How to Reduce the Spread of Infection in Cattle on your Farm!

There are two main sources of infection on your farm; Infected animals and contaminated environment, equipment and visitors, Animal Health Ireland (AHI) says.

So how do you go about reducing the spread of infection from animals and the environment?

AHI says to avoid bringing in new diseases so having stringent bio-exclusion practices on the farm will help to prevent new diseases coming into your herd from outside.

Diagnose and treat sick animals promptly; according to AHI, treatment reduces the number of sick animals on the farm and potentially reduces the amount of infectious agent being produced by the animal.

Identifying sick animals quickly is very important to get the best response to treatment so good stockmanship is needed, it says. Your veterinary practitioner may recommend treating all animals in a group, AHI says, not just the sick animals, e.g. respiratory disease. Isolate or remove animals from the group/herd. It says that individual sick animals should be isolated from the rest of the herd during treatment.

For some diseases, treatment is not appropriate because the animal will not respond AHI says e.g. those persistently infected (PI) with BVD virus. Once identified, it says that the best option is to move PIs promptly to an isolation area and cull as soon as possible.

AHI has the following advice on how to reduce the source of infections from the farm environment:

* Reducing stocking density in critical areas such as calving pens and calf houses will reduce infection challenge.
* Ensure that housing and handling facilities remain adequate for the size of your herd.
* Cleaning and disinfecting contaminated housing; calving pens, isolation boxes and calf pens must be cleaned and disinfected with approved disinfectants after use.
* Composting manure and storing slurry; the longer that manure is allowed to compost or slurry is stored the lower the risk of disease transmission.
* Regularly emptying and cleaning feed and water troughs. AHI says to keep troughs at a height that they can only be accessed by your cattle.
* Water troughs should be regularly checked to ensure they are clean. Any persistent source of dampness or water leakage can promote survival of parasites and bacterial.
* Ensure pipes, taps, drinkers, gutters and roofs are adequately maintained, reducing equipment and machinery contamination
* Clean and disinfect equipment after each use: e.g. slurry spreading equipment, trailers, calving aids.
* Use disposable equipment where possible: e.g. needles, syringes, gloves and dispose of appropriately.
* Clean and disinfect animal handling equipment after each use: e.g. tongs, stomach tube used to feed scouring calves.

Overall reducing the number and scale of infectious sources on the farm makes reducing the spread of disease easier.

Six of Your Weed Control Questions Answered by Teagasc.

(1) In late summer, when is the best time to spray for docks in grassland?

Spray docks when they are actively growing in the summer months when they are free of disease, pest attack, drought, etc. with nutrients being translocated to leaves, stem and roots of the actively growing dock plant.

Best time to spray is before stem formation. In late July, this is when the dock plant has plenty of leaves to absorb chemicals in herbicide being used.

If stem and seeds are present on dock plants, it may be best to top the field, then spray the regrowth a few weeks later.

(2) In a field with peaty soil, furze bushes on the boundaries have started to grow out into the field. I am afraid that I may be penalised if I have a Cross Compliance inspection. So what is the best way to control these furze bushes?

Yes, you could be penalised if you have a Cross Compliance inspection.

That is if you allow this invasive species to continue to grow out into the field. Very few herbicides will kill hard, woody stem material.

Best suggested practice is to cut any growing bush at the butt at ground level using a small chainsaw.

After a few weeks, any regrowth can be spot sprayed with Grazon 90 at the recommended rate.

(3) Creeping buttercup has started to emerge in some low lying fields that I own. How can I control this?

Buttercups are best controlled by MCPA or 2, 4-D or Lupo. Check each field to see what weeds you need to deal with before spraying and select the best spray to deal with all the weeds.

(4) I have a persistent problem with creeping thistle in many of my fields, what is the best herbicide to use on them?

Creeping thistle is a perennial plant and grows mainly from an underground stem or rhizome and this makes total control difficult with one spray.

Yield losses of up to 15% have been recorded but they cause most damage by preventing animals grazing around them.
Frequent topping can reduce the root reserves but will seldom eradicate the problem as root fragments can lay viable and dormant for years.

This weed is best sprayed with Thistlex, Forefront, Lupo, MCPA or 2, 4-D in June before flowering and may need a second treatment later in the season to control any late shooting thistles.
In a reseed, both root fragments and seed can cause an explosion of creeping thistles.

(5) In some fields of permanent pasture, spear thistles are becoming a problem. What’s the best way to get rid of them?

Spear thistle only spreads by seed. Each plant lives for two years (like ragwort) producing a flatted rosette of leaves in year one and then the familiar ‘tree-like’ structure in year two.

Once controlled in the re-seed, it is rarely a problem in grazed fields except after poaching or other sward damage.

Topping is not effective to control the growth in year one but can be carried out on the second year growth before seed is set.
Chemical control options are the same as for creeping thistle.

