a; i2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 13,2001 Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION Dr. Arlen Mills Extension Veterinarian Capitol Region Ask yourself, “Is it more prof itable to prevent a disease or to treat it?” I think we all would agree that an ounce of prevention is worth the proverbial pound of cure. And that is precisely what “biosecurity” is all about dis ease prevention. Often when we think of biose curity, we think of confined areas, disinfectant solutions, dis posable clothing, and more. These all may have a part in bio security in some way, but is this what biosecurity has to be on your farm? Probably not. So how do you know what you should be doing? Let’s do some planning. To keep things simple, let us first look at what we want to pro tect. Of all the animals on a dairy farm, which groups or individu als are at greatest risk for dis ease? The answer is that the calves and fresh cows are proba bly most vulnerable. So this may be the place to start. Next, consider what disease may be potential threats to these livestock groups. With calves this may be a viral disease such as BVD or IBR. Now I need to think of logical ways that I may prevent these diseases from in fecting those calves. Good quality colostrum may be one way, and this would require a cow vaccina tion program to provide this co lostrum. So vaccination is one part of a biosecurity program. And the calf needs to receive the proper amount of colostrum in the right time frame to be effec tive. For the Holstein calf, I rec ommend feeding two quarts of colostrum within two hours of birth and two more quarts within eight hours. Thus colostrum management is another part of biosecurity. Another step in disease pre vention may be aimed at limiting or preventing exposure to infec tions. This may involve exposure from animals, people, or vehicles coming onto the farm or from an other animal group already on the farm. Again, consider careful ly what disease agents may pose a risk to your farm or animal group and how it may be spread. Using BVD as an example, BVD could be brought onto the farm by animals entering the herd or perhaps a show heifer re turning to the farm from a show. A BVD outbreak can be prevent ed by making sure all stock are properly vaccinated, herd addi tions have been tested and found negative for BVD, and that all stock coming onto the farm are isolated from the herd for two to Lancaster Farming Check out our Website! www. la Dr. Arlen Mills three weeks. These same prihei ples may apply to other disease agents as well. Johnes’ disease and Salmonel la infections are two bacterial dis eases which are commonly spread though manure. But re member that Johnes is primarily infective to the young calf while Salmonella can infect both the susceptible calf and the cow. Remember that the fresh cow is particularly susceptible because the stress of calving has de pressed her immune system. So plan farm traffic to avoid track ing manure from other areas of the farm to the fresh-cow and calf area. And how about restrict ing outside traffic such as live stock haulers from these two crit ical areas? Plan a way that bull calves and cows to be culled can be picked up from a location out side the areas where the animals most susceptible to infections are housed. Feed, feed equipment, and feed personnel may be another way to either bring disease onto a farm or to spread it about on a farm. Arrange to have feed supplies de livered to noncritical areas from where it may then be distributed. Be sure that sick animals, either cows or calves, are fed last and that feed or feed equipment does not go from the hospital area to the other parts of the farm. There may be benefit in placing a “boot wash” in the area so that it can be used before leaving the hospi tal area. But these must be used and maintained properly. This subject will be addressed in a fu ture column. As you can now imagine, each farm may have its own biosecuri ty needs and challenges. But it all starts with three simple ques tions: 1. What are the part or parts of my farm that should be my biosecurity priority? 2. What disease or diseases should I be concerned about? 3. How are these diseases spread and how are they best controlled? erfarmin Milk Premiums, Pooling, Dairy Compact Under Spotlight In Pa. DAVE LEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) The Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board (PMMB) heard testimony Oct. 3 from dairy in dustry representatives asking that the over-order premium paid to Pennsylvania milk producers be increased to a total of $1.65 per hundredweight. The over-order premium is es tablished by the PMMB in re sponse to various weather and market conditions for Class I (beverage) milk. It is currently set at $1.35 per hundredweight Dr. John H. Schwartz Foundation Begins ANDY ANDREWS Editor HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) PennAg Industries has announced its intent to admin ister the Dr. John H. Schwartz Memorial Foundation, with funds generated to be awarded each year to local students pursuing an agricultural de gree. The Poultry Council of PennAg Industries, headed by Jim Shirk, has offered to ad minister the Foundation, it was announced Monday at the Poultry Management and Health Seminar at Kreider’s Restaurant. FBI Alerts Pesticide Dealers HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) At the request of the FBI, and in view of the current nation al situation involving recent ter rorist attacks, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is notifying all licensed pesticide dealers of the impor tance of reporting any suspicious sales, attempts to purchase, and/ or use of pesticide products. An important component of surveillance is identification of “sentinel events” (unrecognized warnings) that may precede a terrorist attack and could provide opportunities for prevention. These events may include the attempted purchase of quantities of extremely toxic pesticides, gen erally classified as restricted use. Also, suspicious