A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 10, 2003 Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team THESE FARMS SHARE herd, and sells a few bulls and COW COMFORT IDEAS heifers for breeding purposes an- PART 2 nually. Beth Grove, Extension Agent Vince and Julie Wagner milk Dairy/Environment 45 cows in a tiestall bam outside Lancaster County of Myerstown. Ju-Vindale Hol- Gaien Kopp, Extension Agent steins has had one of the lowest Dairy/Livestock somatic cell counts in Lebanon Lebanon County County for the past 10 years, This is the second of a two part article on cow comfort that we have ti tled “Focus on Dairy Forum,” Our forum participants will address two questions this week. First, let’s have a brief re view of the dairy businesses operated by our participants. Meadow Vista Farm is owned by Don and Gerald Ris ser. They milk 260 cows near Bainbridge. The cows are housed in two freestall usually about 80,000 or better, barns, both tunnel ventilated. Lee Simmons operates an The newer bam, built in 2000, 80-cow dairy near Mount Solon, also contains a bedded pack for Va. The herd is housed in a natu transition cows and box stalls for rally ventilated 50 by 200 foot freshening pens. bedded pack bam. He combines Elvin Reiff milks 60 cows in a this barn with a “Dairy Rotation tiestall bam just outside of al Loafing Lot System” which Mount Joy. He has a purebred consists of three paddocks that Lee Simmons talks with Lancaster Dairy producers. Vince Wagner at Ju-Vfhd&le Hoteteins# The Elvin Reiff Farm in Mount Joy. can be rotated for cow exercise and cleanliness. What have you tried that did not work well for you? Gerald Risser; The stalls in our older bam are 4S inches wide, and those in the new bam are 48 inches in width. That doesn’t sound like a lot of variation, but we see a difference in how well the cows use the stalls. Our older, larger cows are not as comfort able in the stalls of the older bam, and will not use them as well. We tried using rubber belt ing in our feeding areas, but it has been too slick. If I were to redo it, I would use a material de signed for cow traffic, such as we did in the holding pen. Reiff: A few years ago we made some changes for the better in the bam, particularly as relat ed to stall size. We moved the neck rail forward and moved the water bowls from the cow bed di vider to the feed alley side of the stalls. The cows can access the water much more easily, and seem to be more comfort able. Wagner: We used to have the PVC pipe bedding saver attached to the stalls with chains rather than fastened in place. This did not work well, as we had cows that had legs and dewc 1 a w s caught and sustained hock injuries as a result. We now have a 2-inch PVC pipe fastened to the curb as a bedding retainer, which works well. Simmons: When we were still using the older clay-base frees tails, we tried to modify them by making them wider and, in some cases, longer. The cows still refused to use the stalls as we had hoped. Although the pack bam has worked well, if I built another bam I would look at the possibility of taller sidewalls for more natural ventilation. If you were talking to a young dairy producer just going into the business, what advice would you give related to keeping the cow herd comfortable? Risser: I would say to not shortchange yourself on square footage design your bam or stalls for maximum cow numbers you anticipate. We have seen here that when the herd is over crowded, the cows are more stressed and have more health problems. If you are designing a new facility, make it easy to work with the cows! When we built to bam in 2000, we designed the bedded pack and freshening pens so that one person can handle and move fresh cows. It has real ly made things so much easier for everyone working on the farm. Reiff: I guess my first piece of advice would be to use generous amounts of bedding in the cow stalls. We have tried cutting down on the amount of bedding on our mattresses, but the cows did not stay as clean and dry, causing more problems in the long run. If I were to do my bam over, I would probably install one . jjpr povy.. I haye.jjp.-. ticed that some cows tend to take BIOTERRORISM AND AGRICULTURE Jamie Rowley Wenger Feeds, Inc. Representative of The Lancaster Chamber’s Agriculture Committee “What would happen if someone deliberately infected a plant with a pathogen?” Larry Madden, a professor of plant epidemiology at Ohio State University, presented that question to a Phytopatho logical Society conference in 1999. Yet even prior to 1999, sci entists and government offi cials began seriously consid ering the possibility of an individual or terrorist state in tentionally using or threaten ing the use of viruses, bacteria, fungi, or toxins from living or ganisms to produce death or disease in humans, animals, and plants. The threat of bioterrorism in agriculture is essentially twofold: preharvest crop in jury that creates an economic hardship for both livestock and crop producers and post harvest infection that threat ens public health. Both scenar ios would be a disaster psychologically, physically, and economically with marked losses for integrated agricultural businesses and U.S. trade in farm products. A risk factor for bioterro rism is the relative abundance of possible bioterror agents. Foreign animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever, and Exotic Newcastle Disease and foreign pests such as citrus canker, soybean rust, kamal bunt, and black stem rust present the biggest threats be cause they are relatively un known in the U.S. and may be difficult for field agents and diagnostic labs to quickly identify. Gerald Risser caring for calves. over the water bowl from their healthy. Use plenty of bedding in stallmate, and I think having cow stalls, even with mattresses! plenty of water for each cow It cuts down on injuries and might help production. keeps cows much cleaner. Wagner: It seems like many We would like to thank each of people are building and designing these farmers for taking time to new barns around a manure stor- show us their operations and an age system, but sometimes they swer our questions. If you have forget cow comfort. A system ideas for future “Focus on Dairy which doesn’t allow for adequate Forums,” please share them with te4dujg.way.Jwrt j.Qiuh -tbe long., jput ,U*«i. , State. dairy run, because the cows won’t be as agent. OCITTie Lancaster Chamber J_3L_iJ of C (munm< 6 huiustrs Phone (717) 397-3531 The first step in thwarting the spread of a bioterror at tack is education. Enhancing basic understanding of the bi ology of pests and pathogens will allow field agents, labs, and other first responders to develop new tools for surveil lance and new ways to control an outbreak. Vaccines and the creation of pest-and disease resistant varieties of crops will also provide some protection against bioterrorism or the threat of bioterrorism. Secondly, vigilance is para mount. Farmers and ranchers should remain diligent and take notice of visitors to their farm. Simple steps such as limiting farm entry to one gated road, securing the farm perimeter with fencing, min imizing entrance into restrict ed areas, placing buzzers on entrance gates, having occu pied homes or offices at roads leading to the farm, and en suring that areas within and surrounding the farm build ings are well lit can help re duce the risk of unauthorized entry. Finally, rapid response will be the key to preventing a large-scale outbreak. As with any outbreak of disease, rapid ly containing the threat is the key to preventing widespread economic damage. In the case of livestock disease, animals will need to be quarantined and may need to be slaugh tered. Crops that are diseased may need to be destroyed. By remaining vigilant, identifying the disease or pest, and rapid ly responding to the threat, bioterror threats can be con tained. For more information, see the FDA’s bioterrorism page at http://www.fda.gov/oc/ opacom/hottopics/ bioterrorism.html.