RED DEER — Chicken and beef producers have agreed to share important information about antibiotics and resistance problems.
Both sectors have animals living in confinement and both have come up against troublesome bugs that are resistant to commonly used medications.
The Institute for Applied Poultry Technologies is sharing its equipment and laboratory expertise in a feedlot project to assess which bacteria are present in cases of bovine respiratory disease (BRD).
“The meat and livestock industry is faced with two challenges. On the one hand, we bring a lot of animals together in a close environment and expose them to a lot of disease pressure, and the way to deal with that is to treat them with antibiotics,” institute manager Nick Allan said at a Alberta beef industry conference held in Red Deer Feb. 18-20.
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“The nature of antibiotics and the microbes we are treating is that we see resistance develop. That is part of nature.”
The institute, which was formed in 2012, uses specialized equipment that can determine which bacteria are present in a sick calf and screen the microbes to determine which antimicrobials may or may not work.
Answers come within minutes rather than days, so information can be returned to veterinarians much sooner. Practitioners can then decide which medications, if any, are best.
“This is lightyears ahead of where we used to be from just a few years ago,” Allan said.
The bacteria will be stored at -83 C for future research, including vaccine work.
Participants and funders include Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Agriculture, the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association, the Alberta Veterinary Surveillance Network, Agriculture Canada, the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and veterinary clinics that submit samples for the study.
barbara.duckworth@producer.com
