Focus on healthy animals to help prevent disease outbreaks

WASHINGTON — The focus on all livestock operations should be promoting health rather than preventing disease.

“A great way to start is to create a health plan in conjunction with your veterinarian to emphasize prevention of illness or injury,” said Caitlin Aguilar, director of compliance and quality for A Greener World.

“The first thing to consider is breed selection and selecting for disease resistance and resilience,” said she said during a webinar hosted by Food Animal Concerns Trust, or FACT. “Consider your source and choose reputable breeders and hatcheries or breeders that you know well.”

Newborn animals should receive colostrum within six hours of birth, Aguilar said.

“When feeding milk replacer, make sure the bottles are cleaned between each use,” she said.

Elevating feeders is better than feeding animals directly on the floor.

“Or, locate the feeders outside of the pens when appropriate,” the director said. “Keep the water clean and free of manure and, especially with chicks, make sure you are cleaning those waterers routinely.”

When sourcing feed, Aguilar said, producers may consider prebiotics or probiotics to boost gut health.

“There are a lot of products out there, so do your research,” she said.

Clean facilities will help combat illnesses and spread of disease.

“Look at your maturity pens — they should be clean, dry and well-bedded,” Aguilar said. “Look at your facility in its entirety and maintain walkways and loafing areas to facilitate safe and stress-free animal movement and utilization.”

Foot baths can be used to sanitize boots.

“This is a great way to help prevent the spread of disease and boost biosecurity,” Aguilar said.

“Consider your stocking rates and avoid overcrowding,” she said. “Overcrowding can lead to manure buildup as well as increasing stress on your livestock.”

Gut Feeling

The microbiome is the key interface between the body and the environment, explained Madeleine Kleven, safe and healthy food program coordinator for FACT.

“It is the collection of all microbes including bacteria, fungi and viruses that naturally live in the body,” Kleven said.

“The composition of the microbiome can change the immune response, metabolism and other bodily functions that protect against invading germs and opportunistic pathogens,” she said. “Maintaining a happy, healthy microbiome is important for health in both animals and people.”

An animal’s microbiome can be affected by a number of environmental exposures such as chemicals, diet, stress, habitat and for animals, medicated feeds, the program coordinator said.

“Medicated feeds can alter the microbial composition of the gut,” Kleven said.

“These feeds can reduce the microbial diversity and in some cases the drug can kill off organisms in the animal, resulting in a lower number or less variation of the naturally occurring microbes,” she said. “This can disrupt or have an effect on different systems in the body.”

This can shift the dominant bacterial group in an animal, Kleven said.

“Which makes an animal more vulnerable to disease depending on the particular use of drugs and which bacteria are more or less prevalent,” she said.

Quality Care

Aguilar advises livestock producers to vaccinate their animals.

“Work with your veterinarian to create a specific vaccine for your farm and then monitor your animals and keep an eye on your herd,” she said.

“Look at everything you are feeding and check your labels for the red bars that say medicated,” Aguilar said. “Keep an eye on anything going into the animal to make sure you can avoid medications when necessary.

“If you don’t have a great relationship with your veterinarian, start a conversation so you have a plan,” she said. “The biggest thing is prevention, but you want to know how to operate when you have an issue on your farm.”

Talking with other livestock producers can also be a benefit.

“Know your source farms and their practices to see what they are doing with their biosecurity,” Aguilar said. “Maybe they have recommendations that can help you on your farm.”

Aguilar encourages livestock producers to learn about holistic medications.

“Ideally holistic could be a first line of defense and then antibiotics as a second line of defense if you are battling illnesses on your farm,” she said.