CALF_News_December_2018_January_2019

23 CALF News • December 2018 | January 2019 • www.calfnews.net The industry is changing; it’s time to take cattle feeding down a new road. Recent advancements in cattle nutrition have opened new routes to help limit pulls, treatment and positively benefit the health of an animal. Adopting a new measure of prevention through the feed is an important first step to help minimize delays on the road ahead. Take a new road with ProTernative ® - a proven probiotic that positively activates the immune system of cattle during times of stress. ProTernative works in the lower gut to influence the animal’s natural immunity through an internal active process that only a specific, robust and active live yeast can deliver. The road you’ve always taken doesn’t cut it anymore. Feed ProTernative and take a new measure of prevention. PROTERNATIVE-THE NEW MEASURE OF PREVENTION LALLEMAND ANIMAL NUTRITION Tel: 414 464 6440 Email: LAN_NA@lallemand.com www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com Not all products are available in all markets nor are all claims allowed in all regions. ©2016. ProTernative is a registered trademark of Lallemand Animal Nutrition. Complicating matters further, there is a long incubation period for the disease. In a July 24, 2015, Progressive Cattlemen article, J.K. Shearer and P.J. Plummer reported that many feedlot owners and managers say cattle enter their lots free of clinical DD evidence. After about 120-150 days on feed, they break with symptoms. This is particularly frus- trating since it occurs about the time cattle are ready to move on to harvest. It also causes speculation that cattle enter feedyards with lesions present but not yet causing lameness. Dairy steers become more advanced and chronic with DD than beef cattle. Beef cattle feed- lots housing stock with naïve immune systems may have outbreaks that affect up to 50 percent of the pen. What does it look like? Lesions are most likely to appear on the back of the foot, between the heels. They can vary in appearance and size both within a herd and in different parts of the world. The condition is so painful that cattle will walk on their toes, if they put weight on their foot at all. Swelling is not a common symptom. Sores appear as raw, red, oval ulcers. Many develop a granular, wart-like lesion surrounded by coarse, long hairs. Thus the moniker “hairy heel wart.” The lesions have a distinctive odor. In the chronic state, there is a signifi- cant erosion of the hoof heel. Unfortu- nately, DD slips easily into the category of “chronic” for many cows. Although it can subside, it never completely leaves; the majority of lesions will reoccur. Treatment and management Since this disease is considered a per- manent resident of your farm, once it has established itself control is not a matter of elimination, but management. There is no effective vaccine against DD. Blanket feeding antibiotics is illegal and most systemic antibiotics are off- label. What to do? Dairy cattle are moved through a facil- ity two or three times a day for milking and are generally docile. Feedlot cattle are not. In addition, they will suffer more significantly from stress by simply being handled. Therefore, treatment of dairy cows will vary significantly from feedlot cattle. While dairy personnel can catch a cow, scrub and administer antibiotic patches to lesions, pack the foot and apply a waterproof boot for protection, beef cattle producers are left pretty much with one option: footbaths. Most severe cases of lameness may be treated fairly effectively with antibiotic sprays. This is still labor intensive. A footbath for cattle coming off trucks and baths at regular intervals in between placement and harvest is a more efficient option, no matter the inconvenience. New Mexico State University gives suggested treatments to include in foot- baths. The most effective are:  Copper Sulfate – popular and effec- tive. Illegal in New Mexico due to wastewater discharge permit rules.  Zinc Sulfate – less effective but still a good choice Continued on page 27 