News Update
Aug. 25, 2009

NMSU, Valles Caldera National Preserve Partner for Unique Bull Performance Test

The majestic high-altitude, grass-filled meadows coupled with elite genetics representing the beef industry’s top sires has positioned the Valles Caldera National Preserve to become a unique performance testing center for high-altitude bulls. Identifying beef genetics that can thrive in an all-natural grazing environment at high altitude is the goal of the project pioneered by New Mexico State University’s (NMSU’s) Manny Encinias. The project is taking place on the national preserve in the mountains of northern New Mexico this summer.

“Grazing cattle at high altitude comes with inherent risk due to their susceptibility of developing hypertension,” said Encinias, a beef cattle specialist with NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service and coordinator of the 2009 grazing contract with the Valles Caldera Trust.

Cattle, like humans, can be genetically predisposed for hypertension at higher altitudes, known as bovine high-altitude disease or brisket disease, when they graze above elevations of 7,000 feet (ft.) for extended periods. The inability to process oxygen efficiently is a key health issue that hampers cow-calf operations in the Rocky Mountain region. Establishing a performance-testing program at Valles Caldera has given seedstock producers throughout the U.S. the opportunity to identify individual bulls and begin to better understand the effect a bovine’s genetic pedigree and previous management have on their ability to perform at higher altitudes without developing high blood pressure and hypertension.

In June, 113 coming 2-year-old bulls were delivered to the 89,000-acre preserve, formerly known as the historic Baca Ranch, from interested seedstock producers actively involved in the New Mexico Beef Cattle Performance Association (NMBCPA).

NMBCPA is one of the oldest performance-testing organizations in the United States and serves as the administrator and owner of the Tucumcari Bull Test Facility in eastern New Mexico. Nationally recognized as one of the leaders in performance testing, the Tucumcari facility was one of four centralized performance-testing facilities in the nation developed almost 50 years ago to promote the selection of superior beef cattle genetics.

At 9,000 ft. elevation, it is the highest altitude centralized performance test in the nation. And the bulls are developed on a 100% grass diet.

“With the exception of salt and minerals, these bulls are expected to get out and make it happen on grass alone,” Encinias said. “There’s no ‘grain for gain’ in this program.” After all, a bull’s working environment is out on grass pasture, Encinias is quick to point out.

A national expert on bovine high-mountain disease, Tim Holt is a veterinarian and assistant professor at the Colorado State University (CSU) school of veterinary medicine and biomedical science. He performed the pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) test on the bulls to evaluate their individual adaptation to the high altitude after 60 days on the preserve.

“When a bull comes from lower altitudes and walks into high elevation, he gets hypoxia because his oxygen is decreased,” Holt said of the health condition. “Jugular distention in the animal’s neck is one of the first signs. As the hypertension symptoms progress, this eventually leads to congestive heart failure.”

Holt conducted the PAP test on each of the bulls, while Encinias’s NMSU team, participating producers and John Heidrich, a local veterinarian and his students from Central New Mexico Community College’s veterinary technician program, weighed the bulls and removed hair samples for future DNA marker testing.

During the PAP test, a cardiac catheter is placed in the bull’s right jugular vein and blood-flow fed through the heart into the main pulmonary artery that connects the heart to the lungs. From that position the heart’s function is measured by the blood pressure.

The bulls displaying the early signs of hypertension were removed from the herd and sent back to their home ranches at lower altitudes.

“What makes this program so important is that high altitude is the number one killer of cattle on the mountain. It’s not anything to lose 3% to 5% and greater of a herd,” said Holt, who has studied bovine high-mountain disease since 1980 and has performed PAP tests on more than 100,000 head of cattle. “The most devastating loss I’ve seen is 80% of the calf crop. The fact that this [pre]disposition is genetic makes it even more devastating, because if you get it into the herd then things get worse in a hurry.”

According to Holt, the higher the altitude in which the bulls are PAP tested, the more accurate the test results. “The fact that these bulls are on all grass, free from growth promotants and grain, further increases the test’s accuracy,” Holt said.

