iML Disease Info by Larry Feeney

Herd Health & Disease Testing Services from ve i ith posit w s r e m r s fa usinesse g Vets & b n i r i d i e v h t o r e P rov s to imp n o i t u l o s Testing Services

Independent Milk Laboratories

Disease Control Information: Guides to control of:

Bulk Milk Screen Scheme

Ideal Screen to establish herd Status & basis for design of herd health plan

• BVD

page 2

• IBR

page 3

• IBR & A.I.

page 4

Blood & Milk Antibody tests

• Johnes

page 5

Johnes, IBR, BVD, Lepto, Liver Fluke, Neospora

• Neospora

page 6

Tests can be performed on Blood or milk

• Leptospirosis

page 7

• Mastitis

page 8

BVD Virus Tests

Bulk Milk PCR iML is comitted to being a leader in the provision of disease testing and also advice relating to Herd Health.

Ear notch virus test

These step-by-step guides are for illustrative purposes only. Detailed guides may be requested by IML customers. Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Mastitis ID

Independent Milk Laboratories

A new joint venture business designed to provide Irish agriculture with high quality, accredited and independent milk & disease testing services. Progressive Genetics is Ireland leader in cattle breeding, herd improvement and mangement services. All iML tests are available through Progressive Genetics.

Individual Blood Antibody, Antigen & PCR

• Identifies Mastitis pathogens on Bulk or individual cow sample • Help in identifying source of mastitis or SCC • Allow for identification of appropriate treatment • PCR test for bacterial DNA • Highly accurate • Only bacteria actually in milk • No after-sample contamination • Not reliant on bacterial culture

For more information: www.progressivegenetics.ie www.imlabs.ie email: enquiries@imlabs.ie Tel: 01-4502142

Guide to BVD Control Good planning is key to a successful result. Carefully plan your herd’s health programme with your veterinary practitioner in order to derive maximum benefit from your disease control plan. Independent Milk Laboratories

Establish Herd Status

• Bulk Milk Antibody • Unvaccinated Youngstock Screen

What is it?

BVD is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle. What causes it?

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea virus (BVDv). How it is transmitted?

Establish if P.I. Present

• Bulk Milk Virus • Test all newborn calves for virus

Find P.I.

• Test all animals individually for BVD virus • Test all calves born following year for BVD virus

Direct animal contact is the most efficient method of BVD virus transmission. Both transient and persistently infected animals will shed virus particles in all bodily secretions, such as nasal and oral discharges, tears, milk and semen. Persistently infected animals shed significantly higher levels of virus than transiently infected animals. Indirect transmission by contaminated housing, veterinary equipment and farm visitors can also occur although of lower risk. Clinical Signs

Remove P.I.

• Once confirmed, slaughter PIs • DO NOT SELL ON

Continous Monitoring

• Poor fertility (conception rates), having ruled out other causes • Poor calf health i.e. unprecedented or undeserved level of calf scour and/or pneumonia • Increased number of abortions, stillbirths and/or deformities • Birth of weak calves • Occurrence of severe acute BVD • Occurrence of fatal mucosal disease (only possible in persistently infected animals) Eliminate from your herd by:

• On-going management of herd • Biosecurity

1. Testing for and removing persistently infected animals. 2. Designing and implementing a biosecurity plan. 3. Vaccinating. Disease Triangle

Testing Options • Bulk Monitoring Scheme • Blood Antibody • Bulk Milk Virus PCR • Ear Notch test • Blood Virus test • Blood Antigen Elisa • Blood Virus test • Ear Notch test

Biosecurity Effective Disease Control Diagnostic Testing

Vaccination

check www.animalhealthireland.ie for a full BVD guide

• Bulk Monitoring Scheme

for more information: visit www.progressivegenetics.ie or phone 01-4502142 visit www.imlabs.ie or email enquiries@imlabs.ie

This step-by-step guide is for illustrative purposes only. A detailed guide is available to IML customers. Discuss with your veterinary practitioner to determine which steps are most appropriate to your farm.

Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Guide to IBR Control Good planning is key to a successful result. Carefully plan your herd’s health programme with your veterinary practitioner in order to derive maximum benefit from your disease control plan. Independent Milk Laboratories

What is it?

Establish Herd Status

IBR is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle.

• Bulk Milk Antibody (gE if vaccinating) • Unvaccinated Youngstock Screen

What causes it?

