Berks Co,
LEESPORT The Berks
County Cattlemen’s Association
recently hosted a tour to three
Chester County beef operations.
The trip also featured an informa
tive stop at the University of Pen
nsylvania’s veterinary school
facility, New Bolton Center.
A group of thirty cattle produc
ers, accompanied by Berks County
Extension Agent Clyde Myers
Toil N' Trouble, Drug
Issue Continues To Bubble
The antibiotic issue continues to
bubble and boil. The Food and
Drug Administration, after a foiled
attempt in 1977, wants to ban peni
cillin and tetracyclines in animal
feeds again. And now Pennsylva
nia Farmer reports a proposed bill
in the Senate that would not only
exclude feed-grade penicillin and
tetracycline, but limit the use of
oral and injectable tetracyclines as
well.
Do feed-grade antibiotics affect
human health? And if we eliminate
some of the drugs used in swine
feed, how will that affect your
operation?
A lot of knowledgeable people
are convinced that feeding drugs to
livestock endangers our health.
The scenario they fear is that ani
mal bacteria can become resistant
to antibiotics and transfer their
resistance to human bacteria,
which may not respond to treat
ment if humans get infected.
Some evidence to support this
theory came in 1984 when the
Center for Disease Control pub
lished a study linking a Midwest
cattle feedlot and salmonella poi
soning in people. The salmonella
were resistant to several antibiotics
and the researchers concluded this
resistance was associated with
feeding tetracycline to the feedlot
cattle. The authors never found the
conclusive evidence they wanted
a sample of hamburger with
same bacterial strain as that found
in the patients.
But more evidence came in
March of this year when the CDC
released another study.
Like the previous study, patients
were infected with salmonella.
And again, hamburger was the sus
pected source. But this time, the
researchers had samples of beef
contaminated with salmonella that
matched the strain in the people.
Worse, the salmonella was resis
tant to chloramphenicol one of
the primary drugs used to fight sal
monella in human medicine,
although not legal in livestock.
Again, the researchers linked
this resistance to the use of antibio
tics in the cattle.
Salmonella contamination in
meat is nothing, new. Although
Cattlemen Tour Chester Co. Beef Operations
who helped to organize the field
trip, participated in this annual
event. The first stop of the day was
Devereux Soleil Farm, located
near Devon. Recognized national
ly as an expert in the production of
beef cattle, farm manager Conrad
Grove discussed the farm opera
tion and announced its phasing-out
program the result of the Deve
reux Foundation’s shift away from
contamination seems to occur
more often in poultry, the livestock
industry needs to strive to keep it to
a minimum. Common sense tells
us that meat-borne salmonella poi
soning can be easily eliminated
with proper cooking. Unfortunate
ly common sense doesn’t always
prevail when congress is respond
ing to consumer pressure.
What would happen to swine
performance if we lost the use of a
few antibiotics?
The University of Kentucky
posed a similar question 15 years
ago for their two swine research
herds but they look the question
a step further. In one herd they
stopped using all antibiotics in
1972. In the second operation,
feed-grade antibiotics continue to
be used in all phases of production
and injectables are used as needed.
Since that time, researchers have
been monitoring antibiotic resis
tance patterns and herd
performance.
In the drug-free herd, concep
tion rate currently averages about
83 percent. Prior to the drug with
drawals, conception rate averaged
over 91 percent. Before pulling out
the antibiotics, number bom live
was 9.8. Now it’s down to 9.3.
Prior to 1972, number weaned
averaged 8.8. Since then it’s aver
aged 7.5.
' Compared to the herd where
antibiotics are used routinely, pigs
in the drug-free herd have a greater
incidence of joint problems and
skin lesions, a major diarrhea
problem has arisen and each crop
of pigs has a higher percentage of
“poor-doers.”
On the positive side, E. coh bac
teria isolated from the feces in the
drug-free herd arc less resistant to
tetracycline than they were 15
years ago. Currently, less than 30
percent of the fecal cohforms arc
tetracycline resistant compared to
more than 80 percent m 1972.
There arc some puzzling things
about the resistance patterns in the
drug-free herd For example, bac
teria from pigs raised on concrete
are more resistant to antibiotics
than bacteria from pigs raised on
pasture. Bacteria from younger
pigs arc more resistant than baclcr-
agriculture.
Grove shared with the group his
philosophy on raising economical
beef cattle, and noted the Pin-
Pointer feeding system which
allowed him to scientifically moni
tor cattle feed conversion for the
past fifteen years. This tool allow
ed him to select the most efficient
breeding stock which were used as
the foundation of the farm’s
purebred Angus herd.
Dr. Colin Johnstone, of New
Bolton Center, described the oper
ations of this large animal hospital
and veterinary training center to
the Berks cattlemen. While the
majority of work done at the Cen
ter is focused on the equine indus
try, Dr. Johnstone noted a trend to
exam more “food animal” clients.
Because of the expense of treat
ment at the Center, generally only
those animals that are of great val
ue as breeding stock are seen by
the veterinary specialists on staff at
New Bolton Center.
Dr. Jim Evans and partner Greg
Krueger of Genetics Unlimited
hosted the Berks Cattlemen at their
nationally-recognized Angus
farm. The home of numerous
ia from older pigs. And trucking
pigs 200 miles nearly doubles the
antibiotic resistance of their fecal
coliforms resistance that takes
several weeks to return to normal.
