Biosecurity
basics for cattle operations
… can you say
“A-RITS”
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Biosecurity Basics for Cattle Operations
• Biosecurity is a practice designed to prevent the
spread of disease by minimizing the movement of
biologic organisms (viruses, bacteria, rodents, etc.)
onto and within your operation.
• Biosecurity can be very difficult to maintain because
the interrelationships between management, biologic
organisms and biosecurity are very complex.
• While developing and maintaining biosecurity is
difficult it is the cheapest, most effective means of
disease control available and no disease prevention
program will work without it.
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Infectious diseases can be spread
from operation to operation by:
• introduction of diseased cattle or healthy cattle
incubating disease,
• introduction of healthy cattle who have recovered
from disease but are now carriers,
• vehicles, equipment, clothing and shoes of visitors
or employees who move between herds,
• contact with inanimate objects that are
contaminated with disease organisms,
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Infectious diseases can be spread from
operation to operation by:
• carcasses of dead cattle that have not been
disposed of properly,
• feedstuffs, especially high risk feedstuff which
could be contaminated with feces,
• impure water (surface drainage water, etc),
• manure handling and aerosolized manure & dust,
• non-livestock (horses, dogs, cats, wildlife, rodents,
birds and insects).
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Biosecurity Major Components:
• Assess – Resist – Isolate – Traffic – Sanitation
– RITS are multiple disease protection hurdles.
• Of all the possible breakdowns in biosecurity, the
introduction of new cattle and traffic pose the
greatest risk to cattle health.
• Properly managing these two factors should be a
top priority on your operation.
• Biosecurity plans should be developed to meet
the specific needs of each operation.
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Biosecurity Starting Point:
• An important first step is to develop a biosecurity
resource group / team.
• The group should include people important to the
success of you operation such as your operation
supervisors, veterinarian, nutritionist, extension
specialist, suppliers and others that may have
special knowledge in control of biologic organisms.
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Biosecurity Plan: Part 1
… the big “A” … ASSESSMENT
•
• Take a close look at what can go wrong …
• Assess the risk of each potential biosecurity
problem …the relative significance & potential
• Evaluate potential to PRCE each risk identified!
» Prevent, Reduce, Control, or Eliminate
– Resistance in the herd …
– Source into and within the herd …
– Exposure within the herd …
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Risk - Risk - Risk
• Risk Assessment
– Evaluate … decide level appropriate
– Evaluate … basis for PRCE steps
• Risk Management
– Resistance, Exposure, Transmission
• Risk Documentation
– Record … Review recordings
– Surveillance testing
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Risk Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Where are you when you start?
Additions, movements, contacts
People, things, products
Wildlife …
Contamination … feed, etc
Environmental
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Biosecurity Risk … Evaluate
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Accessibility
Personnel training
Immune Resistance
Isolation
Traffic Flow
Sanitation
Pest Control
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Biosecurity – Specific Disease
Control & Identification
•
•
•
•
Risk
Training
Isolation
Traffic Control
•
•
•
•
Sanitation
Action Trigger
Rapid Response
Comments
EXAMPLES … BS-Man-07-SpecficDisCont&ID.doc
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Biosecurity
Principles Diseases to Consider:
•
•
•
•
•
BSE
FMD
Salmonella
BVD-PI
Leptospirosis
•
•
•
•
•
Johne’s
Leucosis
Anaplasmosis
Viral calf scours
TB - Bangs
Rank significance to different production systems
Threat type: EXTERNAL, INTERNAL, MANAGEMENT
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Biosecurity
Other Diseases or Situations
•
•
•
•
Cryptosporidiosis
Coccidiosis, Sarcocystis
Neospora, Toxoplasma
Trichomoniasis, Vibrio
• Common Inherent Diseases
– IBR, BVD, PI3, BRSV,
Pasteurella, Mycoplasma,
& Clostridia
• Staph mastitis???
Mastitis (others???)
