New-fangled technology and old-fashioned common sense are bringing the concept of cow herd biosecurity down to the pasture.
“More and more, individual animal management is the way everything is going,” says veterinarian Troy Drake of Cow-Calf Health Management Services.
Individualized record keeping using Palm
Pilots is one of the services Drake and his partners offer to clients, whose herds range in size from 30 cows to more than 3,000. After a short training course, producers are able to enter and send information via the internet to Cow-Calf’s home office in Okotoks, Alta., for a permanent record.
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Birth dates, gender, treatments, calving ease, identification numbers and other health issues are noted on the spot when producers check cows in the field. The system also offers a precise inventory on cow numbers compared to rough estimates of the herd size.
Producers like the system.
The vet practice created a database for clients to enter information, but since cow-calf producers do not tend to have computers chute side, they needed an easier way to improve their record keeping. Palm Pilot entries are more accurate than paper records, where handwriting can be misread or notebooks lost.
“We knew we had a great database but we still needed to somehow bridge that gap to make sure we made a seamless path for them to get data into our system,” he said.
With a wide range of information at their fingertips, producers can plan a better biosecurity system for their operation to achieve disease-free status. The system can also provide a third party audit and verification of farm’s biosecurity practices.
“You can’t analyze something if you can’t measure it,” Drake said.
Once necessary data has been collected and analyzed, it can be used for better decision making, comparisons against other herds with similar programs and disease forecasting.
Verification may help in the marketplace where producers can document drugs used for specific diseases, dates administered, injection site locations, product names, log numbers, dosages and age verification.
The paperwork can accompany the animals at sale time and could earn a premium among bidders.
A biosecurity system provides a level of trust on the farm as well as in the marketplace.
Drake defines biosecurity as practices designed to prevent the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases, such as preventing the introduction of infectious agents, controlling their spread within the herd and farm environment and disinfecting infectious materials.
Loosely following the concept of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points system, problems can be pinpointed and resolved before a problem erupts.
By using the plan, a diligent producer can follow basic principles to keep animals in good shape and avoid certain risks.
Introducing new pairs, baby calves, herd bulls and bred heifers all bring risk. They should be segregated from the rest of the herd for a few weeks because viruses can piggyback on new animals even if the producer thinks vaccinations are up to date and the home place is free of disease.
“You are at a very high risk of bringing something untoward into your herd,” Drake said.
He recommended separating cows that have calved from those yet to give birth. For example, controlling scours in a mixed group when faced with a disease outbreak is difficult.
He said bovine viral diarrhea virus, or BVD, is the most significant infectious disease to watch for. It causes infertility, abortion, fetal anomalies and malformations in calves.
“Animals could be silent carriers and it can be devastating even in a well vaccinated herd,” Drake said.
BVD can spread by nose-to-nose contact or through the cow’s blood stream and placenta to the unborn calf, which is the most serious form of the infection because a calf can be born as persistently infected, shedding the virus through its entire life.
As a nursing calf, it can infect other cows in the herd, leading to serious reproductive problems in the following year, including non-breeders and abortions. A persistently infected calf can infect an entire pen or pasture or feedlot calves, resulting in higher death loss, poor growth and high medical bills.
There are different strains of the disease so vaccinations may not cover all the types present, Drake said.
His clients are told to vaccinate the cow herd yearly before breeding because the cow’s reproductive side is most important.
As the cow ages it is vulnerable and many infectious diseases can be transmitted to the developing fetus. Producers buying bred heifers should find out what inoculations they have received.
Practical hygiene is necessary once calves are born, with the first three weeks of life probably the most intensive time for management.
Many producers use supplemental colostrum for newborns. Using frozen dairy colostrum from a herd of unknown disease status is a risk.
Johnes disease, salmonella or rota and corona virus, which are responsible for scours, are some of the infectious agents that could infect a herd when using these products.
Screening the dairy herd’s health status or using the newer freeze dried colostrum supplements could reduce potentially hazardous
effects.
An esophageal feeder bag is often used to deliver colostrum to newborn calves or electrolytes to scouring calves.
Sometimes the same device is used for both applications and the potential to transfer harmful pathogens to the newborn is greatly increased. Thoroughly disinfecting the device between uses is a good practice, but it is better to have more than one bag. One can be designated for newborn calves and another for the treatment of sick calves. This can eliminate the potential of cross contamination between sick and newborn calves.
Drake suggested marking the bags to avoid mixups.
He said overall the average cow herd is in good health.
“We really have, through good nutrition and vaccination programs, minimized problems. We really don’t have a lot of disease issues with our clients.”
