Equine Bio-security

 Equine Owners

Colorado State University has put together this outstanding user friendly site on Equine ANIMAL BIOSECURITY

Topics include:

About Animal Biosecurity

Horse Owners

Horse Barn Managers

Horses grazing in a pasture

About Animal Biosecurity

CSU’s Animal biosecurity resources have been developed to assist animal owners, and farm managers on how to prevent infectious disease among animals housed together. Like any shared residential arrangement – such as apartment buildings, school dormitories, and hotels – boarding stables, livestock pens and open pastures are not closed systems. Even with careful protocols to prevent disease, there is an opportunity for animals to be exposed to organisms while off the farm and to potentially expose the other animals upon return.

Keeping your animals free from infectious disease, the kind of disease that can be spread between animals. The first topics on this site focus on horses at boarding stables where the horses are owned by different people but live together at one farm. More developments will focus on other animals and will be added.

Go to: https://animalbiosecurity.colostate.edu/#

Spring Herd Management Checklist

 

 

Spring Calving Herds Finish up calving season.Document calf birth dates, calf ID and dam ID. This can be used to build a calving distribution graph. Various studies have documented that a calf born in the first 21 days of the calving season (first breeding exposure) can weigh at weaning an average of 45 lbs more than a calf born in the second estrus cycle, and nearly 95 lbs more than a calf born during the third 21 days of the calving season (third breeding exposure/estrus cycle). Keeping records of this will help improve breeding and culling decisions, and hopefully weaning weights. As calving season winds down, prepare to give cows pre-breeding vaccines.  If using a modified live respiratory virus vaccine make sure to wait until every cow has calved to avoid any fetal loss from the modified live vaccine. Fall Calving Herds If retaining fall calves through the summer, ensure calves are adequately protected against respiratory disease and blackleg. Preg check fall calving herds. If you have not done so already, now is an excellent time to preg check fall calving herds. Pregnancy checks can be done to predict calf birth dates.These can be used to help plan labor needs for the calving season, as well as make culling decisions for the herd. Open cows may need to be culled. Both Spring and Fall Calving Herds Have a pink eye mitigation and control plan. This may, or may not include an autogenous vaccine, or a manufactured multi-strain vaccine. It also may include having an adequate supply of anti-microbials and antibiotics on hand to treat cattle that are impacted.It also should include a fly control program. Fly control Program.Horn flies take as many as 30 blood meals a day from cattle that reside on, slowing or stopping cattle gains on summer pasture. Face flies spread pinkeye.Treating both of these will go a long way to hold value on calves and keep the cow herd productive.  Be sure to obtain fly treatment products early in the season (Late March – April). Follow label directions on all products.  Have a discussion with your veterinarian on what may work best for you. Make plans to deworm growing calves. Again, check with your veterinarian on deworming calves. Oral drenches may be an option if you have recently been using pour on de-wormers. Cattle going out to grass that will not be reworked in a recent timeline might be candidates for a long acting injectable dewormer. Credit: John Benner, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Augusta County

Horses and Serve Weather

 

Spring Annuals for Cover & Grazing

Matt Booher, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Do you have crop field that didn't get a cover crop planted last fall--or maybe it was planted too late and established poorly? Could you use some extra spring grazing or haylage? A spring annual planted now could provide quick protection from soil erosion and high-quality feed for your livestock this spring.

Common options include spring oats, spring barley, or spring triticale. Sometimes spring peas, annual ryegrass, or brassicas are also included to add some diversity. Its important to select spring varieties, because winter varieties may not vernalize and produce the tonnage desired.

About 50 lbs./acre of nitrogen should be applied at planting in order to ensure quick growth and good yields, even when legumes are included in the mix. If grazing the spring , much of this nitrogen can be recovered by the crop that follows--as long as you manage grazing to ensure that manure and urine are deposited relatively uniformly across the field.

Spring annuals can grow and mature relatively quickly, so, depending on your animal numbers, you may be able to start grazing as soon as 40 or 45 days after planting. If harvesting as haylage, the soft dough stage provides a good combination of yield and forage quality.

Stockers

 

Virginia Farm Festival

 

2022 Pork Conference

 

2022 Virginia Pork Industry Conference REGISTER TODAY! Calling all Virginia pork producers and industry members! You are invited to the 2022 Virginia Pork Industry Conference, hosted by the Virginia Pork Council. The conference will take place at Meadow Event Park, in Doswell, VA on Wednesday, March 23. We look forward to seeing you there! Conference Program to Include: 8:30am - Registration 9:00am - Welcome 9:30am - Conversation with pork and agriculture industry leaders from across the Commonwealth: "Pork to Table" challenges discussion including transportation, research, market, environmental, and animal health Special guest speakers include: Matt Lohr, Secretary of Agriculture & Forestry Joe Guthrie, VDACS Commissioner Dr. Charles Broaddus, State Veterinarian Director of VDACS Division of Animal and Food Industry Services 12:00pm - Lunch 3:00pm - Tour of State Fair of VA livestock pens, donated by Virginia Pork Council 4:00pm - Virginia Pork Council Annual Meeting 5:00pm - Networking Reception   REGISTER HERE   Questions? Contact katie@virginiapork.org