• Chronic Wasting
Disease (CWD)
• Noxious weed
• Specific Bioterrorism
Issues:
Rank significance to different production systems
Threat type: EXTERNAL, INTERNAL, MANAGEMENT
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Applying HACCP to Biosecurity
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP): Five Preliminary Steps
1. Bring together your HACCP resources / team
2. Describe the production method / system
3. Identify the intended use
4. Develop a process flow diagram -- Verify the diagram
5. Meet the requirements for Sanitation Standard
Operating Procedures (SSOP) & the Good
Management/Production Practices (GMP/GPP)
standards.
*These are the first line hurdles to protect animals from disease
(Note: Cross contamination is a key question in developing the SSOP.)
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Applying HACCP to Biosecurity
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP): Seven Specific Steps
1. Identify potential biological hazards (BH)
- ranked / rated by significance to operation
2. Identify critical control points (CCP)
- evaluate basis / evidence for CCP
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Establish critical limits for CCPs
Establish CCP monitor procedure
Establish corrective actions
Establish record keeping procedure
Establish verification procedures
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Conducting a Hazard Analysis:
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Assure SSOP/GMP are in place
Review product production & use
Evaluate all ingredients
Evaluate BH potential for each step
Could BH reach product or magnify
Could process cause BH contamination
Are hazards addressed by SSOP/GMP
Describe and identify each BH
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Conducting a Hazard Analysis:
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Assess significance based on Scientific
&Technical information
Observe the actual operating practices
Be sure it is the usual process or practice
Evaluate everything for possible cross
contamination
Review past BH contamination incidents
Occurrence likelihood & severity of each BH
Can the process “build in” preventive
measures?
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Critical Control Points
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
Steps to Identify CCPs
Q1: Do preventive measures exist for BH? …
if yes go to Q2, if no, is required of safety
if no = not CCP, if yes modify process
Q2: Does this step reduce/control/eliminate (PRCE)
the likely occurrence of BH to an acceptable
level?
if yes = CCP, if no go to Q3
Q3: Could unacceptable BH contamination occur?
if yes go to Q4, if no = not CCP = stop
Q4: Will subsequent step eliminate the BH?
if yes = not CCP, if no = CCP
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Establish CCP Critical Limits (CL)
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• "The maximum or minimum value that must be
controlled for each BCP hazard at each CCP.“
… Biosecurity focuses on BH
• CL may be regulated by USDA-APHIS and/or
important to the operation
• Different situations may require different CL
• Document/file the CL for each BCP hazard
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Establish CCP Monitoring Procedures
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• Establish the “Who - What - When – How” for
each monitoring procedure. There should be
a planned sequence of observations /
measurements.
• Clearly identify people responsible of
monitoring and train the people doing the
monitoring why what they are monitoring is
important, How to monitor and what to do if
something goes wrong or is outside the CL
established.
• Train them how to document what they
monitor and have them sign all records.
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Establish Corrective Procedures (CP)
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• Train people to know corrective
procedures at each CCP. They need to
be critical evaluators of how
contamination is most likely to occur.
Procedures should be worked out in
advance for correcting the cause of
"non-compliance" to prevent recurrence
at a CCP and establish a method for
demonstrating the CCP is again under
control .
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Establish Record Keeping Procedures
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• Review current records and determine
which ones adequately address CCPs.
• Develop records/forms for identified
CCPs and for corrective actions.
• Identify and train people to work with
records.
• Documents should be dated and signed.
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Establish Verification Procedures
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• Verification, a double check, must be
ongoing and is in addition to monitoring
activities
• Establish a method for verifying CCP
control/monitoring and establish the
frequency for which the CCP
control/monitoring is verified
• Document verification procedures, date
& sign
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Validate the HACCP Plan
Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points (HACCP):
• "Validation is the scientific & technical
basis for CCP determination & CL
identified and which control hazards."
Validation should include a third party
review and should be done regularly (yearly?).
• Validation should reassess potential new
hazards.
