Johnes; Raises More Questions (Continued from Page A 32) program and is also partUf did' research project being conducted by Penn State University and the New Bolton Center of the Univer sity of Pennsylvania. Farmers which have Johnes diagnosed in their herd can receive* indemnity money, but only if the test has been conducted by the state labs at Summerdale. The state only recognizes the results of its own test. Tests conducted by the university researchers at the New Bolton Center, although they show positive, are considered suspect until confirmed by tissue tests con ducted at the Summerdale Labs. However, two animals left Trimble’s farm before the state test results came back. He will not get indemnity for them. In addition, he will not receive indemnity money for the ones tested positive by New Bolton, unless Summerdale deter mines them Johnes positive. The researchers test farms involved with the project twice each year and visit the farm twice a year to examine management prac tices and make recommendations. Trimble does not wait until an ani mal shows the Johnes clinical signs of severe diarrhea and tre mendous weight loss before cull ing. If the New Bolton test results in a positive, Trimble sends the animal off to the slaughter house. “I don’t want the animal around to infect others. There’s no cure for Johnes, so there is no reason to hold on to the animal," said Trimble. Trimble had two cows tested in 1986 before he could get the entire herd tested. Those animals tested positive on the first test, but when Thinking About Building A New Single Story Chicken House? See Farmer Boy Ag For Details On A Complete* Turnkey System Including Buildings And Equipment the entire herd was tested a short time later, they showed negative. Trimble said this speaks more for the incidiousness of the disease than for the accuracy of the test. Manure samples are cultured for a three to four month period for the Johnes organism, however, the infected animal does not constant ly shed the organism. A test taken one day may contain the organism. The test taken three days later, althought the animal is infected, may not contain the organism. The test is accurate, but the disease is not cooperating. “Harrisburg recommends we clean-up the herd and clean up the area with a disinfectant called Environ. But you can’t disinfect and clean every inch,” declared Trimble. “Management for us has been the key. As soon as a calf is bom, I take her away from the mother before she has a chance to nurse. I don’t keep any bulls. I fell there is a fair chance that a guy can whip it.” “They (New Bolton and PSU researchers) recommend remov ing the calf from the dam immedi ately and keeping the calving area, clean. The problem is that Jersey’s don’t have calving problems. In 20 years I may have had two calving problems, so I never had to take the time to be there when a cow was calving, but now I try to get there before the calf is up and about. Before I always depended on the calf to get up and get its colostrum. I guess we should start freezing colostrum because now we need to keep colostrum.” said Trimble. Dr. Bpver some people recom mend pasteurizing colostrom because there is always some Put Your Thoughts Into Action! chance of fecal contamination. There is a synthetic colostrum which is mixed with whole milk. Baver said some of his clients have tried it and found it to be very diffi cult to mix and expensive. There is a vaccination program, but according to Baver, it is only used to take the economic bite out of the disease for dairymen. Also, the vaccination is dangerous for those adminstering it. “You must be approved to use the vaccine. And there are some veterinarians opposed to its use because it is a form of tuberculosis. Also, it is extremely dangerous for the administering veterinarians. Very dangerous. If you should inject yourself or prick your finger you should cut your finger off immediately. It is deadly,” said Dr. Baver. “We had a client with 25% of his herd infected and we vaccinated his herd. According to data the vaccine is effective in reducing the incidence or delaying the onset of clinical signs. The vaccine, however, does not totally eliminate infection. Some vaccinated animals may be normal clinically, but have infected intestines, shed the organ isms and have positive fecal cul tures. Animals must be less than 35 days old when vaccinated. Baver knows of atleast 60 dairy herds in the southern Lancsater County which have Johnes. “It is particularly bad down here in the southern end because far mers are always jockeying cattle between farms and different sales,” said Baver. “We look for it (Johnes) now. It started 10 years ago when a farmer CONTRACTS AVAILABLE PARMER BOY AG. *VC 410 EAST LINCOLN AVE. MYERSTOWN, PA 17067 PH: 717-866-7565 BEST IN DESIGN, PRICE AND EXPERIENCE with a black & white herd moved into the area. Ever since then we have been looking for it. Then it was a quarantinable disease. You practically had to fight the farmer to have an animal tested,” said Baver. More questions about the spread Promotions TOWSON, MD It’s that time of year, when Americans can once again enjoy their favorite sport. . . baseball. As the boys of summer take to the baseball diamond to do their thing, millions of fans will be watching them on television, lis tening on the radio, or heading to the stadium to see to them live. And as they do the Middle Atlantic Milk Marketing Association will be advertising “Milk. It’s Fitness You Can Drink,” on television and radio broadcasts of the games, and at the stadium. A print ad promoting the Family of Milk, whole, lowfat and skim, will run all season in the Phillies Program Book. In the ad, MAM MA Spokesman, Mike Schmidt, tells fans to, “Drink Your Milks,” referring to the Family of Milk, MAMMA has also planned a spe cial promotion day with the Phill ies on May 1 at Veterans Stadium. That day the Phillies will be taking on the Atlanta Braves. Fans 14 years and younger that come to the game will receive a baseball glove Swine & Poultry Systems Specialists Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 30, 1988-A33 Ballpark Phillies of the disease and what precau tions farmers should be taking and what restrictions regulatory agen cies should be enforcing are sur facing than answers. Next veter inarians and authorities in the ani mal health industry will address the the concerns of many dairymen about this silent killer. Milk Planned compliments of MAMMA and the Phillies. Prior to the game all the fans will be entertained by a cow milking contest between television and radio celebrities. Orioles Cal Ripken, Jr. will be promot ing whole, lowfat and skim milk to Orioles fans for MAMMA throughout the season. A full-color print ad for the three types of milk will run all season in the Orioles Program Book. MAMMA has also planned a ballpark promotion day with the Orioles on June 5, when the Orioles take on the New York Yankees. Fans 14 and under that come to the game will receive a life-size growth poster of Cal Ripken, Jr. and his younger brother Bill to hang in, their room. The growth poster has proven to be a very popular promotion item in the past for MAMMA and has excel lent long term advertising residual. An additional run of the posters is being produced for placement in school cafeterias at the start of the new school year.
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