A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 28, 2003 Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team PINKEYE SEASON HAS ARRIVED Dr. Arlen Mills Capitol Region Extension Veterinarian Summer is here. With the warmer weather, it’s time to plan ahead for some of the problems that are a part of summer. One of those problems can be what is commonly called “pink eye.” Historically, pinkeye was considered to be an infection with a specific bacterium called Mo raxella bovis. This attitude has resulted in numerous treatment and prevention failures. This is because there are many contributing factors in the envi ronment as well and several dif ferent types of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria, and mycoplasma that may be involv ed in pinkeye problems. The first sign of pinkeye is tearing. Affected eyes are light sensitive so the eye may be held shut. As the disease progresses, the cornea (the clear covering forming the front of the eye) will begin to take on a cloudy appear ance. If not treated, the cornea may rupture, which often leads to permanent blindness in the af fected eye. Pinkeye outbreaks may occur at any time of the year, but the highest incidence is usually dur ing the warmer months of the year. This seems to be because of the variety of contributing factors which are more common in the warmer seasons of the year. One of these contributing fac tors is the increased exposure to sunlight. The ultraviolet rays from the sun make the cornea more susceptible to infections, so providing shade for stock will be helpful in prevention. Another factor in pinkeye in fections is the common face fly. These flies irritate the eyes of cat tle, making them more suscepti ble to infection but also transfer infections from eye to eye. This fact spreads the infection quickly among susceptible cattle. Cattle with more pigment about the eye seem to be more re sistant to pinkeye infections. An exception to this is the Jersey breed. Although the area about the eye is pigmented, their eyes are very prominent, which may expose the cornea to more sun light. factors listed for best success. Young stock are usually more The primary factor in success susceptible to infections than are ful treatment of infected eyes is older animals. This may be be- early intervention. Treatment cause the older animals have de- given when the first cloudiness is veloped some resistance to more seen in the cornea is usually suc infectious agents because of pre- cessful. Treatment may include vious exposure. I have often seen an injection of long-acting tetra pinkeye outbreaks start in the cycline, fly repellents applied to young stock only to spread to the the face of the affected cattle, and older animals. Primary control protection of the eye. This protec measures should perhaps be tion may be confinement to an aimed toward the young stock. inside pen or an eye cover glued Other conditions that cause ir- over the eye. ritation to the eyes of cattle and If infection is further ad are considered important are vanced, antibiotics injected into dusty conditions, tall pasture the tissue about the eye by your grasses, and windy conditions. I veterinarian and then sewing the have also seen outbreaks in cattle eye closed for a week can salvage feeding from large round bales, many an eye. Reaching into the bales as they Now is the time to think about ate was causing eye irritation, pinkeye. If it was a problem last which was leading to infections, season on your farm, it most like- Individual animals may develop ly will be back this year unless cornea injuries from feeding from you take some preventative ac the large* bakHsl tebMHiS'tMftl 4fe*«*tk*lS'rt(WM Ki'iMihmiim Dr. Arlen Mills differentiated from pinkeye infec tions. Prevention of pinkeye requires dealing with and eliminating as many of the listed causative fac tors as possible. This involves providing shelter, keeping pas tures clipped, and controlling flies. Fly control may be accom plished by the use of ear tags or topical agents applied either indi vidually or by the use of sprayers or “rubbers.” Vaccination to prevent infec tions is an option if the infectious agent is known. Available vac cines contain the bacteria Morax ella bovis, but as mentioned, this is not always the main problem. IBR virus can infect the eyes, so be certain that animals have been vaccinated for this disease. Some believe that the “eye form” of IBR vims may be differ ent than the usual respiratory form, but this has not been prov en. Some herds have had out breaks of eyes infected with a strain of Mycoplasma. The pink eye vaccines available will not prevent these other infections. In the last several years, another type of related bacteria has been isolated by some from resistant cases of pinkeye. Vaccine compa nies are trying to adapt their vac cines to include these new strains. For vaccination to be of help in pinkeye control, it must be done before problems occur. Two doses need to be given at the beginning of the season now. Couple this with control of the contributing Dairy Farmers: Relieve Heat Stress On Cows UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) The highest producing cows are the ones most vulner able to the damaging effects of heat stress, warns Dennis Buf fington, professor of agricultural and biological engineering. Milk production decreases as heat stress increases. Buffington points out that even greater eco nomic loss results from the re duction in cows’ conception rates as heat stress rises. “First and foremost, the cows need to be protected from direct solar radiation,” he said. “The shading system must be designed so that the animals have full ac cess to quality feed and water while in the shade. Sufficient floor space needs to be provided under the shade structure so that the animals do not crowd togeth er to stay in the shade. “The underside of the roof needs to include insulation ma terial to reduce the thermal radi ation load on the cows. Finally, the shade structure needs to be high enough and include a ridge opening so that natural ventila tion will be enhanced.” Evaporative cooling systems to reduce heat stress levels on cows are common in the southern U.S., but few are used by Pennsylvania dairy farmers, according to Buf fington. He anticipates that evap orative cooling systems will be come more popular in Pennsylvania as production lev els of cows increase and as pro ducers search for effective ways to reduce heat stress. The evaporation of just one gallon of water per hour at 85 de- Growers To Conduct Wool Pool CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.) Cumberland Cooperative Sheep and Wool Growers will conduct their Wool Pool Tues day, July 1, from 8 a.m.