• Evaluate all production steps, suppliers,
equipment use and maintenance, isolation
procedures, traffic control and sanitation.
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Secret to HACCP
Justify
Activity

Outcome
Targets
Verify
Monitor
… PRCE …
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Biosecurity Plan: Part 2
“RITS”
• Resistance, Isolation, Traffic Control, & Sanitation.
» ??? Evidence Based ???
– Maximize resistance
• (General  Specific
– Isolate from outside and within
– Control exposure & potential spread
– Clean, Clean & Clean
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Risk Management - PRCE
• Prevent, Reduce, Control, Eliminate
– Resistance … General  Specific
– SOURCE, EXPOSURE … Additions …
– Isolate, test, monitor, re-test …
– Traffic Control …
– Sanitation …
• Justify  Verify  Monitor
– Is there evidence for control?
– Is it getting done?
– Is it working? (surveillance testing)
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Resistance
• Resistance refers to the animal’s disease
defense (immune system) mechanisms
having the ability to not become infected if
exposed.
• The most important first step is proper
nutrition and minimizing stress
(environmental, handling, etc).
• Also important is proper selection and use of
vaccines …
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Isolation
• Isolation refers to the prevention of contact between
animals within a controlled environment.
• The most important first step in disease control is to
minimize commingling and movement of cattle.
• This includes all new purchases as well as
commingling between established groups of cattle.
• Even in operations that have high cattle turn over
such as feedlots, keeping feeding groups from
mixing is an import biosecurity measure.
• Isolate feedlot hospital cattle and returned them to
their home pen as soon as possible…
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Isolation
• …. Long acting therapies have improved our ability
to minimize movement of infectious organisms
between groups.
• An important biosecurity action on ranches is to
separate cattle by age and/or production groups.
• Facilities should be cleaned-up and disinfected
appropriately between groups.
• Visit with your veterinarian about specific isolation
management procedures and how they can be
applied to control targeted diseases.
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Traffic Control
• Traffic Control includes traffic onto your operation
and traffic patterns within your operation.
• It is important to understand traffic includes more
than vehicles.
• All animals and people must be considered.
• Animals other than cattle include dogs, cats, horses,
wildlife, rodents, and birds.
• The degree of control will be dictated by the biology
and ecology of the infectious organism being
addressed and the control must be equally applied.
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Traffic Control
• Stopping a pot from driving on to your operation
as a biosecurity measure for controlling BVD may
not be beneficial since the virus is spread from
animal to animal.
• Purchasing cattle from herds that have a verifiable
quality vaccination program would be more
important in maximizing biosecurity.
• However, it would be important for the pot to have
been adequately cleaned before hauling the
cattle.
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Traffic Control
• Traffic control can be built into the facilities
design. An example would be placing cattle
loading facilities on the perimeter of the
operation.
• Traffic control within the operation should be
designed to stop or minimize contamination
of cattle, feed, feeding handling equipment
and equipment used on cattle.
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Traffic Control
• Pit silos should not be accessible from nonfeed handling equipment such as loaders
used outside the feeding area or vehicles that
travel outside the feed mixing and handling
facility.
• No one (manager, nutritionist, veterinarian,
banker … no one) should be allowed to drive
onto the surface of a trench silo.
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Traffic Control
• The only equipment allowed should be the
loader used for handling the feedstuff.
• In large pits it may be acceptable to allow
feed trucks to enter provided they are loaded
at least 100 feet away from the working face
of the stored feed.
• If possible, separate equipment should be
used for handling feedstuffs and manure.
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Traffic Control
• Vehicles and employees should not travel
from the dead cattle area without cleaning
and disinfecting.
• The dead animal removal area should be
placed in a location that allows rendering
trucks access without cross-contaminating
healthy cattle.
• Vehicle cleaning areas are becoming more
common in commercial feedlots.
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Traffic Control
• Unfortunately they are frequently only used
for trucks and heavy equipment.