And again, all these differences
were found in the drug-free herd.
In the antibiotic herd, more than
90 percent of the fecal coliforms
are resistant to tetracycline. But
the researchers continue to use the
drug and it continues to work. In
the last series of trials, tetracycline
increased gains by 20 percent and
improved feed conversion by 9
percent for early weaned pigs.
So if we stopped antibiotics
swine producers could still raise
pigs, but costs of production
almost certainly would go up.
But the real question congress
men have is, if we restricted the use
of antibiotics would the consum
ing public be at less risk?
• Victor Lorian says no. He is a
microbiologist from the Bronx
Lebanon Hospital in New York.
He and an associate looked at
resistance patterns of nearly 10
million strains of bacteria isolated
over a 12-year period. Lorian con
cluded: 1.) bacterial resistance is
not increasing, if anything it is
decreasing, and 2.) resistance of
bacteria in people is related to our
use of antibiotics in human medi
cine, not in the livestock industry.
• John Walton from the Univer
sity of Liverpool in England says
no. In England, restrictions there
on both therapeutic and subthera
peutic antibiotics have not
changed the resistance patterns of
bacteria.
Unfortunately, the FDA has for
at least 10 years felt that feeding
antibiotics to livestock does, in
some way, put consumers at risk.
With the recent studies at their dis
posal, and with the uproar over
poultry contamination, restrictions
are almost certain to come.
What should you do in the
meantime 9
Follow directions and keep
good records. These practices arc a
must for the industry and they’re
essential for keepmg you out of
trouble.
Secondly, use discretion when
considering the use of antibiotics
in the finishing period At that
point they may not pay, and the
consumer would prefer you leave
them in die bag
champions, Genetics Unlimited
specializes in the production of
purebred Angus cattle through the
implementation of modem tech
nology. The rolling pastures at this
Chester County farm are dotted
with Hosltein cows with black
calves running at side the end
result of an intensive embryo
transfer program.
After an informative discussion
by Greg Kreuger on the farm’s
show cattle which were escaping
the nearly 100 degree temperatures
in a bam equipped with a water
mister to keep them cool, Dr.
Evans provided an enlightening
lesson on embryo transfer tech
niques and the applicability of this
technology to various cattle opera
tion. He explained that the cost of
this tool has decreased slightly in
recent years because of the deve
lopment of nonsurgical methods.
He suggested that soon cattlemen
will be calling for frozen embryos
the same way they now call for fro
zen semen to artificially breed
cattle.
A demonstration of warm sea
son grasses and intensive pasture
Pork Producers Join
Complaint Against EEC
DES MOINES, lOWA The
National Pork Producers Council
joined with other members of the
Meat Industry Trade Policy Coun
cil today in filing a formal unfair
trade practice complaint (section
301) against the European Eco
nomic Community (EEC). The
complaint charges that the so
called “Third Country Directive,”
which the EEC has been threaten
ing to put into effect, is actually on
artificial attempt to limit U.S. meat
imports to EEC countries.
Under the proposed Directive,
only seven slaughter plants and
three cutting plants of ,the 400
plants inspected in' the United
States would be able to send meat
products into EEC countries.
Other plants would be expected to
make costly changes in facilities
and procedures. Another 59
slaughter plants are approved only
until December 31 and must be
reinspected by EEC reviewers.
USDA currently accepts meat
imports from some 250 European
plants.
The requirements the EEC
would impose on U.S. meat pack
ing plants under the Directive arc
different than those applied to
LIVESTOCK
L
management was the focus of the
final stop on the tour. With the
assistance of Soil Conservation
Service’s Tim Smail, beef farmer
Woody Zook explained how he
reduced feed costs and stretched
his grazing season by incorporat
ing rotational grazing into his pas
ture management system. High
tensile fencing and spring-fed
watering troughs allows Zook to
make maximum use of this eco
nomical program. Zook said he
lets the cattle do the work of
harvesting their feed, which saves
time and fuel. He uses portable
fencing to divide small sections of
pasture which are grazed by his
herd of Angus cattle for two-day
periods. This system allows the
pasture grasses to regrow during
their “resting” period and provides
lush pasture during hot summer
months when traditional cool
season grasses slop growing.
Berks Cattlemen's president
Ken Rarick and publicity chair
man, Sheila Miller, assisted in
organizing the field trip, along
with Chester County Extension
Agent Cheryl Fairbaim.
meat packing facilities processing
and shipping products between
EEC countries. Specific require
ments of the Directive include
paved parking lots, and prohibition
of wooden facilities including
knife handles, pallets and structur
al beams. The complaint states that
“no scientific evidence (exists)
that the detailed facility require
ments of the EEC Directive have
any significant health or safety
advantages when compared with
USDA’s facility requirements.”
Jim Phillips, a pork producer
from Drexel, MO, who represents
the National Pork Producers Coun
cil on export issues said, “Through
this action we are serving notice on
the EEC that we will not tolerate
imposition of a regulation of this
sort. It provides no health or safety
benefits. If it’s put in place, it
would serve solely as a blatant bar
rier to trade in meat products.”
In addition to NPPC, other
members of the Meat Industry
Trade Policy Council joining in fil
ing the unfair trade practice com
plaint are the American Meal Insti
tute, the Meat Export Federation,
the American Farm Bureau and the
National Cattleman’s Association.