News Update

August 31, 2016

Anaplasmosis:
The Seedstock Perspective

Anaplasmosis continues to plague cattle operations across the country, and, as it appears to spread, producers find themselves with a growing list of questions regarding the silent killer. Kansas State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) veterinarian Gregg Hanzlicek helps answer some of the purebred producer’s most pressing questions.

Beef practitioners and veterinarians have been fighting anaplasmosis for 100 years or more, Hanzlicek says. The disease is considered to be endemic in the southeastern United States and the western-central states like Montana and Idaho, as well as the southeastern corner of Kansas.

A few years ago, KSVDL started tracking positive diagnostic samples back to their origins in Kansas. In 2013, the pattern indicated anaplasmosis was prevalent on the eastern side of the state.

“We didn’t have many positives coming from the central or western part of Kansas, but in 2015 I think just about every county in the eastern two-thirds has had at least one positive herd,” Hanzlicek says.

Continue reading in the Angus Journal news article online.

— Adapted from an article by Shelby Mettlen, Angus Media.

Penn Vet Adds Animal Welfare Course to Curriculum

A new course on animal welfare is available as an elective this fall to Penn Vet’s second-year students. In addition, a two-hour lecture about animal welfare will be included for the first time in the mandatory curriculum for first-year students.

The Introduction to Animal Welfare course, which will meet two hours once a week for 12 weeks, started Aug. 30. This new class will be available to 25 students.

Meghann Pierdon, Penn Vet lecturer, designed and organized the course with Thomas Parsons, associate professor and director of the Swine Teaching and Research Center. Parsons is one of the founding members of the new American College of Animal Welfare. Pierdon is one of the first swine veterinarians in the United States working toward board certification in welfare.

“The goal is to train veterinarians to speak as experts in the area of animal welfare,” Parsons said. “Through this course and through the new board certification, we are trying to create a standard for education and train veterinarians to be leaders in the field of animal welfare.”

For more information, view the Penn Vet news release online.

— Adapted from a release by Louisa Shepard, Penn Vet.

The Association’s Front Line

There are a number of items in my office that are glimpses into the past of the American Angus Association. For instance, there’s the trophy vase from the Fat Stock Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory, in 1904 — prior to Oklahoma’s statehood. There’s former secretary W.H. Tomhave’s cane from the Interstate Jr. Livestock Show in 1935. My favorite item, however, is Frank Richards’ Fieldman’s Handbook.

Frank Richards, who served as the Association’s fifth secretary, published the handbook in 1951 to serve as a guide for the Association’s regional managers (RMs). To quote from the handbook, “The Field Force is the front line of offense in our campaign to promote the Angus breed. They are the contact agents for the public relations department of this Association.”

While that was true six decades ago, it’s even more true of our RMs today. However, while the role of the RMs hasn’t changed, their duties have certainly evolved. The regional manager of today must not only be intimately knowledgeable of the Association’s rules and pedigrees, but also knowledgeable with the various member services offered, commercial programs (like AngusSource^®) and genomics.

Read more in the Angus Journal column online.

— Adapted from an article by Allen Moczygemba, American Angus Association.

High Tech Fits Marketing, Too

When I started my professional career a decade ago, I listened to talks that questioned whether cattle DNA genomics could be an applicable technology in the field. It would need higher accuracy, lower price points and an easy way to interpret and incorporate the data. I listened to experts in academia and industry, and even producers who were very early adopters, with wonder and amazement.

It all sounded a bit George Jetson-esque.

But now? All of those things have happened and exponentially more producers are improving their herds with simple blood tests or tissue samples. Depending on the breed, today’s genomically-enhanced expected progeny differences (EPDs) are updated as often as weekly.

Continue reading the Angus Media news article online.

— Adapted from an article by Miranda Reiman, Certified Angus Beef LLC.

NMSU to Host Livestock Water Symposium in Albuquerque

If you want to learn about issues related to stock water, you won’t want to miss this event.

The New Mexico State University (NMSU) Range Improvement Task Force (RITF) is hosting a livestock water symposium Sept. 10 in Albuquerque. The symposium is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the MCM Elegante Hotel at 2020 Menaul Blvd.

RITF is hosting the event in response to concerns about drought and limited understanding related to livestock water rights and water policy.

Topics will include: New Mexico water law and ranching; prebasin vs. state-engineer permitted water rights; how and why you need to file on your water rights; livestock water allocations; the special nature of livestock water and challenges in transferring water rights; how special designations impact water; and livestock water records.

Registration is available online. For more information, contact Ashcroft at 575-646-5394 or nashcrof@nmsu.edu.

— Adapted from a release by Kristie Garcia, New Mexico State University.

— Compiled by Paige Nelson, field editor, Angus Media.