Sauk Prairie Veterinary Clinic
Herd the Moos
January 2017
March 8-Dairy Optimist Meeting
Injection Site Wet Lab
The Sauk Prairie Veterinary Clinic will have its’ annual spring Dairy Optimist Tour on March 8 at noon. We will be meeting at the Badgerland Financial building in Prairie du Sac for pizza and Dr. Dick Wallace will talk about Proper Injection Sites with a wet lab that will show the injection site left behind for different products. Then we will tour Bare Family Farms’ new dry cow facility.
AureoS 700 Can No Longer Be Fed To Dairy Replacement Heifers
In mid-December, we learned that the CVM-FDA has changed their definition of calves which states that any calf that will be milking during its life cannot be fed sulfamethazine, which is in Aureo S 700. Previously, the definition of beef included any dairy or beef calf under 20 months of age and was considered beef so it could be fed the product. Therefore, it will be illegal to feed Aureo S 700 to dairy replacement heifers after January 1, 2017. It can still be purchased and fed to beef and dairy steers since they will never milk.
If we talked to you using the old definition, we may have given you incorrect information regarding the VFD’s that we can supply you with starting January 1, 2017 in dairy replacement heifers. We are sorry for any confusion this has caused (including much frustration for us as well).
Starting January 1, 2017, in order to feed any antibiotic, you must have a VFD which is written by your veterinarian. It is then emailed to your feed cooperative and you. If you don’t have an email, you will be receiving a paper copy in the mail. You are responsible for keeping a copy of your VFD’s on your farm for 2 years’ time.
If you use an antibiotic for all cattle on your farm at weaning or a certain growth phase then a VFD can be written for 6 months for prevention of disease. You need a VFD for each antibiotic that you use. Once cattle are sick and if you simply treat them when needed, then a separate VFD should be written for each group of cattle as you treat them. The charge is $25 per VFD.
If you have any questions about VFD’s, please call the clinic.
Feeding Neomycin & Tetracycline in Milk Replacer
Many producers feed oral antibiotics to calves to prevent diarrhea and decrease mortality. A national survey of dairy farms showed that 9% of the farms used a medicated milk replacer. The majority of the herds were in the eastern half of the US. However, the practice of continually feeding oral antibiotics to calves has not been shown to be efficacious in recent studies and now requires a VFD. Historically, neomycin and tetracycline were added to milk replacer because a study conducted 60 years ago showed if fed during the first eight weeks of life, the incidence and severity of diarrhea was decreased. The primary benefits of oral antibiotics were found to be higher weight gain and decreased severity and duration of diarrhea. This study did not look at important factors such as mortality rate in calves. Several studies in the 1960’s and 1970’s were conducted to evaluate the use of many different oral antibiotics in calves. Many of these studies found an increased rate of diarrhea in calves, particularly those fed neomycin. There was no change in the incidence of diarrhea between treated and untreated calves.
Recent studies have found that oral antibiotics had no effect on decreasing calf diarrhea and in some cases diarrhea rates actually increased in calves fed antibiotics. For example, a study was conducted where Holstein heifers were fed milk replacer medicated with oxytetracycline and neomycin or an unmedicated milk replacer that contained a probiotic. Body weight gain, feed efficiency, and the incidence and severity of diarrhea were similar between groups. Another study of 358 dairy calves were divided into 4 groups: medicated milk replacer (neomycin and tetracycline for the first 14 days of life) plus several antibiotics for any calves that had diarrhea; medicated milk replacer and treatment of diarrhea only in cases of fever or depressed attitude; nonmedicated milk replacer with antibiotic treatment for all cases of diarrhea; and nonmedicated with treatment of diarrhea only in cases of fever or depressed attitude. Calves fed medicated milk replacer had 31% more days with diarrhea compared to calves fed nonmedicated milk replacer.
There are many reasons to discontinue the use of medicated milk replacer, including lack of efficacy, increased cost, need for a VFD, and increased antibiotic resistance in calves. Healthy calves can be raised on nonmedicated milk replacer. The best ways to prevent diarrhea in both dairy and beef calves include giving a vaccine to late gestation cattle containing enterotoxicgenic E. Coli, rotavirus and coronavirus, making sure a good colostrum program is in place to ensure adequate intake of immunoglobulins by the calf, and decreasing the load of pathogens in the environment by calving in a clean pen, keeping calves in a clean environment, and sanitizing equipment used to feed calves.
Mycotoxin Alert
Samples of this year’s crops are showing higher levels of vomitoxin, zearalenone and T-2 toxins. Here are a few key points to keep in mind: corn, corn silage and corn based products, such as distillers, are all trending higher the past couple of months in all 3 key mycotoxins. The million dollar question is “How high is too high?”
1. If you suspect a mycotoxin issue, test the TMR to see what the total mycotoxin load is. You could have a high level in one feed ingredient but the overall TMR level might not be as high and therefore, is not an issue. So to get the most bang for your buck, test the TMR.
2. Be sure to understand the unit of measure that is expressing the mycotoxin level. The upper limit for vomitoxin in TMR’s for dairy cattle is 5 ppm (parts per million). Some will recommend a lower level of 2-3 ppm. Typically, companies that are selling mycotoxin binders will have the lowest threshold for obvious sales reasons. Another trick is to express vomitoxin levels in ppb (parts per billion) instead of ppm. So, if a producer has a TMR sample come back at 1000 for vomitoxin, they might get excited until they learn the level is expressed in ppb which is equal to 1 ppm. 1 ppm in a TMR is not a problem.
3. Keep in mind that the cow is always right. If there are herd symptoms and the mycotoxin levels are trending higher, then you need to figure out the best approach to reduce the symptoms and improve herd productivity.
If you are seeing mycotoxins and dilution of the suspect feed is not an option, then a binder should be fed. That is the simple answer. Work with your nutritionist to determine from the wide variety of products available which is best to solve the issues within your herd.