Berks holds dairy herd health school
BY ROBIN PHILLIPS
Staff Correspondent
LEESPORT Seven
veterinarians teamed up last week
to conduct the first Herd Health
School in Berks County at the
Agricultural Center at Leesport.
To the 55 dairymen attending the
two-day program, their repeated
message was: “Work out a herd
health program for your own farm
and get it done right.”
Dr. Harry Hutchinson, PSU
extension veterinarian, began the
program with “the economics and
importance of health care.” “Base
your costs on a per cow basis,” he
told dairymen in considering the
costs of a health care program. He
listed several practices that belong
in every herd that can directly
bring a dairymen extra returns.
The include:
1. Worm pastured heifers, at
least twice a year.
2. Vaccinate everything for IBR,
PIS, and Lepto at least once
yearly.
3. Give calves three quarts of
colostrum at birth (Holstein).
4. your somatic cell count
under 300,000.
5. Have your veterinarian
examine every cow after calving.
6. Trim feet.
7. Review records.
He went on to discuss the most
serious herd health problems and
the health records a farmer should
be keeping. “Try to consider what
you can do to prevent diseases,”
Hutchinson stressed. “They cost us
a lot of money,” he continued.
Hutchinson advised dairymen to
keep individual health cards for
each cow in the herd. Work sheets,
heat expectancy charts, breeding
charts, DHIA records, and
mastitis records can all be utilized
to save hundreds of dollars each
year in a herd. Hutchinson also
stressed getting a proper diagnosis
on a problem before wasting
dollars on the wrong treatment.
Emphasizing the same prac
tises, Dr. Lynn Sammons, Willow
Creek Animal Hospital said, “don’t
use drugs to bail you out. We
should be preventing disease
conditions.” Sammons spoke on
the “Dairy Herd Health Cabinet ”
Dust-free, dry cabinets, which
will not freeze or overheat the
drugs, should be used. Treatment
records and proper identification
of treated animals should be
strictly maintained. Sammons also
reported on the recent FDA
agreement to permit veterinarians
to continue to use the drugs needed
to maintain the health of your
livestock only if a client-doctor
relationship is maintained
throughout the treatment period.
Dairymen will face stiff fines and a
possible jail term if these
guidelines are not followed
Prescription drugs MUST be used
with the veterinarian’s knowledge
and approval. This recent
tightening of the rules came about
because of the increasing residues
found in meat, milk, and eggs.
According to Sammons
chloroamphemcol and spec
tinomycm are the two "biggies”
that the government is clamping
down on.
Dr Dennis Hoshall, Oley,
discussed proper calf and heifer
management. For the calf he
stressed seeing that it gets the
right amount "f colostrum,
adequate nutrition, and proper
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housing. “It’s just so important it
makes all the other calf proolems
easy,” he stated concerning proper
calf management.
“Let your veterinarian know
what you’ve been using,” Dr.
William Francisco, R 1 Barto,
advised on his discussion of vac
cines and drugs. He stated that an
advantage to using vaccines is that
there is no withholding time for
milk. He also stated, “it doesn’t
mean that you won’t have
problems but it will give you an
edge.”
The second day of the program
was enhanced by the demon
stration on foot care by Dr. Dave
Nirschl, Willow Creek Animal
Hartman, Scattered Acres, discussed their health programs
at Berks school.
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Hospital. Using actual feet ob
tained from a butcher shop, Nir
schl explained proper foot care and
abnormalities.
His general recomendations
included;
1. Check a lame cow as soon as
noticed.
2. Don’t try to pull up a cow’s
hind leg when heavy with calf.
3. Have head and neck of cow
well restrained, not with a nose
lead, but a rope halter or in a
stanchion.
4. Place the cow in an area
where there is good footing.
5. Have good lighting available.
6. Keep tools sharp, (hoof
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Vets participating in Berks dairy herd health school in
clude, from the left, Drs. Dennis Hoshall, Oley; Larry Hut
chinson, Penn State; Mark DeWitte, Shillington; and Lynn
Sammons, Willow Creek Animal Hospital, Leesport.
tail files).
Dr. Mark Dewitte, Shilhngton,
discussed mastitis and various
treatments and preventions.
“Treatment of chronic mastitis is
most effective at drying off,” he
stated. He stressed protection of
the teat canal and the following
preventative measures:
1. Prevent physical injury to the
teat end.
2. Guard against chapping,
sunburn, and freezing.
3. Use only approved teat dips,
4. Have milking machines in
good operating condition. Use
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procedures. Do not overmilk.
A panel discussion was also
included in the session. Fred Bohn,
Swatara Dairy, and Dean Hart
men, Scattered Acres, were the
dairymen on the panel along with
the veterinarians, Drs. Dewitte,
Hutchinson, and Nirschl.
Dairymen were encouraged to ask
"questions you always wanted to
ask your vet but didn’t want to be
charged for.”
The school was sponsored by the
Berks County Extension which
also provided notebooks and copies
of each session for the par
ticipants.
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