-ll:30 a.m. at the Carlisle Fairgrounds along Rt. 34 in Carlisle near the H.R. Gutshall & Sons-John Deere Dealer. Enter the fairgrounds by using the “K” Street entrance. Wool from all counties in south central Pennsylvania is welcome! This year the pool will not be graded or weighed at the site. Each producer’s wool will be graded and weighed at a later date by the purchaser, Greg Groenewold, Groenewold Fur and Wool Co., Forreston, 111., the same as last year. Call Donna Duncan (717) 243-8069 or any of the board of directors for any additional in formation or to get burlap bags. The directors are Robert Holtry, (717) 582-4039 (Perry County); Richard Myers, (717) 258-3850 (Cumberland County); Darlene Anderson, (717) 258-6967 (Cum berland County); Ben Bow, (717) 867-1305 (Lebanon County); Ken Staver, (717) 534-2619 (Dauphin County); Waldo Hartman, (717) 334-7221 (Adams County); or Steve Ebersole, (717) 741-1407 (York County). Prize Winner Selected EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) Lancaster Farming recently se lected the winner of a free one year subscription to the newspa per at Family Farm Days at Ore gon Dairy. The winning entry goes to Paul Gantert, Stevens. KfMtgAftftkftMlbt • 1111»111111111 grees provides nearly the same cooling effect as a ■% ton air con ditioner unit. “This amount of cooling can handle the heat pro duced by, on average, two lactat ing cows,” he said. “The actual amount of water that can be evaporated depends on the hu midity level of the air.” Different approaches to pro viding evaporative cooling for dairy cows have been used over the past several decades. Buffing ton believes the use of a sprinkler or misting system in conjunction with forced ventilation is most ef fective. “It is not sufficient sim ply to cool the air with evapora tive cooling and hope to significantly reduce the damag ing heat stress effects on the cows,” he said. “It is essential to wet the cows and to provide forced ventilation to speed up the rate of evapora tion,” he said. “The direct wet ting of the cows cools them only a limited amount it is the rapid evaporation of the water that re ally does the cooling. The need for rapid evaporation is why it is essential to use fans in conjunc tion with sprinklers or misters. Natural ventilation is not suffi cient, at least in the climates of the Northeast, to provide the quick evaporation.” During heat stressing condi tions, cows must be wetted inter Fore FFA Golf Tournaments To Host FFA Chapter Teams STATE COLLEGE (Center Co.) The Pennsylvania FFA Foundation, Inc. has added a new feature to the Fore FFA 2003 Golf Tournaments the Chapter Golf (Challenge. FFA chapters throughout the state have been invited to recruit teams to represent their chapters and to compete for $4OO in Lead ership Scholarships, as well as trophies, plus they will be eligible for all tournament prizes. Chapter can recruit more than one team, but may only win one of the scholarships. The tourna ments are limited to 20 chapter teams at the Hatfield tournament in Lancaster County and 10 teams at the Hoss’s tournament at Scotch Valley. Teams will be accepted on a first-paid and space available basis. The Hatfield Fore FFA Golf Tournament take place, Monday, July 14, at the Fox Chase Golf Course in Stevens, Lancaster County. That is a two-course event with Hawk Valley being the overflow course after 288 slots are filled in the order they are received. The FFA chapter teams will play at the Hawk Val ley course. The Hoss’s Steak and Sea house tournament is planned for Monday, August 4, at the Scotch Valley Country Club in Duncan Open English, Western Horse Show Scheduled DELTA (York Co.) The Mason-Dixon Fairgrounds will be the setting for the 3rd Annual Open English and Western Horse Show on Sunday, June 29. The event is slated to begin promptly at 8:30 a.m., rain or shine. The horse show is open to all breeds and is APHA PAC ap proved. AQHA rules will apply and proper show attire is re quired in all classes. There are more than 50 classes including open, adult novice, ■iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaixiaivtiftiistiiiiiiiiiiiaiaiaii^ mittently so that the water can evaporate from the surface of the cows. Effective evaporative cool ing systems generally provide a spray of water for about a minute every three or four minutes with the fans running continuously. An evaporative cooling system should be developed with enough flexibility so that the wetting du rations and intervals can be easi ly modified in the field. The water spray should be di rected onto the back and sides of each cow, Buffington explained. “Ideally, all the water should evaporate on the back and sides of a cow so that none of the sprinkler water comes down to the udder because of the danger of contaminating the teat open ings with bacteria from the hide,” he said. “It also is important to keep the floor surfaces and bed ding materials dry.” Buffington contends that in vestments in effective systems to relieve heat stress for dairy cows will pay dividends in increased cow comfort, milk production, and conception efficiency. “As the production levels of dairy cows increase, they become more vulnerable to heat stress,” he said. “Therefore, it behooves dairy farmers to utilize evapora tive cooling systems to reduce the effects of heat stress on their ani mals.” sville. This tournament is set up for 144 entries in the order they are received. The scores of the teams repre senting FFA chapters will be re viewed by the golf pro, and the team with the lowest score will receive chapter challenge tro phies. The FFA chapter that is represented by the winning team will receive $4OO in Leadership Scholarships. They will also take possession of the traveling “Chapter Challenge Golf Tro phy.” Each year the names of the winning team members and the chapter they are representing will place on an engraved plaque on the trophy. The trophy will be re turned to the tournament each year to be awarded to the winner of the FFA Chapter Golf Chal lenge. For more information on the FFA Chapter Golf Challenge, call Kerry Richards at (814) 880-0013. To participate in the main tournament and/or to provide financial support for the fund raiser, contact the Pennsylvania FFA Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 10493, Calder Square, State Col lege, Pa. 16805; phone/fax (814) 867-9230. youth, and beginner youth. Entry fees are $8 per class plus $2 office charge per rider. Debbie White of Dover Delaware will be the judge. Premiums will be paid the day of the show after the last class. The Mason-Dixon Fairgrounds are located on Route 74 in Delta. Food will also be available. All proceeds benefit the Delta-Card iff Volunteer Fire Company. For more information, contact Deb Ohl at (717) 456-7202.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers