursing-age calves, may proliferate and become toxic when a calf’s nutritional intake is inconsistent.
“Purple Gut” in Calves Can Cause Fatalities Overnight

Enterotoxemia-causing bacteria proliferate quickly.

From left, Ram Raghavan, spatial epidemiologist at Kansas State University, and Steve Barker, a leading expert on Australian ticks at the University of Queensland, examine field-collected long-horned ticks in Queensland, Australia.
Researchers Predict Spread of Invasive Long-Horned Ticks

A recently invaded tick species known as the long-horned tick could establish itself in wide swathes of North America — if they are transported accidentally.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti can spread several diseases as it travels from person to person.
Mosquitoes Show High Resistance to Common Insecticide

Florida mosquitoes that can carry Zika virus and other diseases are showing resistance to pyrethroid—a common group of insecticides used to treat them—according to a new study by USDA scientists.

Stephanie Tarlowe, Cornell University
Campus Connection: Students and Recent Grads Address Cannabis Issue

What are your initial thoughts on the potential for using Cannabis products such as CBD or THC for production or therapeutic applications in beef or dairy cattle?

<p>Beef cattle numbers in Mississippi are up and prices are profitable, making 2018 a good year for the industry despite high supply.&nbsp;</p>
Cattle Handling and Animal Welfare Concerns Take Center Stage

Cattle handling and animal welfare continue to be a major focus for the industry.

Jared Wareham: Get With The Program

Whichever way you look at it, increasing the opportunity for profit or decreasing the risk for loss, having an advanced genetic “scouting report” on feeders has value.

Whichever way you look at it, increasing the opportunity for profit or decreasing the risk for loss, having an advanced genetic “scouting report” on feeders has value.
Jared Wareham: Get With The Program

Whichever way you look at it, increasing the opportunity for profit or decreasing the risk for loss, having an advanced genetic “scouting report” on feeders has value.

Cattle Handling Strategies to Improve Postweaning Calf Health

When animals have health or performance problems it is almost always because the person in charge of taking care of them is not showing the proper interest in what they need.

In addition to making sure freshly weaned calves are getting enough water, feed, rest and exercise and have a comfortable environment, we are simultaneously working with them in the sense of teaching them to be manageable.
Cattle Handling Strategies to Improve Postweaning Calf Health

When animals have health or performance problems it is almost always because the person in charge of taking care of them is not showing the proper interest in what they need.

Rectal temperature can quickly indicate clinical signs of disease, but does not predict disease risk in cattle that appear healthy.
Target your Feedlot Treatments

Mass treatments can save stressed calves arriving at stocker or feeding operations, but a more targeted approach could reduce antibiotic use while improving outcomes.

Veterinarians or producers who are aware of sudden unexplained deaths in cattle should contact the State Veterinarian's Office at 850-410-0900
Florida and Georgia Suspect Feed in Cattle Deaths

Over the past week, producers and animal-health officials in Florida and Georgia have reported unusual acute deaths in cattle.

The CFIA provides updates on the investigation on its website.
Canadian Officials Confirm Distinct Strain of Bovine TB

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, investigating cases of bovine tuberculosis (TB) on a British Columbia farm have confirmed the strain is different from any previously found in Canada

Injectable opioids are used in animals to treat pain following severe trauma and to control pain during and after surgery.
FDA Works to Address Opioid Supply Shortage

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week it has worked with Pfizer Inc. to help alleviate a shortage of certain injectable opioids available to treat pain in animals.

Producers and veterinarians agree that one of our greatest priorities must be to lessen the impact of devastating animal diseases.
Coalition Applauds Farm Bill Animal Health Provisions ​

Members of the Animal Agriculture Coalition released a statement applauding animal health provisions included in the 2018 Farm Bill Conference Report, which was sent to President Trump’s desk this week.

The requested labeling changes specifically affect anthelmintics for livestock and horses.
FDA Calls for New Labeling to Protect Effectiveness of Dewormers

The FDA announced this week that it has requested that animal drug companies voluntarily revise the labels of drugs intended to treat internal parasites in livestock to add information about antiparasitic resistance.

Oral rabies vaccine bait
Watch for Rabies in Cattle

While we think of wild animals as the primary carriers of rabies, domestic livestock including cattle are susceptible to the virus, and because of their more frequent contact with humans, can pose a risk of transmission.

Rectal temperature can quickly indicate clinical signs of disease, but does not predict disease risk in cattle that appear healthy.
Target Your Feedlot Treatments

Mass treatments can save stressed calves arriving at stocker or feeding operations, but a more targeted approach could reduce antibiotic use while improving outcomes.

<p>Deworming cattle</p>
Treating Internal Parasites in Cattle Herds Protects Producer Profits

Taking care of internal parasites is an annual or biannual proactive measure producers follow to protect their cattle herds and ultimately their operations’ bottom line.

Approximately 40 beef industry leaders who are participating in the CattleTrace disease traceability pilot project met with USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach to discuss next steps for the pilot project and disease traceability across the country.
CattleTrace Participants Meet with USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach

USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach was welcomed to Kansas, on Monday, November 19, by beef industry leaders participating in the CattleTrace pilot project for disease traceability.

John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
USAHA Resolution Supports Limited Expansion of ADT Program

During its recent annual conference, the U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA) discussed the need for improved traceability across the U.S. cattle marketing chain.

Cattle Rabies is no Laughing Matter
Cattle Rabies is no Laughing Matter

When news surfaces about cattle with rabies, media outlets and the urban public might treat it as a humorous event, with images of a vicious, slobbering cow running amuck on the farm.

SDSU postdoctoral research associate Chithra Sreenivasan successfully isolated antigens in tracheal and lung tissues to prove that the guinea pig could be used as an animal model to study influenza D as part of her doctoral work
Influenza D Remains Somewhat Mysterious

In 2011, researchers isolated an unknown virus, later categorized as influenza D virus (IDV), in a diseased pig. Since then, some of the same group identified influenza D antibodies in cattle, goats, sheep and horses.

The Bull Lameness Exam
The Bull Lameness Exam

The bull lameness exam Lameness can mean the difference between a valuable bull and hamburger.

Treating Calf Scours
Treating Calf Scours

Neonatal diarrhea is a significant economic loss to the cattle industry and continues to be the most common cause of mortality in calves.

Poll: Weaning Strategies | Producers Searching For Additional Hay

While some cattlemen have already started weaning spring-calving herds, October and November are prime times for feeder cattle marketing decisions. What is your weaning strategy this year?

What is your weaning strategy this year?
Poll: Weaning Strategies | Producers Searching For Additional Hay

While some cattlemen have already started weaning spring-calving herds, October and November are prime times for feeder cattle marketing decisions. What is your weaning strategy this year?

Monensin is an animal drug approved for use in cattle, swine, and poultry that is highly toxic and potentially lethal to horses, even at relatively low levels.
FDA Warns Two Firms about Monensin Contamination in Horse Feed

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to two feed mills that mixed horse feed containing monensin.

John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
Editing for Health and Fitness

Gene editing shows considerable potential for improving animal health and welfare and food safety while reducing dependence on antimicrobials and other treatments for livestock diseases.

Brucellosis Infected Cattle Found in Northwestern Wyoming

For the first time in three years a positive case of brucellosis has been identified in a Wyoming cattle herd.

Rectal temperature can quickly indicate clinical signs of disease, but does not predict disease risk in cattle that appear healthy.
Refining Receiving Protocols

Emerging diagnostic tools could allow more targeted, efficient and effective treatment decisions for shipped cattle.

If you have a photo of an interesting condition, lesion or injury, please send it to me at jmaday@farmjournal.com.
Mystery Malady: Liver to Remember Diagnosis

Here is the answer to our latest Mystery Malady.

John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
One Step Closer to National Traceability System

Depending on how you perceive it, animal disease traceability is either an idea that’s too important to abandon in spite of all the complications, or a nuisance that just refuses to die.

Feeling squeezed?
3 Issues Squeezing Livestock Producers

In a marketplace where margins are tight, change can be hard—and expensive.

Top 10 Gaps in Cattle Care and Well-being
Survey Shows Top 10 Gaps in Cattle Care and Well-Being

Merck Study asks U.S. beef producers and veterinarians to weigh in on the most important welfare topic where training is needed.

The South Florida environment produces abundant forage, but of relatively low nutritional quality, so Extension agent Aaron Stam works to improve forage quality and utilization.
Seeking Solutions in the Sub-Tropics

Tribal Extension agent helps ranchers improve production efficiency in one of the nation’s largest cow herds.

Low-Stress Weaning Done Right

Low-stress weaning—regardless of how we do it—begins with how we gather and bring in the cattle. If we don’t do it properly, the cows and calves are in panic mode before we even have them in the corral.

Low-stress weaning—regardless of how we do it—begins with how we gather and bring in the cattle. If we don’t do it properly, the cows and calves are in panic mode before we even have them in the corral.
Low-Stress Weaning Done Right

Low-stress weaning—regardless of how we do it—begins with how we gather and bring in the cattle. If we don’t do it properly, the cows and calves are in panic mode before we even have them in the corral.

Limited research, in controlled settings, suggests darts can deliver an appropriate dose, but results can be inconsistent.
Dart Decisions

Studies show RDD can deliver an appropriate treatment dose, but inconsistencies raise concerns.

Approximately 55,000 Kansas-based calves will be tagged for the pilot, which will conclude in 2020.
Cattle Disease Traceability Project Moving Forward

CattleTrace names Board of Directors and focuses recruitment efforts on cow-calf producers.

The management team for the CattleTrace pilot project includes (From Left) Kansas Animal Health Commissioner Justin Smith, DVM, Program Coordinator Cassie Kniebel and Brad White, DVM, MS, Director of K-State’s Beef Cattle Institute.
Disease Traceability: Better Late than Never

After more than 15 years of discussing, strategizing, and in some cases resisting, could animal disease traceability finally be coming of age?

APHIS is recognizing Croatia, Poland, Northern Ireland and Scotland as negligible risk for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
APHIS Recognizes Four Regions as Negligible Risk for BSE

APHIS is taking this action based on our review of the World Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE) supporting information regarding the risk designations for these four regions.

The longhorned tick is known as an aggressive biter that can infest cattle in large numbers.
AVMA Offers Tick Tips as Exotic Species Spreads

Over the past year, the invasive longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) has spread to at least nine states after first appearing in New Jersey.

The USDA researchers have developed novel technology for reducing crop and livestock damage from bird and mammal pests.
USDA Team Honored for Bird and Mammal Repellents

On August 29, the USDA's National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) received a Regional Partnership Award for its role in the development of bird and mammal repellents to protect agricultural crops and property.

The Florida cow diagnosed with atypical BSE did not enter the food supply.
Atypical BSE Case Shouldn’t Disrupt Trade

Based on past history and international agreements, this atypical case should not affect beef exports or our negligible-risk status with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Today, emerging chute-side technologies for detecting the earliest signs of respiratory disease have potential to help move the industry toward a goal of more individualized management.
Predicting Disease Risk in Feeder Cattle

While predicting disease risk in a group of cattle is relatively reliable for experienced cattle feeders, predicting risk in individual animals presents a much greater challenge.