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.