• Management should consider extending a decontamination policy to other vehicles
(especially tires, etc) that are used across
biosecurity control areas on the operation.
• Ask your biosecurity resource team to help
you evaluate traffic control on your operation.
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Sanitation
• Sanitation addresses the disinfection of materials,
people and equipment entering the operation and
the cleanliness of the people and equipment on the
operation.
• The first objective of sanitation is to prevent fecal
contaminates from entering the oral cavity of cattle
(fecal – oral cross contamination).
• Equipment used which may contact cattle’s oral
cavity or cattle feed should be a special target.
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Sanitation
• The first objective in sanitation is to remove organic
matter, especially feces. Blood, saliva, and urine
from sick or dead cattle should also be targeted.
• All equipment that handles feed or is introduced into
the mouth of cattle should be cleaned, including
disinfection as appropriate, before use.
• Loaders used for manure or dead cattle handling
must be cleaned thoroughly before use with
feedstuff.
• It would be best if different equipment could be used.
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Sanitation
• Minimize the use of oral equipment and
instruments such as balling guns, drench
equipment, and tubes.
• If used at processing and treatment thoroughly
clean and disinfected between animals.
• Store cleaned equipment in clean, dry areas.
• Avoid storage in tanks or containers containing
disinfectants.
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Sanitation … Disinfectants
• Selection and use of Disinfectants
– Understand the target pathogen
– Understand the organic load
– Understand the disinfectant properties
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Disinfectant Classification
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hypochlorites:
Iodine and ionophore disinfectants:
Chlorhexidine:
Alcohols:
Oxidizing Agents:
Phenolic disinfectants:
Quaternary Ammonium Compounds:
Aldehydes:
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Disinfectant Properties
Compound
Chlorine
0.01-5%
Iodophor
0.5-5%
Chlorhexidine
0.05-0.5%
Examples
Clorox
Tincture /
Provodine
Novalsan
Bactericidal
Good
Good
Very Good
Viricidal
V Good
Good
Envelope Viruses
Yes
Non-Envelope
Viruses
Alcohol
70-95%
All About Disinfectants
.
Oxidizing
0.2-3%
Phenol
0.2-3%
Quaternary
Ammonium 0.1-2%
Aldehyde
1-2%
VikronS
Lysol
Roccal-D
Wavicide
Good
Good
Good
Good
V Good
Very Good
Good
Good
Fair
Fair
V Good
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Bacterial Spores
Fair
Fair
Poor
Fair
F to G
Poor
Poor
Good
Fungicidal
Good
Good
Fair to Good
Fair
Fair
Good
Fair
Good
Effective in Organic
Matter
Poor
Fair
Fair
Fair
Poor
Good
Fair
Good
Inactivated
by soap
No
No &Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Effective in
Hard water
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Contact
Time (minutes)
5-30
10-30
5-10
10-30
10-30
10-30
10-30
10-600
Residual activity
Poor
Poor
Good
Fair
Poor
Poor
Fair
Fair
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Disinfectant … Virus Targets
Virus
Envelope
Virus
Envelope
Virus
Envelope
Bluetongue
No
Malignant Catarrhal
Fever
Yes
PI3
Yes
Rotavirus
No
Enteric Coronavirus
Yes
Rabies
Yes
Papillomatosis
No
Resp. Coronavirus
Yes
Herpes
Mammillitis
Yes
Leukemia
Yes
BVD
Yes
Cowpox
Pseudocowpox
Yes
Papular
Stomatitis
Yes
BRSV
Yes
Foot & Mouth
No
Vesicular
Stomatitis
Yes
IBR / IPV
Yes
Lumpy Skin
Disease
Yes
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Biosecurity-Security
Emergency Action Plan
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assessing the situation:
Is it a disease concern?
Is it a contaminate concern?
Is it an intruder concern?
