Biosecurity Basics
National BQA programs have long focused on producing quality beef that satisfies consumers’ desires for a safe, wholesome and quality eating experience. Those efforts have met with resounding acceptance among producers and have contributed to the increasing nationwide demand for beef.
Ranch and feedlot biosecurity has become an over-arching issue added to the wide range of beef production and marketing BQA concepts. While we’ll continue to maintain a very strong emphasis directly on beef wholesomeness, quality and safety with attention to traditional BQA measures like reduction of injection site lesions, we know it’s time to move on to broader issues.
But, make no mistake, biosecurity is a beef quality issue. Better biosecurity means fewer sick cattle. Fewer sick cattle mean fewer cattle that have to be handled and treated with medications of all kinds, including antibiotics. And, Dr. Gary Smith, Colorado State University says, "Every time you treat an animal for a sickness in a feed yard, you risk losing a quality grade and a tenderness score." Not incidentally, fewer treatments also means less treatment labor and improved worker safety.
But, will it pay? Perhaps... The Noble Foundation of Ardmore, OK, reported that healthy (never treated) stocker calves gained 0.98 lbs. more/day than untreated sick calves. In addition, treated calves gained 0.52 lbs. more/day than untreated sick calves.
At 50¢/lb. cost of gain, the healthy calves produced $13.72 more/head during a 28-day period than untreated sick calves; treated calves produced $7.28/head more than untreated calves. That difference would increase as the calves remained on pasture longer.
The benefits of keeping a healthy herd are even more evident in a six-year summary of Texas Ranch to Rail data. It showed healthy steers had a total cost of gain of $55.89 and returned $69.98/head on average. Sick steers on the other hand had a $65.73 total cost of gain and lost an average of $28.45/head. Considering the effects of lower performance and quality, plus the medicine and labor associated with treatment, calf sickness can result in lost value of $43-$107 per head.
The new buzzwords
Biosecurity, biocontainment, biological risk management. To the beef producer, these new buzzwords essentially mean the same thing — addressing the possibility of a disease organism or disease complex entering or spreading within a beef cattle operation.
Biosecurity isn’t a new concept to Montana ranchers who have worked for decades to eliminate brucellosis. We know disease transmission can't be completely avoided or eliminated. But some basic management principles can be employed to effectively keep a ranching or feeding operation as secure as possible from unwanted biological invasion.
In a landmark report, "Animal Health at the Crossroads" issued in July 2005, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) says safeguarding animal health is of paramount importance to the U.S. economy, public health and the food supply. But, the NAS says the U.S. animal health framework has been slow to validate and implement new scientific tools and technologies that could significantly enhance animal disease prevention. Among other things, it emphasizes that better diagnostic tests for identifying all animal diseases should be made a priority.
Beyond the warning of the NAS, we need only to look back to recent history for lessons in the need for improved biosecurity measures. Our industry paid little attention to biosecurity issues before the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom. And, no one needs to be reminded of how devastating recent BSE events have been for Canadian and U.S. cattle and beef industries.
Attention to Zoonotics
Central to many arguments supporting concerted biosecurity efforts on the ranch or farm is that many diseases affecting beef cattle are zoonotic — that is they pose a risk to human health. Brucellosis, BSE, E. Coli O157: H7 and tuberculosis are examples of zoonotic diseases.
Today though, nearly every state animal health authority has issued recommendations and guidelines for increased agricultural biosecurity at the local level. Cattle producers across the country are beginning to work with their veterinarians in developing programs designed to increase biosecurity at the production level. These efforts include prevention of both zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases and improved overall vet-medical care.
Onus is on the producer
By default, the onus is on the production sector — working with the veterinary community — to develop a community-based approach to livestock biosecurity. This means changing animal health paradigms and ranch management practices. But in most cases, it doesn't have to involve significant increases in out-of-pocket operating costs. Disease transmission cannot be completely avoided or eliminated — but some basic management principles can be employed to effectively keep a ranching or feeding operation as secure as possible from a catastrophic biological invasion.
Biosecurity will increase time spent on management, planning and recordkeeping. Biosecurity doesn't require that you operate your ranch in a totally enclosed, controlled environment. It's systematic, not a single action or set of actions. A sound animal biosecurity program is like an insurance policy for the productivity of the herd.
While appropriate biosecurity measures will not eliminate risk, they can reduce the threat of disease epidemics and reduce liability — and less criticism of beef production practices throughout the production chain. Jared D. Taylor, DVM, adjunct instructor in Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Iowa State University Center for Food Security and Public Health says, "Producers who have made earnest attempts to control introduction, spread and release of diseases face less opposition from environmental, consumer and regulatory representatives.".
Unfortunately, much of our livestock biosecurity mentality has been formed around reaction to threats of catastrophic foreign animal disease, especially foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). And, while FMD poses a very real and dangerous threat to the health of our livestock herds, it's in applying biosecurity practices to more common livestock diseases that we can routinely achieve a return on investment.
Biosecurity planning is critical
Biosecurity isn't a cure in the face of a disease outbreak. That's like trying to open a savings account in the face of bankruptcy. Biosecurity planning must begin before disease strikes — and a commitment to long-term planning will yield the best results.
A great example of a biosecurity practice is the calf scours complex. In the Sandhills Calving System, researchers realized that if they could keep conditions as they are the first week of calving, perhaps the rest of the season could be more disease-free. In this system, groups of pregnant cows are strategically moved to new, clean calving pastures through the calving season. Cow-calf pairs stay grouped in pastures according to the calves’ ages.
If scours does develop in a Sandhills system, it can be contained on an individual pasture instead of being spread through the entire calf crop. Like any biosecurity practice, starting out with a plan before calving season is the key.
Whether FMD or calf scours, producers with the help of a qualified veterinarian, must make decisions about the risk-tolerance level they will accept based on the chances of a disease occurring and the expected economic losses from the disease. Improving an animal's disease resistance is the heart of disease prevention and one foundation of biosecurity. Another principle of biosecurity surrounds animal movement — as demonstrated by the Sandhills system. Beef cattle producers can learn some lessons from the poultry and swine industries about keeping pathogens out of, and away from, their herds.
Biosecurity Checklist
- Vaccinate against all endemic diseases.
- Screen herds or test animals for suspected disease problems.
- Quarantine newly acquired animals or reintroduced animals.
- Isolate sick animals in a designated hospital pen.
- Keep records of all disease occurrences and treatments.
- Work younger or healthier animals first, then older higher risk animals.
- Practice "all-in, all-out" animal movement in pens and pastures.
- Know incoming animals' health history.
- Purchase feed from reputable sources.
- Don't place cattle of different ages in the same pen.
- Control and monitor access to your operation.
- Try to place receiving and load-out facilities at the perimeter of the operation.
- Clean boots and clothing when working animals with different health status.
- Euthanize chronically sick animals.
- Have your vet necropsy animals that die from unknown causes.
- Promptly dispose of dead animals.
Montana Beef Quality Assurance,
2116 Broadwater Ave., Suite 307/11
Billings, MT 59102,
406-896-9068,
cpeck@montana.edu
Montana Beef Network,
119 Linfield Hall
Bozeman, MT 59718,
406-994-4323,
mharbac@montana.edu