Since the region’s closest high-altitude testing facility, located in Hesperus, Colo., stopped gain-testing bulls a few years ago, it left a large void in the marketplace from which local and regional producers could purchase reputable, performance-tested bulls with good PAP-scores, said Encinias.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, the Valles Caldera Trust will team up with NMSU and the NMBCPA to host their first high-altitude bull sale on the preserve.

More information can be accessed at http://aces.nmsu.edu/highcountrybeef or www.vallescaldera.gov.

— Provided by the New Mexico State University.

Producers Can Cut Costs With Wise Bull Selections

Like the rest of the economy, producers in the agricultural sector are feeling the crunch with cattle prices down and operating costs up.

“In these times of economic difficulty, we’re all looking for ways to help improve our bottom line,” said Darrh Bullock, University of Kentucky Extension beef cattle specialist. “I’m not an economist, but it’s pretty clear to me that if you want to improve the bottom line, you have to reduce costs or increase income — or both.”

Bullock said a lot of times when cattle producers experience difficult economic times, one of the first areas they look to reduce costs is bull purchases.

“I’m all for commercial beef producers buying a bull that fits their budget,” he said. “But, you need to be careful that buying a cheap bull now won’t cost you dearly in the future.”

Bullock said producers can avoid costly decisions if they go through the proper steps to purchase a bull that fits both their budgets and their management and production needs.

One of the first things a producer should consider when purchasing a bull is calving difficulty. Bullock emphasized the importance of finding a bull that meets calving ease needs to save on veterinarian bills and other associated costs. He said producers can also affect their future feed costs by selecting the right genetic match for the environment and management flow of their operations.

“If you have minimal forage quality and/or quantity, the bull’s genetics for growth and milk should reflect that if you plan to keep replacement heifers,” Bullock said. “If you keep heifers that have high genetic potential for growth and milk, they will demand more feed to remain reproductive. If producers can’t meet that demand through forages, they may have to supplement with a large volume of costly purchased feeds to get them bred.”

Bullock said that often producers will first try to increase income by increasing the weight of their calves. Weight is important; however, it’s the total weight of calves coming off the farm that’s the main focus, not individual calf weights, he said.

“That could lead to an imbalanced situation of highly productive cows in a lowly productive environment and that will drive up costs, possibly more than the increased income,” he said. “The best way to increase total pounds produced is through improved reproductive efficiency, and the best way to improve reproductive efficiency is to properly match your bull’s productivity to the production levels of your operation.”

“The moral to this story is that the best way to contain costs and to generate more income when selecting a bull is to find the right bull for your situation, and that might not be the same as your neighbors’,” he said.

An operation with high production levels will benefit from a high-producing bull, but the same bull on a less-productive operation may cost the operator more money and income in the future.

— Provided by University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

New Label Claims Longer-lasting Protection Against Scours

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health announces USDA approval of an important label extension for its Guardian® scours prevention vaccine. The new label approval affirms that Guardian provides six-month duration of immunity (DOI) for E. coli K99 protection. This positions Guardian as the only multi-valent bacterial and viral combination scours vaccine with six-month DOI for E. coli — the longest proven DOI on the market.

“Scours is estimated to cost the beef industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually,” says Kevin Hill, technical services veterinarian for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. “And E. coli is one of the most lethal bacterial agents causing calf scours. The new Guardian six-month E. coli DOI claim means beef producers can vaccinate with a high level of confidence knowing that Guardian will provide E. coli protection as early as 6 months prior to calving, reducing the need for inconvenient vaccination and handling during late-term pregnancy.”

Neonatal diarrhea — or scours — is a symptom of infectious viral, bacterial or parasitic intestinal infection and is documented as the most common reason beef calves become sick and die. E. coli bacteria are ubiquitous and capable of causing severe diarrhea and death within the first week of a calf’s life. Economic losses come not only from calf mortality and treatment costs, but also from decreased weight gains in the surviving calves.