NOTIFY THE PROPER PERSONNEL
IMPLEMENT QUICK RESPONSE PLAN
– SANITATION … SECURITY
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Rapid Response Plans Prioritized
for both biosecurity & security
• Levels identified for all operation personnel
• Establish a communication chain between
levels
• Each level taught “What to look for “, should
include specific observations
• Each level taught “Who to contact”, prioritized
by type of emergency
• Each level taught “How to respond”, including
specific actions by level of threat
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Rapid Response Team
• A person assigned from each operation
area
• Direct communication to the management
level
• Each team member will have a trained
backup
• Each team member will be responsible for
implementation
• Each team member will be empowered to
enforce the plan
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Rapid Response Outline
•
Assess The Situation
–
–
–
•
Is it a disease concern?
Is it a contamination concern?
Is it an intruder concern?
Notify The Proper Personnel
–
–
–
–
Rapid Response and Security Team
Operations manager – and Owner(s)
Consulting veterinarian
Consulting nutritionist
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Rapid Response Outline
Implement Quick Response Plan
– The Rapid & Security Response Team will
address the responsibilities for all other
employees.
• Secure all points of access to and from the
operation
• Keep activities and personnel movement to
a minimum to prevent further
contamination
– No cattle will leave or be accepted to the
operation until authorized by USDA-APHIS
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Rapid Response Outline
Implement Quick Response Plan
– Any cattle in transit to the operation will be
diverted to another facility
– In a case of contamination assess the
potential for incoming any feedstuffs
exposure to the contaminate
• Cancel or modify orders
• If in transit, send back to supplier or locate
an alternate delivery point
– Cancel all tours and visitors currently
scheduled – No Exceptions
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Rapid Response Outline
Implement Quick Response Plan
•
Enforce Sanitation and Traffic Control
– Strict traffic control onto and within the
operation
– Have sanitation stations at each area
throughout the operation
– Set up an Establish a sanitation area near
the only access point into the operation
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Rapid Response Outline
Implement Quick Response Plan
•
Security
– There will be at least two employees will be at
the operation at all times
– Assign one entrance and one exit will be
assigned at each operation location
– Perimeter gates will remain locked at all times
– No vehicles will enter or leave the premises
until authorized
– No visitors, other than federal and state APHIS
officials
– No cattle movement unless authorized by
federal or state officials
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Biosecurity
Checklist
Good Management Practices
for Controlling Infectious
Diseases
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Critical Management Point
Biosecurity is an important BQA!
• Biosecurity & Beef quality assurance (BQA) starts and
ends with a commitment by the manager. Unless
management is committed to improving quality &
limiting infectious pathogens, little will be accomplished–
by the nutritionist, the veterinarian, cattle buyer,
extension specialist, or anyone else. A commitment to
biosecurity plan is an important first step forward in a
march to quality. Keeping pathogens out of a herd
improves production, reduces risks to employees and
family, and lowers production costs. Review the
checklist below.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
Producers Must Ask Themselves
• I meet quality standards, including BQA
standards set for cattle by my customers.
• My cattle buyers offer quality premiums.
• I routinely qualify for these premiums.
• I understand it is more profitable to prevent
problems than to correct problems.
• I agree that doing things right the first time
is a critical part of biosecurity.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• Biosecurity requires some method of cattle
identification. Is an identification system in
place.
• Can the quality represented in my cattle
readily track and validate to others.
• Can the cattle consistently be sold with a
minimum quality related discounts.
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Critical Management Point
Sanitation
• How can you control
infectious pathogens?
–Think - Clean,
–Clean - Think!
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• Prevent manure contamination of feed and
equipment used orally.
• Clean equipment used orally between animals.
• Prevent cross contamination between healthy
and sick/dead cattle.
• Regularly evaluate the activities of processes to
assess the potential for contaminating cattle.
• If manure accidentally contaminates feed or
water, is an immediate remedy provided.
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Critical Management Point
Equipment
• Management of equipment used for
manure disposal, feeding and other
day to day work is an important part
of biosecurity.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
Different equipment to feed & clean pens.
