SASKATOON – Next month when Sandy Procyshyn meets with the other members of his community pasture they’ll have some serious decisions to make.
If they want to stop the disease trichomoniasis from entering their herds, they’ll have to implement tough new rules.
“Everything we’re not supposed to be doing, we’re doing,” said Procyshyn after listening to John Campbell with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine describe how easily the disease can infect an entire pasture of cattle.
“If you want to design a way to spread venereal disease, community pastures are it,” Campbell told a group of producers during the University of Saskatchewan beef research field day.
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Trichomoniasis is a type of parasite that can cause cattle to abort early in the pregnancy. It can only be spread during mating by infected cows or bulls. The disease was first noticed when patrons of some community pastures had a dramatic increase in open cows.
Campbell said members of community pastures can take precautions to prevent the spread of the disease to their herds.
- Use only clean bulls. Bulls are said to be clean if they’ve tested negative three times.
- Delegate a bull to a single pasture each year. Do not transfer bulls between pastures. Delegate the bull to a pasture until it’s culled.
- Allow only virgin heifers or cows that haven’t been exposed to bulls at home in the pasture. Cows with calves are unlikely to be carriers. Do not allow open or late calvers into the pasture.
Procyshyn doesn’t think the community pasture he belongs to has the disease yet.
“We want to prevent it before it becomes a problem,” he said.