Sound management practices, including vaccination and environmental management, as well as ensuring calves receive adequate colostrum within the first 2 to 6 hours of life, can greatly reduce the incidence of scours. Administering a scours vaccine, such as Guardian, to pregnant cows and heifers helps transfer scours protection to the calf via antibody-rich colostrum.

According to Hill, efforts to achieve the new six-month DOI claim were successful for two primary reasons: the advanced sub-unit E. coli technology and a unique sustained-release adjuvant.

He explains: “The K99 E. coli antigen in scours vaccines stimulates the production of protective antibodies, which is what we want. However, the E. coli cell wall is a source of dangerous endotoxin (bacterial toxin). The new Guardian production process (sub-unit technology) harvests only the K99 pili and eliminates most of the cell wall material, thus providing a clean, more concentrated level of the vital K99 antigen. Sub-unit technology reduces exposure to potentially dangerous sources of endotoxins that can lead to adverse reactions. In addition, sub-unit technology provides a strong and extremely targeted E. coli immune response.”

Hill says coupling the Guardian sub-unit technology with its smooth, water-in-oil adjuvant translates into a safe, targeted and long-lasting immune response.

“Traditionally, water-based adjuvants are less reactive, and oil adjuvants are longer lasting. The custom formulated water-in-oil adjuvant in Guardian provides the best of both worlds. It is long lasting with low reactivity.”

Guardian is a broad-spectrum scours vaccine for use in healthy pregnant cows and heifers that protects against the most relevant viral and bacterial causes of scours. It is labeled as an aid in the prevention of neonatal calf diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic E. coli pilus type K99, bovine Group A Serotype G6 rotaviruses, enterotoxemia caused by Clostridium perfringens types C and D and as an aid in the control of neonatal calf diarrhea caused by bovine coronaviruses.

Guardian administration consists of one 2-mL subcutaneous (Sub-Q) dose for annual revaccination. It is the only scours vaccine on the market labeled for Sub-Q administration.

Producers are encouraged to work with their veterinarians to design a calf scours management program appropriate for their herds.

— Provided Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

Southwest Stocker Cattle Conference Sept. 29 in Lawton

Stocker cattle operators in and around southwestern Oklahoma continue to face a number of nontraditional management scenarios, but insights are available by attending the 7th annual Southwest Stocker Cattle Conference Sept. 29. Sponsored by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the conference will take place at the Great Plains Technology Center, located at 4800 S.W. Lee Blvd. in Lawton. Conference sign-in will begin at 8:45 a.m. with sessions starting at 9:15 a.m. and finishing at approximately 2:30 p.m.

“Participants will pick up the latest science-based information and practical tips vital to making sound management decisions, always important given the tight profit margins under which most producers operate,” said Bob LeValley, Oklahoma State University (OSU) Cooperative Extension area livestock specialist.

There is no cost to attend. However, participants are asked to preregister by contacting their local OSU Cooperative Extension county office or the Southwest Area OSU Cooperative Extension Office in Duncan at 580-255-0546.

Gerald Horn, OSU professor of animal science, will lead the opening session. Horn will review research being conducted at the OSU Wheat Pasture Research Unit near Marshall, part of the statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system.

Stan Bevers, Texas AgriLife Extension economist, will then discuss the current market situation and outlook specific to wheat pasture stocker cattle and the potential profitability of wheat-stocker enterprises.

Daren Williams, executive director of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Communications, will speak about beef advocacy and how cattle producers can effectively dispel myths and share facts.

Gene Parker, OSU Cooperative Extension veterinarian and area food-animal quality and health specialist, will lead the afternoon session on vaccine handling and care, reviewing recommended procedures for getting the best return on producer investment in animal healthcare products.

A trade show will take place in conjunction with the conference.

Anyone seeking additional information about the Sept. 29 conference should contact LeValley by e-mail at bob.levalley@okstate.edu or by telephone at 580-255-0546.

— Provided by Oklahoma State University.

— Compiled by Shauna Rose Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.