HERD HEALTH

Closed herd: Closed herd: We maintain a totally closed herd and our herd has been closed since 1998. This means that no animals enter the herd - period. We made the decision that the best way to enhance our genetics while protecting the health of our herd was not to buy cattle, but to purchase foundation Maine-Anjou semen and elite embryos and flush our excellent cows. Prior to 1998, all purchased animals were tested for bovine tuberculosis, persistent infection with bovine diarrhea virus, bovine leukemia virus, and Johne’s disease. Prior to entry to the herd, new additions were vaccinated with bovine respiratory diseases and leptospirosis and quarantined for 30 days.

Breeding: All cows and heifers are bred AI, with particular attention paid to calving ease for heifers and 2 year olds. Cows are bred off natural heat and a variety of different synch programs, including Ovasynch, Lutalyse, and CIDRs. This year we will be adding ultrasound - for early diagnosis of pregnancy as well as fetal sexing.

Calf care: Close up cows are brought up to the barn and have access to a deeply bedded 40 x 50 pen and 1-acre lot. Cows calve in 12 x 24 pens. Pens have dirt floors and are cleaned, limed, and covered with lots of fresh straw. Prior to calving, the cows udder and vulva is clipped. The barn is an 90 x 60 structure with a roof and a west wall (no north or south walls) that abuts at a 90 degree angle an 80 x 40 “old barn” that has the chute, machine and hay storage, office, and an alleyway. The ventilation is excellent, and cows and calves are kept out of the wind by plywood panels hung on gates (which are removed in spring, summer and fall). The combination of excellent ventilation and vaccination program keeps our pneumonia problems to almost zero.
 

After birth all calves receive an injection of vitamins A, D, and E, selenium and a 7 way clostridial vaccine (Alpha 7 or Vision 7). Navals are dipped with 7% iodine. In miserable cold windy weather, calves are put into the calf warmer to get warm and dry and put in polar fleece coats. We believe the calf should use its energy to grow and develop immunity, not to maintain body temperature. This is particularly important when they are very young, as babies of all species don’t regulate their temperature very well.

Calves are tagged with Allflex custom tags that identify them as “KAISERCALF” and their herd identification, which corresponds to the year (2005 was the letter R; 2006 is S; 2007 was T; 2008 is U (ugh!) etc) of birth and the numerical order of their of their birth (first calf is 1, second is 2 etc). Calves are tattooed, either at birth or (depending on the weather) somewhat later with their herd ID and AMAA breeder ID (XX). Since 2004 we have participated in Michigan’s electronic identification program through FAIR. Calves are tagged with Allflex EID tags.

Horned calves are paste dehorned within the first week after birth. Calves that are paste dehorned receive analgesia and anti-inflammatory drugs to decrease pain and stress. Steer calves are banded early in life and receive tetanus vaccine as well as anti-inflammatory medication to decrease pain and swelling. Calves are closely monitored. We have not had a problem with scours (knock on wood) so we do not use any of the scour vaccines. Calves have free access to their own space (NO cows allowed), deeply bedded in straw, with alfalfa hay and grain mixture containing calf manna pellets.

Vaccinations: We have an aggressive vaccination program for both cows and calves. Cows are vaccinated annually with Cattlemaster Gold FP5 and 5 way Lepto. In 2004 we began vaccinating for Lepto hardjo bovis, and this is repeated annually. Cows are also vaccinated annually for rabies. Cows are all vaccinated with 7-way clostridial vaccine and boostered occasionally.

Calves are vaccinated prior to weaning with Bovi-Shield FP 5L5. After weaning, calves are boosted with Bovi-Shield and vaccinated with Alpha 7. Steers are vaccinated with tetanus prior to banding. Bulls are vaccinated for haemophilus and pasteurella, and heifers are Bang’s vaccinated and vaccinated for Lepto hardjo. Bull and heifer calves are vaccinated for rabies.

Deworming: All cattle are dewormed with pour-on (Cydectin or Dectomax) in early winter, spring, and fall.

Magnets: All cows and heifers and all animals sold as breeding stock receive magnets in the fall of their first year.

Mineral: Cows have access to Crystalyx Brigade throughout the year and Rabon tubs in fly season.

Annual testing for disease: Our entire herd is tested every year for bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, and Johne’s disease. Our entire herd tested negative for these diseases on every test, including the most recent in 2007.

Necropsy: Any calf born dead or bovine who dies is necropsied. We do this not only because we have “bovine guilt” when any animal dies, but also because we need to know what we did wrong, what did we miss, was the diagnosis correct? We have never had a calf with TH (tibial hemimelia) or PHA (pulmonary hypoplasia with anasarca). The ostrich approach is not a good management tool! We want to know and then make appropriate changes if necessary.

Testing for TH and PHA: In 2006 we tested our entire cow herd for PHA – all our cows test negative for PHA. A preference for older maternal genetics, luck, and not using popular AI sires combined to give us a PHA free cow herd.
Like many breeders we used both TH and PHA carrier bulls prior to the identification of these disorders and the development of the genetic tests. This has resulted in a THF bull working hard in Eaton County and a THC steer being shown. In 2006 we had 2 heifers sired by a PHA carrier – one heifer (Kaisers Sunflower) is PHA free and will join the herd; the 2nd heifer (Kaisers Sequin) is a carrier – she will be used as a recipient. If she does not take an egg, she will not be used for breeding.

All of our cows are purebred Maine-Anjou without Shorthorn breeding. Our embryo donors (Hardings Eloquence, aka Lamont and Kaisers Kumquat) test negative for both TH and PHA. We guarantee all our calves are negative for both TH and PHA.

We believe that TH and PHA are bad for the breed, bad for our cows, bad for our reputation, and bad for the industry. Now that there are tests for both defects we will not use carrier bulls, now will we use untested bulls.. Furthermore, we believe that selling carriers for breeding stock is the WRONG thing to do, and we will not do it. (for more information on TH and PHA see articles).

FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Bovine TB: Our herd is bovine TB accredited free (#140339) and has been since 1999. This means that all animals in our herd test negative for bovine TB every year and has since 1998. This voluntary program is part of the United States Cooperative Tuberculosis Eradication program of the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the state of Michigan.

Brucellosis: All heifers are vaccinated between the ages of 4 and 8 months for Brucellosis (Bang’s Disease) with RB-51 vaccine. Our herd is a Brucellosis Certified Free herd (MIB1859). This voluntary program is part of the United States Cooperative Brucellosis Eradication program of the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the State of Michigan.

Johne’s Disease: Our herd is a Johne’s Status 4 herd and has been since September of 2002. This is the highest status attainable in the USDA Johne’s Control Program. To attain this status we have complied with the federal requirements, which includes annual testing of all animals one year and older via an ELISA test and fecal testing of all adults on a specific schedule. Our entire herd has annually tested negative for Johne’s Disease since we began whole-herd testing in 1998. We believe that Johne’s disease is a devastating disease of cattle and that anyone who sells breeding animals owes it to their customers to aggressively deal with this disease. To our knowledge no other beef herd in the state of Michigan and no other Maine-Anjou herd in the US has achieved this elite Johne’s Status level.