inquires regard ing these products by the general public, or inquires or purchase of equipment, especially Ultra Low Volume (ULV) application Land O’Lakes Percent Pooling Of CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.) Land O’Lakes, Inc. is calling for a change in a regulation re cently published by the Pennsyl vania Milk Marketing Board (PMMB). If approved, the current regu lation will pool 45 percent the Pennsylvania Over-Order Premi um among all Pennsylvania dairy producers. On behalf of its mem bership, Land O’Lakes has asked the PMMB to revise the regula tion to approve 90 percent pool ing. “We commend the PMMB for drafting a regulation to pool the premium. However, the only way to create a fairly-distributed pre mium system in Pennsylvania is to pool it at 90 percent,” said above the price mandated by the federal government (federal order). The board had voted in June to decrease the premium from $1.65 to $1.35 in response to testi mony from some dairy represen tatives who had indicated im proved conditions for dairy producers at that time. At last week’s hearing, Ed Gal lagher of Dairy Marketing Serv ices (DMS), along with represen tatives from Suiza Foods and the Pennsylvania State Grange, re quested that the premium return to $1.65 per hundredweight through December. A board will meet annually to select the candidates. The Lancaster County Poultry As sociation and other industry associations will solicit dona tions from memberships and conduct the annual golf out ing. The annual spring golf outing has already been re named the John Schwartz Me morial Golf Outing. For more information, or to send donations, contact Jim Shirk, PennAg Industries, 2215 Forest Hills Drive, Suite 39, Harrisburg, PA 17112, (717) 651-5920, ext. 225. equipment by individuals who you feel have no legitimate use, should be reported. Non-malicious misuse should continue be reported to the PDA. However, if there is suspicion of terrorist activity involving the sales and distribution of pesti cides or equipment, contact the Philadelphia field office of the FBI immediately at (215) 418-4165. The Pennsylvania State Police have also requested to be notified in case of an incident. The tele phone number for the local State Police Field Installation is locat ed on the first page of your tele phone directory, or by calling di rectory assistance. For information regarding this alert, contact Joe Uram, PDA Pesticide Enforcement Specialist, at (717) 772-5212. Calls For 90 PMMB Premium Gordon Hoover, Land O’Lakes corporate board member and a dairy farmer from Gap. “Even at 45 percent pooling, one dairy farmer could be getting as much as $3,500 more annually than another farmer in Pennsyl vania. Both farmers produce the same quality milk under the same economic conditions. It’s just not fair that the one would get that much more of a benefit than the other.” The premium was created to help all Pennsylvania dairy farm ers when faced with economic and weather-related hardships. It is collected on all Class I or fluid milk produced, processed and sold in Pennsylvania. The in formation used to determine the level of premium is derived from The PMMB scheduled an Oct. 12 meeting to vote on the issue. Results of the vote were released after Lancaster Farming went to press this week. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees are considering a new PMMB proposal on how over-order milk premiums are distributed among Pennsylvania dairy producers. The over-order premium is paid only on Class 1 milk that is produced, processed, and sold in Pennsylvania. The amount of premium that any given Pa. dairy producer receives depends on the percentage of their deal er’s milk sales within Pennsylva nia that qualify as Class I. Consequently, producers ship ping milk to dealers who sell rela tively low percentages of Class I milk to Pennsylvania markets will receive less of a premium on their milk than producers ship ping to dealers with a higher per centage of Pennsylvania Class I sales. In February of this year, the PMMB voted 2-1 to distribute or “pool” 45 percent of the over order premium among ah dairy producers in the state. The deci sion came in response to petitions made in 1998 by Land O’ Lakes Inc., the Pennsylvania Farm Bu reau (PFB) and other groups. The PFB and several dairy co operatives, including Land O’ Lakes, have petitioned for 90 to 100 percent pooling of the over order premium, while other groups, including the Pa. Associ ation of Milk Dealers, the Pa. State Grange, and other dairy co operatives. have asked for zero pooling. Legislative review is required before the new policy can be en acted by the PMMB, including review by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees. Public comment on the pooling issue will close on Oct. 22. Com ments can be sent to Sharon Grottola, chief counsel of the PMMB. In related news, existing feder al provisions for the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact as well as for creation of a new southern interstate compact have expired as of Sept. 30. Among groups supporting dairy compact legislation is the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB). In a Sept. 28 statement, PFB President Guy Donaldson urged Congress to either allow a vote to include dairy compact legislation in the Farm Bill currently under debate or provide stand-alone legislation. all farmers in the state, not just those in the PMMB handler pools. However, the premium is paid back to the dairy farmers in the PMMB handler pools, regardless of whether or not the statewide data applies to their specific op erations. The over-order premium is funded by an II.S-cent surcharge on every gallon of milk sold in Pennsylvania. “Pooling the over-order premi um at 90 percent would not af fect the price the consumer pays at all,” Hoover said. “Fm grate fill that Pennsylvania’s consum ers are willing to aid farmers when there is a need. We should make sure that aid is equitably distributed among all fanners.”
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