Postmortem exams essential to
LANCASTER, Pa. - In the
first of three educational
seminars sponsored by the
Lancaster County Poultry
Association and the Penn
State Extension Service, Dr.
Robert Eckroade, director of
the Cooperative New Bolton
Center Poultry Diagnostic
Laboratory, University of
Pennsylvania Veterinary
School - Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture,
spoke on “Poultry Health
for Broilers, Layers, and
Turkeys,” He addressed an
audience of approximately
50 indue in at the Farm
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Touching on a wide range
of topics including
preventative avian
medicine, poultry post
mortem examinations, and
infectious bursal disease,
Eckroade first began his
lecture by familiarizing the
audience with the lab
facilities and objectives of
the New Bolton Center
Poultry Diagnostic
Laboratory.
The lab is tax supported
through the Pa. Department
of Agriculture and therefore,
LIVESTOCK
SERVICES
free of charge to those taking
advantage of it. But, ac
cording to Eckroade, not
enough farmers are using he
facilities available to them.
“In my opinion,” he said,
“the labs aren’t being
utilized to their fullest, and
we want to generate more
interest.”
The lab sets out to do two
basic things. First of all, it is
used for emergency
situations or for day to day
poultry disease problems in
which answers are needed
immediately.
“We can do viral, bacterial
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and mycoplasma isolation
work to look for the an
swers,” Eckroade said, but
he made it clear that
emergency work isn’t all the
lab is set up to do.
Preventative avian
medicine is another area of
poultry health which the lab
is designed to handle, and
one which Eckroade stressed
as being of key importance.
“We need to have more
routine necropsy exams
done,” he emphasized.
“And, we're not looking at
enough birds early in the
grow - out period.” Many
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poultry health
times, the lab will get the
birds, (pullets and layers
mostly) when they are 35 to
Dr. Robert Eckroade
40 weeks old, only to find that
they have a mycoplasma
infection problem. By this
age, it is too late to get the
most out of medication costs
to treat this flock - the birds
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should have been brought in
at about 20 - 24 weeks.
“That’s too bad, because
we have a free service, and if
we would do these check ups
on a routine basis, many of
the large problems wouldn’t
develop,” he pointed out. In
the case of the mycoplasma
infection, he challenged
every poultryman there, to
know the mycoplasma status
of both on - farm birds and
new pullets.
Another measure of key
importance in diagnosing
poultry disease problems is
making sure the sample
taken to the lab is a typical
example of ongoing flock
disease. This takes more
work on the part of the
producer, but saves time and
money in the long run.
“The most important thing
you can do whether you’re
coming for a routine
necropsy or because there’s
a problem and you need the
answer fast, is to bring in a
typical example of your
birds to us - selection is
paramount,” he em
phasized. Many times the lab
receives cull birds that
aren’t typical examples of
the real flock problem. When
the final diagnosis is made,
therefore, the question they
are faced with answering is,
“Is this a flock problem or an
incidental occurrence?”
Selection of birds helps to
answer this question.
Eckroade also made the
point that if a large mumber
of birds in the flock are
dying, the producer should
perform weekly or daily
(Continued on Page 32]
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