• No one ever steps in the feed bunk.
• Manure hauling equipment is never left in
pens with different groups of animals.
• Contaminated vehicles & equipment is
always cleaned before use around healthy
cattle.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• Feeding equipment is routinely cleaned
and disinfected.
• Cattle handling equipment is routinely
cleaned and disinfected between groups.
• Manure handling equipment is routinely
cleaned and disinfected.
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Critical Management Point
Biocontainment
• Biocontainment involves control
of enteric (intestinal),
reproductive, and respiratory
pathogens within each segment
of a herd.
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Good Management Practices
• Facilities provide a clean area for restraint,
treatment and isolation.
• Facilities prevent cross contamination of
water, manure, feed, or equipment
between groups.
• Plan to manage group size, age
distribution, and animal flow to reduce risk
of disease.
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Good Management Practices
• Handle highest health status animals first
– (young calves, then older & sick last).
• Everyone uses strict sanitation practices
• All animals that die are properly examined.
• All abortions are investigated.
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Good Management Practices
• Visitors observe strict sanitation
practices.
• Vehicles and equipment are cleaned of
contamination before use around
healthy cattle.
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Critical Management Point
Keeping infectious diseases off an
operation
• For many producers maintaining a
closed herd can be difficult. Use
this checklist to guide discussions
on how to keep infectious diseases
off an operation.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• General Control Practices,
• Introducing new arrivals,
• Isolation–My facilities:
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General Control Practices
• Are cattle purchased from or for others.
• Veterinarians of seller & buy talk prior to
purchase.
• Do cattle use community pastures, or are
placed in performance evaluation centers.
• Do cattle share fence lines with neighbor’s
cattle.
• Are bulls purchased, or borrowed from other
farms.
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General Control Practices
• Are cattle purchased from Johne’s certified
free farm considered.
• Is the health status of animals brought into
an operation known.
• Are cattle purchased without knowing their
vaccination history.
• Are cattle purchased from a source that has
mixed origins.
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General Control Practices
• Limit purchases to open heifers.
• Transport cattle in clean vehicles.
• Is the biosecurity, vaccination, and testing
program for herd(s) known for replacement
cattle.
• Are new arrivals quarantined before
allowing them contact the operation’s cattle
… How long should it be???
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Quarantined area designed to:
• Prevent quarantined animals from sharing
air space with healthy animals.
• Prevent quarantined animals from
touching herd’s cattle.
• Prevent sharing of feeders, waterers, etc.
• Allow care for quarantined animal’s
without cross contaminating other cattle.
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Quarantined area designed to:
• Controlling farm traffic.
• Limit people’s access to cattle pens, feeding
mixing and storage area, and treatment area.
• Have a control program for outside animals
which could spread disease (rodents, etc.).
• Loading area is located at the perimeter
• Dead animal pickup is located so that
contamination is prevented.
• A “Visitor Record” is kept
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Critical Management Point
Calf management –
a special part of biosecurity
• Replacement heifers commonly
come from within the herd but
may come from other herds.
Proper care helps contain
diseases.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• A strategic vaccination and parasite
control plan is in place of all cows.
• Replacement cattle are kept off
pastures where manure has been
spread for six months.
• Replacement cattle are kept separate
from other cattle for at least six months
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• Replacement cattle have a separate
source of water.
• A veterinarian is annually consulted about
calf care.
• Employees are trained …
• The calving area is clean & disinfected.
• All calves are fed colostrum from cows
that have been tested clean of infectious
diseases.
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Good Management Practices Checklist
• Navel’s are routinely dipped at birth
with strong iodine ???
• Calves are permanently identified
prior to any grouping.
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Critical Management Point
Use vaccines strategically
• The cost of many infectious
diseases in cattle can be effectively
reduced by strategic vaccinations.
• Vaccines do not always prevent
disease; however, they may modify
the severity of diseases.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Good Management Practices Checklist
• Have a written strategic vaccination plan
drawn up for each operation. If YES
• Have a list of diseases for which
vaccines are routinely used.
