-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,2001
214
Duane E. Pysher
Grassland Management Specialist
Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Harrisburg
Well, another season of grazing
conferences in Pennsylvania has
come and gone.
I was just reflecting on one of the
sessions I moderated at the Pennsyl
vania Grazing and Forage Confer
ence in Grantville. The session was
entitled “Animal Health/
Biosecurity” and the speakers were
Dr. David Wolfgang, Penn State
Extension veterinarian and Alan
Kozak, a dairy farmer from Ohio.
Wolfgang spoke first and dis
cussed general biosecurity and bio
containment practices that a farmer
should be using. He also talked
about several diseases and infec
tious agents of which farmers
should be concerned, including sal
monella, Johne’s disease, hairy heel
warts, and several others.
Most everyone, including myself,
did not take Wolfgang’s excellent
message all that seriously, but the
next speaker changed our outlook
on the subject.
It was Kozak’s turn to come to
the podium and his discussion was
to revolve around his experience
with Johne’s disease on his farm.
His talk started out rather routinely
with a general discussion about his
farm and his herd. Then he turned
his discussion to Johne’s disease and
its establishment in the herd. His
talk picked up intensity as he dis
cussed the advancement of Johne’s
in his own herd. When he reached
the point in his discussion where he
talked of losing 38 cows in a six
month period, he could only keep
his composure by becoming silent.
I will quote Alan as he talks about
this horrific experience.
“There were several different
times that we loaded five or more
cows on the same day. Once there
were even seven. There were several
people that would haul the cattle,
but we chose a fellow who helped on
his family’s Jersey dairy. He had
some compassion for the situation
Concrete Stave
Silos
Our 10th Year of Superior
Quality and Value
Checkered Tops
Available In
Choice of Colors
3 Popular Brands of
Door Frames and Silo
Staves Available For
Your Extension and
Repair Jobs
Nickel Mine
Silo
406 E. White Oak Rd.,
Christiana, PA 17509
For Silo Staves and
Door Frames Call
610-593-1172
For New Silos and
Silo Service Call
610-273-3993
eyes as we loaded another group of
what were promising young cattle.”
The room was silent and everyone
of the 50+ people in the audience
were in suspense because of Alan’s
gripping message. His compassion
and concern for his prized cows was
very evident, but at this point, the
disease was in control and winning.
He had to change this quickly or he
would be out of business.
While he was being careful, he
had done most everything wrong
that he could have. He listed for us
the “stupid things that we have
done.” As I looked at his list, I saw
things that most farmers do
routinely. It absolutely scared me.
A few things he listed:
• Walked across cow lanes to
feed calves.
• Grazed heifers behind the cows.
• Mixed feed with same skid
loader the barn was cleaned with.
• Spread liquid manure on the
pastures.
• Mowed heifer pastures with the
same manure-splattered tractor and
mower that was used in cow pas-
tures
• Thought our vet knew enough
to give sound advice about Johne’s.
He listed several other things as
well.
Alan outlined 18 points in his
Johne’s control program that he has
now instituted to get ahead of this
disease. He believes he has turned
the tide, because he has only lost
eight cows to Johne’s in 2000.
Alan’s advice to all livestock pro
ducers:
• Know the Johne’s status of
your herd.
• If Johne’s is found, implement
a control plan with the help of your
local and/or state veterinarians.
• If your herd is Johne’s-free,
continue annual testing because
cattle from clean herds will bring a
premium in a market that is becom
ing more aware of Johne’s.
If everyone in that audience did
not sit up and take home a message
about the seriousness of biosecurity,
they must have slept through two
excellent presentations.
At the time we planned the con
ference, we didn’t realize how
timely this topic would be. The
world livestock industry is monitor
ing the problems the United King
dom is experiencing with foot and
mouth disease (FMD). I was at a
recent hearing that the Pennsylva
nia House of Representatives Agri
culture Committee on FMD and
bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE), commonly called “mad cow
disease.” I heard Pennsylvania Sec
retary of Agriculture Sam Hayes list
his plans for dealing with these se
(Tum to Page IS)