Alpharma

ISSUE #3

News from the Field

DATELINE : DAIRY

Prevention is Lesson One

FAST FACTS

Respiratory and intestinal disease now account for 25% and 17%, respectively, of death loss in cattle
Low-level respiratory disease or coccidiosis can seriously compromise production potential
Being proactive with disease management helps reduce stress and maximize performance

If experience is, indeed, the best teacher, then lifelong dairyman John Gilliland knows a thing or two.

Gilliland, operations manager for 9,000-acre McArthur Farms in Okeechobee, Florida, was born on a dairy farm and has been working on one ever since. The experience-fueled innovations that he and his staff have instituted have helped make it one of the largest - at 8,500 head, housed in four barn complexes - and one of the most successful operations in the country.

Gilliland says that one of the biggest lessons he’s learned in his experiences over the years - sometimes the hard way - is that prevention of health problems in dairy cattle is far preferable to treatment.

For Gilliland and the rest of the staff at McArthur, prevention starts the moment a calf hits the ground. "They’re immediately picked up and fed 3 quarts of colostrum. That’s key to how well they’ll do the rest of their lives," he says.

Next comes hospital milk collected from sick cows at the four barn complexes. It’s pasteurized and then fed to the newborn calves to give an added boost to the calves’ immune systems.

At about a week of age, they add a protein pellet/corn mix to their diets. Aside from the protein, it contains a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals, as well as the anticoccidial Bovatec® (lasalocid).

Gilliland sees the early addition of the anticoccidial as vital to the success of their operation. "We’re working hard to get their immune systems built up - to get them ready for the challenges they’ll be dealing with when we move them into the group pens," he says. "And the anticoccidial is essential. We couldn’t operate without it."

THE CASE OF THE MISSING BOVATEC

McArthur Farms knows about the cost of preventing coccidiosis versus having to treat it. Several years ago, someone involved in preparing McArthur’s calf feed mistakenly omitted the anticoccidial Bovatec from a large batch of the mix.

"We started seeing coccidiosis breaks and we didn’t know why," says John Gilliland, dairy operations manager. He later had the feed analyzed and discovered that the anticoccidial Bovatec had been left out and another drug substituted.

"We had about 500 calves that we had to treat because they went clinical," he says. "And when that happened it cost us probably as much to treat and cull those calves as we would have spent all year in adding the Bovatec to their feed."

Gilliland says the experience further reinforced his belief that taking prevention seriously is far preferable to dealing with the uncertainties and costs of treatment.
Gilliland: 'Started seeing coccidiosis breaks'

Gilliland: 'Started seeing coccidiosis breaks'

At 8 weeks the calves get that challenge. Sorted by size and genetic factors into groups of 15, they are moved from their individual hutches into 40 foot x 40 foot pens that, even with state-of-the-art drainage systems, are loaded with coccidial oocysts, or eggs, which are shed through manure and re-ingested by the herd.

‘We’re working hard to get their immune systems built up - to get them ready for the challenges they’ll be dealing with...’

"These pens are about 12 years old now," says Gilliland, looking over the yard. "Thousands of calves have been through these lots during that time, so the concentration of coccidia in here is really, really high. We know that as soon as the calves start eating grass they’re going to be picking it up, so we’ve got to prepare them to deal with it."

Introducing forage

Besides continuing to be fed the pellet/corn mix with Bovatec, the calves are also gradually introduced to forage, in the form of hay. It takes about 2 months to transition the calves over to a ruminant diet that includes significant amounts of forage.

Another component of the health program is AS-700® (chlortetracycline and sulfamethazine), an antibiotic combination for respiratory disease.

Losses from such problems can be staggering. A May 2006 report from USDA showed that respiratory diseases now account for more than a quarter of all non-predator deaths among cattle herds. Intestinal problems, including coccidiosis, account for about 17% of deaths.

But Gilliland is quick to point out that even if an animal recovers from a bout of coccidiosis and/or respiratory disease, the damage it sustains during a break can seriously compromise its production potential for the rest of its life. In addition, some experts think that even subclinical coccidiosis and respiratory disease can take a toll on rate of gain and long-term milking potential.

Over the next 2 months - as the calves progress to becoming full ruminants - they are moved to successively larger pens, with higher numbers of animals per pen, and kept on Bovatec as well as other vitamins and minerals.

Spotting problems early

They’re also closely monitored by pen riders who check on them several times a day to try to spot any health problems early. "If you miss a sick calf the first day, it becomes harder the second day to treat that calf and get them over their illness," the dairyman insists.

Calves who isolated themselves from other animals are one tip-off, Gilliland says. Another is lack of enthusiasm when the feed wagon comes around. "Pen riding is as much an art as a science," Gilliland says. "There are very few people who are really good at it, spotting sick calves early. So it really helps to have these feed additives in there to keep the calves healthy. That way we have fewer problems we have to catch."

Vaccines against salmonella and other potential pathogens are also administered during this time.

TUNNEL VENTILATION HELPS BOOST PRODUCTION

It’s no secret that good things sometimes come out of difficult circumstances.

That may have been the case at McArthur Farms after hurricanes swept across southern Florida a couple of years ago, heavily damaging several of their large free-stall barns and forcing major repairs.

John Gilliland and the owners of McArthur Farms decided it was a good time to give a relatively new technology a try. It’s called "tunnel ventilation." The concept is simple: fully enclose the sides of the barn and leave one end open; at the other end install a wall containing several dozen 4-foot diameter fans.

The results are dramatic - a veritable gale of air being pulled into and through the barn, keeping temperatures comfortable and insects away.

So far, McArthur has installed tunnel ventilation in 4 of its 10 barns. That work was completed about a year ago. But modification of the remaining barns might not be far behind.

Gilliland says that in the 4 herds using the tunnel ventilation barns, milk production is up about 7 pounds per head.

One other preventive agent that’s administered - this one at about 3 months, once the young heifers are out in larger pastures - is Aureomycin® (chlortetracycline) at 350 mg/day per head. That’s added to the Bovatec regimen all the way up until 3 weeks before calving, then discontinued.

"With all the changes in weather down here - it can get awfully hot, but also pretty cold, and a lot of rain, too, in the summer - having the Aureomycin in there really helps. We hardly ever have to come out here and get a sick calf. It really aids a lot in prevention."

‘You’ve got to do your part to reduce all the challenges. And that includes cutting down on the stress of moving as much as you can’

The Aureomycin-Bovatec combination is also a big help in growing replacement heifers, helping McArthur keep them disease-free and growing at their full potential. "It increases your feed efficiency and so your weight gain is better," Gilliland says. "When the heifers reach 65 percent of their mature body weight they’re ready to breed, so the sooner you can get them there, the sooner you can breed them."

Also, he points out that it’s a big help being able to administer the antibiotic in the feed, rather than having to deal with needles and injections. "A lot of labor’s involved in doing that, so being able to avoid it is an important advantage," he adds.

Even with all the effective additives and highly nutritious feeds available today, Gilliland says, it takes a multi-tasking approach to keep a large herd like McArthur’s on a healthy and productive track.

"You’ve got to do your part to reduce all the challenges. And that includes cutting down on the stress of moving as much as you can, making sure they have good clean water, shade in the hot months and protection from the cold weather." It’s also important to ensure vaccinations are timely, he points out.

"It’s all important. You can’t just rely on one thing."