(6) Clumps of Nettles in pasture have become a problem on my land. What’s the best way to control them?

Perennial nettle tends to grow in clumps in pasture and can prevent grazing.

The growth pattern of this weed makes it an ideal target for spot treatment with some of the Dicamba/Triclopyr/Fluroxypyr/Aminopyralid based products.

If the clumps are small and not too dense some of the Dicamba/CMPP based products will also contain them if sprayed on a regular basis.

High water volumes (400L/ha) are essential when spot treating. Treat before seed production for best effects.

By Anthony O’Connor, Teagasc Adviser, Galway/Clare Regional Unit and Tim Hyde, Environment Specialist, Teagasc, Athenry

2,000 Dairy Farmers to Seek Contract Rearing Service

Contract rearing will increase quite substantially over the next couple of years and potentially 2,000 dairy farmers could require the service.

Teagasc’s George Ramsbottom said that by 2020 over 3500 dairy farmers will have more than 100 cows and these farmers will be stocked at more than a cow/acre when speaking at a recent dairy event.

Ramsbottom highlighted the importance contract rearing will play in the successful future of both the Irish dairy and beef industries.

“The scale and intensity of future dairy enterprises will create huge demands, and dairy farmers will be looking for people to take their stock to relieve some of the labour issues in years to come.”

This increase will mean that there is potential for 2,000 dairy farmers to have their heifers contract reared within the next five years said Ramsbottom.

He also cited the pros and cons New Zealand farmers had experienced in terms of contract rearing.

Teagasc has more information on Contract Rearing at the following link http://www.teagasc.ie/collaborativearrangements/contract_rearing_of_heifers.asp

‘Herd Health Improved with Lely Milking Robots’

The introduction of Lely robotic milking technology has been viewed by many dairy farmers as an opportunity to get out of the parlour!

However, according to Lely, its robotic technology provides many more benefits in terms of health, production and reproductive performance.

Evelyn Drake, Lely Farm Management Support said that at each individual milking there are over 100 pieces of information generated.

These include milk quality, temperature, body weight, animal health and milk speed, she said.

She said farmers can access the milk yield, protein, fat and milk quality for each individual cow following milking.

Health issues can also be identified, she said, and the use of a colour check and conductivity allows for the ease of mastitis diagnosis.

“The colour check can also be used for the detection of blood and colostrum.”

The number of times cows are milked is also dependent on milk yield, she said.

“The system is individual to the cows, we do not over or under milk any cows. There is no point in milking a high yielding cow once-a-day or a low-yielding three times a day.”

Farmers using Lely technology can also choose to dry off one particular quarter if there is a persistent udder health issue.
The technology can be used in the detection of heat and the optimum mating time, she said.

Each cow is fitted with a collar, she said, and these collars have activity monitors that indicate when cows are in heat.

This is carried out by comparing two corresponding days activity levels, calving date and the date of the previous heat.

Aidan Fallon, of Lely added that the robot remembers the previous seven milkings.  As the udder gets bigger and smaller over the lactation curve it will know where the teats are located.
The milk is tested while the cow is being milked, mastitis is recorded on a per quarter basis allowing the farmer to easily identify the affected spin.

Lely uses a four effect pulsation and each unit drops off depending on the flow rate from each quarter.

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WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY COST TO REAR A DAIRY HEIFER - AND WHEN WILL SHE PAY YOU BACK?

Rearing a dairy heifer to 24 months costs €1,545 including both the cost of labour and opportunity cost of land, Donagh Berry told farmers at this year’s Moorepark Open day.

He noted that the figure is probably not all that different than the price being paid for high EBI cattle in the mart for the past few years.  He said “For those 24 months the heifer is doing nothing for you.”

According to Berry, once a cow, which has been reared on farm, calves for the first time it takes 1.63 lactations before that cow actually pays back the farmer what has been invested in her.
“If the heifer or cow only lives for 1.5 years she was actually doing nothing for you. She may generate a bit of revenue from her lactation but all that was doing was offsetting the cost that was put in to rear that animal.

Berry said it is only when the cow gets into the second part of her second lactation that’s she starts making money for the farmer. 

He told farmers at Moorepark that currently only 5% of Irish dairy herds are achieving the Teagasc target of 5.5 lactations per cow.

He said 5.5 lactations equates to a replacement rate of about 18%.  “We know this is the optimum replacement rate. Around half of which should be involuntary culling so essentially not in-calf animals and a further 9% which farmers can use for voluntary culling such as late calvers cows that are kicking clusters.”

According to Berry on average Irish herds are achieving only four lactations per cow. He said by moving that up by one lactation farmers stand to gain €100/cow or 1.5c/L.

“It’s the single largest cost on the dairy production system for the vast majority of farmers and we all have heard of the importance of keeping costs down in a volatile milk market.”

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