• Have determined which animals benefit
from vaccinations.
• Know when cattle need the protection of
vaccinations.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Good Management Practices Checklist
• Protect against abortion by using a
prebreeding vaccination program
– (Lepto, IBR, BVD).
• Try to remove carriers of BVD as their
presence can be the source for my other
cattle.
• Have animals that die unexpectedly
examined by my veterinarian (necropsy).
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Good Management Practices Checklist
• Modified live vaccine are used when
appropriate or necessary.
• All incoming cattle are vaccinated for
IBR, BVD, PI3, BRSV and lepto on
twice prior to arrival.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Critical Management Point
Biosecurity includes testing
• Testing measures effectiveness at keeping
diseases (BVD and BLV) out of a herd,
and testing identifies the incidence of
those diseases with a long incubation
interval (Johne’s).
• Permanent identification and testing are
the foundation of strategic culling.
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Johne’s (M. paratuberculosis)
• Animals can carry Johne’s organism for
months or years without showing outward
or clinical signs. Meanwhile animals with
Johne’s disease reduce your herd’s
production and expose other animals in the
herd. Johne’s can be spread by manure,
umbilical cord, milk, or other animal-toanimal contact.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Johne’s (M. paratuberculosis)
• A testing program for Johne’s disease
should incorporate the following:
– Whole herd is screened using an antibody
ELISA test (measures antibody in blood).
– Whole herd is tested using a fecal culture.
– Animals testing positive are culled. (Johne’s
is reportable disease in many states.)
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Johne’s (M. paratuberculosis)
• Replacement heifers are tested prior to
introduction to the herd.
• Calves from cows testing positive are
removed to a feedlot.
• Have implemented a follow-up Johne’s
testing program & reviewed the results.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
BOVINE LEUKOSIS
• Testing purchased animals during quarantine
is very important, especially for viral
diseases.
• Are needles used on more than one animal?
• Are sleeves discarded between animals?
• Are cows which provide colostrum for calves
tested for bovine leukosis?
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Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)
• Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is a viral
disease of cattle of any age.
• BVD is primarily a reproductive disease.
• Clinical signs can vary from pneumonia to
abortions, stunted calves, stillbirths, weak
calves, and full blown disease with a watery
diarrhea that leads to death.
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Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)
• Understand “persistently infected” (PI)
animals as they relate to BVD.
• Not be willing to live with one or more PI
calves in a herd.
• Not be willing to keep a PI calf as a
replacement heifer.
• Commit to finding BVD PI cattle in the herd
(Immuno-histo-Chemestry / immunoperoxide)
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Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)
• Discuss killed versus modified live
virus MLV vaccines for BVD.
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Salmonella
(Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella dublin)
• Salmonella has many strains that
infect cattle.
• Testing can isolate carrier
animals & guide decisions that
affect your profit.
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Salmonella
• Awareness that some salmonella
organisms cause disease in humans.
• Blood test cows and replacement heifers
for salmonella yearly and cull carrier cows?
• Isolate sick cattle in hospital area & review
approach to therapy.
• Provide dry, clean, disinfected calf &
maternity pens.
• Test purchased feed for salmonella.
University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center
Salmonella
• Restrict birds and rodents from access to an
operation’s animal feed.
• Limit the number of cats and stray animals
on an operation.
• Do not allow rendering trucks to access feed
or animal areas.
• Realize that family & employees can be
infected with salmonella from an operation’s
animals.
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Neospora caninus
• Neospora caninus is a protozoal parasite
that is associated with abortion in cattle.
Herd testing may be useful.
• Awareness that abortions may be caused
by Neospora infection.
• Understand how Neospora infection is
transmitted.
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Neospora caninus
• Replacements are tested prior to
introduction to the herd.
• Embryo recipients are candidates for
testing.
• Infection with Neospora can influence milk
production.
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Questions
and / or
Comments
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