News Update
July 15, 2013
NJAS Special to Air on RFD-TV
If you missed this year’s National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) in Kansas City, Mo., a special airing of The Angus Report will air highlights of the NJAS at 7:30 a.m. CST Monday, July 22 on RFD-TV.
The Angus Report delivers weekly American Angus Association and industry news on RFD-TV, every Monday at 7:30 a.m. The program offers busy cattlemen and women the opportunity to quickly catch up on important industry issues.
“People have an opportunity to see what the NJAS is all about and relive their favorite moments, all from the comfort of their living room,” says Eric Grant, Association director of communications and public relations. “Viewers will have an inside look from showring coverage to the ever-popular All-American Certified Angus Beef® Cook-Off.”
The special broadcast gives an inside look at the variety of NJAS contests, showring competitions, and the role junior Angus members have in the future of the breed. Visit www.angus.org or check local listings for more information about the show. RFD-TV is available on Dish Network channel 231, DirecTV channel 345 and through independent cable providers.
The show will also appear on www.angus.org and the Angus YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages. To learn more about Angus TV, contact Grant at 816-383-5100 or egrant@angus.org.
New Diagnostic Panels Will Test Canines
and Cattle for Common Diseases
The Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) is offering two new diagnostic panels — one for dogs and one for cattle — that use a single specimen to rapidly detect a wide range of common health issues.
The test panels were developed by the laboratory’s newly created section for diagnostic development, which is managed by Mangkey Bounpheng. A diagnostic panel runs a series of several tests simultaneously, thus saving time and money for veterinarians and animal owners.
The cost of the cattle panel for Texas clients is $40, which is significantly less than running all of the tests individually. Turnaround time is three days. The cattle test is available at TVMDL’s full-service labs in College Station and Amarillo.
Terry Hensley, assistant agency director and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service veterinarian in College Station, said the new panels will help practitioners more quickly determine the causes of disease often found in dogs and cattle.
Using a molecular test known as a polymerase chain reaction (or PCR), the panels detect the genetic code of a disease-causing organism. A PCR test does not depend on the lab growing the organism in a culture, which can take days or weeks.
“A PCR test will produce a faster result that is very specific,” Hensley said. “The PCR test is not an answer to all diagnostic problems, but it can help a veterinarian arrive at a quicker diagnosis and to fine-tune the treatment.”
A PCR test is particularly helpful when a disease-causing organism is difficult to isolate, Hensley said, or when a veterinarian must deal with a disease outbreak in a large herd.
“It’s a lot easier to run 50 PCR tests than do 50 cell cultures,” he said.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Focus On Keeping Animals Healthy
The county fair season is quickly approaching and youth are preparing their livestock projects for exhibition. By using proper production practices you can protect the health of your animals, safeguard the health of other exhibitors’ animals and protect the commercial industry from the transfer of disease. Managing the health of your herd or project can be a tough job, but by using biosecurity practices for your farm, you can be proactive in maintaining the health of your animals.
Biosecurity is a combination of different production practices and methods that can be used on your farm to protect a population against the introduction and spread of disease. This means that you will be using different measures to keep your animals as healthy as possible, and preventing disease-causing organisms from entering your herd and then spreading throughout the area.
To minimize the exposure of animals to disease-causing organisms, Michigan State University Extension strongly encourages that everyone with show and exhibition livestock learn and understand how diseases are spread. Direct and indirect contact are two methods in which disease moves from one area or animal to another. Direct contact includes nose-to-nose contact with other animals. Indirect movement of disease is the transfer of disease-causing organisms on people, clothing or things (fomites).
Although nose-to-nose contact (direct contact) with other animals at shows cannot be prevented, it is important to make sure that your animals are healthy and free from disease when they are exposed to other individuals. If your animal has a fever, severe cough or appears to be under the weather, you will want to consider leaving this animal at the farm. If you are returning home from such an event, the best practice is to isolate these individuals from other animals on the farm by providing a space that limits contact, especially nose-to-nose contact between the animals. This helps protect the animals on the farm from anything individuals returning from a show were exposed to.
You can transfer disease back home on your person or clothing (indirect contact) when visiting other exhibitions. Change your clothing and wash your hands before any contact with your animals that were left at home. Manure is also a vector of disease. Boots or footwear should also be changed after being in an area with other livestock. The floor mats in your vehicle can harbor disease if they are exposed to manure and bedding from the show. Changing into clean footwear before entering your vehicle will help reduce the chance of spreading disease back to your farm or other areas.
Trailers or equipment used at or for shows is also at risk of contributing to disease transfer. Items such as feed pans, waterers, shovels and show equipment should be cleaned and disinfected when you return home. All organic matter and manure should be removed from the items when washed.
Cover Crops Become Weeds at Spring Planting
New weeds were found in farm fields this spring. As producers rushed to plant their corn and soybean crops, cover crops planted last fall to provide erosion control were in the way.
“I’m not a cover crop specialist,” said Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri (MU) Extension weed specialist. “I help producers find the best ways to manage weeds.”
Bradley and Eric Riley, MU research associate, study ways to kill cover crops before planting season. They told of their progress during the July 11 Pest Management Field Day at MU Bradford Research Center, east of Columbia.
“We must be careful what species we plant as cover crops,” Bradley said. He granted that cover crops may benefit soil tilth and reduce erosion, but he stuck to the textbook definition of a weed: A plant out of place regardless of species. Even corn becomes a weed in soybean fields.
MU researchers studying nine cover crops found some were easier to control than others. Quick and complete control can speed up crop planting time.
The spring of 2012 provided challenges to researchers — and farmers. Frequent rains delayed getting into fields for preplant weed control.
That applied to all regular weeds, such as waterhemp, marestail, horseweed and other usual suspects. Cover crops planted last fall added more challenges.
Cover crops are difficult to control when herbicide applications are delayed and cover crops become taller. Increased biomass on the ground and added height increases difficulty in controlling any weed.
For more information, please view the full release here.
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