A26-Lanost»r Farming, Saturday, February 25,1989
Changes In The Pennsylvania Brucellosis
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre)
Dr. Yoxhcimcr, from the Pen
nsylvania Department of Agricul
ture, recently explained two major
changes concerning the state’s
brucellosis program. First, the
stale will no longer provide vac
cine to the veterinarians. Veterina
rians will have to buy vaccine
from pharmaceutical companies.
They will still receive $l.OO from
the state for every calf they vacci
nate. Second, the state will no lon
ger send record cards to the far
mers. Vaccination records will be
given by the veterinarian to the
farmer. The state will still keep
records of all brucellosis vaccina
tions which will include the calf's
ear tag number and the tattoo
number. It is hoped that these
changes will not discourage vacci
nating calves for brucellosis.
Brucellosis is a serious, conta
gious disease with few visible
symptoms. It can cause abortions,
retained placentas, or can lower
the conception rate in cattle.
Brucellosis can also be contagious
to man. Farmers should protect
their herd from this disease. Buy
animals from brucellosis-free
herds. Isolate any new animal
from the rest of your herd for a
period of 30 days and have it
tested for brucellosis. Calves need
to be vaccinated between the ages
of 4 to 8 months.
For economic reasons, it is
recommended that farmers con
tinue to vaccinate their calves for
brucellosis. The loss of many
calves, some to be used as replace
ment stock, and the increased
breeding costs are economic los
ses that are seen immediately after
an outbreak of Bang’s. Increased
veterinarian costs and decreased
milk production must also be con
sidered. For those who are selling
breeding stock, failure to vacci
nate calves could mean a lower
selling price or even stop the sale
of cattle. Proof that cattle were
TODAYS FORMING EQUIPMENT HAS IMPR
Power panformer allows
the use of metals up to
24 guage. In a variety
of finishes.
Double crimped seams- make
a water tight seal against
the most severe cdnditions.
vaccinated prior to shipping is
required by many states and some
foreign countries.
Milk Flavor
Improves In 1988
Samples of objectionable flavor
declined more than five percen
tage points from 1987. There was
a 40% improvement since 1982
when 36% of the samples were of
objectionable flavor. Almost 80%
of the 2,211 samples purchased
from stores in Pennsylvania were
of acceptable to excellent flavor in
1988. Rancidity declined to a level
of 218% of the whole milk sam
ples. This was a 15 percent drop
from 1987.
Improvement was. due to action
by all segments of the dairy indus
try. Steady improvement was seen
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On sight roll former can produce
panels well over 100 ft. in length.
Expansion cleats allow these
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All concealed fasteners. No face
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in the bacterial quality as more
than 90% of store purchased sam
ples were acceptable to excellent
Challenges remain in die milkfat
composition of whole milk, as
over 217% of samples contained
less than 3.15% milkfat
The program continues in 1989
with the financial support of the
Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion
Program and the Pennsylvania
Association of Milk Dealers.
Herdlife
We hear a lot about herdlife,
especially from those who say that
breeding to high PD bulls and
using high index cows as bull
mothers will result in shorter lived
and thus less profitable offspring.
Little or no data are presented to
support such claims except for an
These words sum up our service to
Pennsylvania agribusiness.
Cultivate a relationship with the
Meridian banker near you.
Lancaster
Bob Zook
717-295-8577
KennettSqua
Gary Kline
Clay Thomson
215-444-6060
Meridian Bank
occasional testimonial about an
individual cow that lived for twen
ty years even though her parents
had large negative breeding
values.
Recently, a joint study by the
USDA and the University of
Maryland provided some substan
tial information. Research on
almost 300,000 Holstein cows
found that herdlife changed but
little for cows calving over a ten
year time period from 1966 to
1976. Animals had to have the
chance to calve eight times.
Therefore the picture is not yet
complete for cows with a first
calving after 1976.
Herdlife was defined as the
number of months between the
date the cow had her first calf and
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METAL
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the date she left the herd. Yearly
averages for herdlife ranged from
38.0 to 39.7 months. The overall
average was 38.4 months.
Adding 38.4 to Pennsylvania’s
average age at first calving (27
months) indicates that the average
cow leaves the herd at about five
and one-half yean of age. Long
herd life is a desirable goal but
several good management prac
tices can work against it. For
example: lowering calf mortality
results in more replacement heif
ers that will need a stall. In order
to make room a decision to cull
older and poorer cows will shorten
their herdlife. Culling older cows
as animals (either raised or pur
chased) with better genetics enter
the herd gives the same result.
Readina
vSnTlughes
Blaine Fessler
Doug Darling
215-320-FARM
SPECIALIZING IN
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FORA
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PHONE
717-865-3093
R.D. #2, Box 350-A
Annville, PA 17003