Bovine Herpes Virus 1 (BHV-1). How it is transmitted?

• Identification of IBR Carriers (low antibody herd) • Individual testing of entire herd

• Remove IBR Carriers (low antibody herd only) • Do not sell into IBR free herd

Vaccination programme may be warranted in antibody positive (discuss with vet practitioner)

Continous Monitoring

• On-going management of herd • Biosecurity

Testing Options • Bulk Monitoring Scheme • Individual Blood Antibody • Individual Milk Antibody • gE test for vaccinated herds • Bulk Monitoring Scheme

Direct animal contact is the most efficient method of IBR virus transmission. Stress re-activates infections in carrier animals. Nasal discharges from infected animals will contain large amount of virus. Indirect transmission by contaminated housing, veterinary equipment and farm visitors can also occur. Clinical Signs

Initial outbreak • Sudden milk drop and high fever • Nasal discharge – red, crusty nose • Sore and cloudy eyes • Severe pneumonia due to secondary bacterial infections • Abortions in the second half of pregnancy • Increase in calf pneumonia Repeat outbreak (tends to be less severe) • Calf pneumonia • Cow pneumonia • Occasional abortions in second half of pregnancy Infected herds often show no obvious clinical signs of disease Eliminate from your herd by:

1 Vaccinating with a live vaccine in the face of an outbreak 2 Continuing to vaccinate at six-monthly intervals 3 Testing to establish the level of carriers in the herd 4 Culling carriers out of the herd when economically feasible 5 Designing and implementing a biosecurity plan including diagnostic testing Disease Triangle

Biosecurity Effective Disease Control Diagnostic Testing

Vaccination

for more information: visit www.progressivegenetics.ie or phone 01-4502142 visit www.imlabs.ie or email enquiries@imlabs.ie

Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Note for pedigree breeders: getting animals qualified for A.I., Tully etc IBR & A.I. : How to avoid dangers & increase chances of passing AI entry tests. IBR virus is found in many herds in Ireland and is spread easily from animal to animal in a variety of ways including semen. IBR infection is permanent, although often animals become infected with IBR without any clinical signs or symptoms. IBR is unusual in that the virus can become dormant or latent in the animal, re-emerging, shedding and spreading at times of stress. Newborn calves pose a particular problem for two reasons; 1) Calving is a stressful activity and IBR positive cows are likely to shed more virus at this time so newborn calves are often exposed to IBR shortly after birth. and 2) Calves are born without a fully functioning immune system – they rely on antibodies absorbed from their dams colostrum to give them temporary protection from disease. If the dam is IBR infected, they will absorb large doses of IBR antibody from the colostrum. These large doses of IBR antibody interfere or block the normal response to IBR by the calves own immune system. Antibodies absorbed from colostrum are temporary. When they wear off, some of the calves which became IBR infected at birth have none of the tell-tale IBR antibody associated with normal IBR infection. This calf will now pass its entry test (it has no IBR antibody!) but is a major threat to the breeding programme. This is called the “Sero Negative Latent Carrier” state. To avoid the creation of this Sero Negative Latent Carrier state we want to ensure as many high merit bulls as possible receive colostrum that is free from IBR antibodies. If a bull does not receive antibodies to IBR in their colostrum in the first 24 hours of life they will not become a Sero Negative Latent Carrier. This will protect the breeding programme, the bull stud and the rearing centres. How can we increase the number of calves that receive colostrum from IBR negative dams? As a first step we will where possible identify the IBR status of the dam of the calf if the dam is IBR negative you can safely feed her colostrum to the target calf at birth. If the dam is IBR positive her colostrum will pass on some antibodies to IBR. To avoid this we must look to see if we can provide an alternative source of colostrum for the calf that is IBR negative. The best option is colostrum from an IBR negative cow in your herd. Because of time constraints to have colostrum available when the calf is born we are asking farmers to freeze 4-5 litres of colostrum from the next 3-5 cows to calve in your herd. Ideally younger cows have the best chance of being IBR negative. Once the colostrum is frozen please take a milk sample from the same cow 1 week later. Send the samples to us and we will screen the samples to identify those that are IBR negative. Feeding only the colostrum (4-5 litres) from the IBR negative cow to the target bull calf for the first 24 hours of life will ensure we do not create a Sero Negative Latent Carrier calf. After 24 hours you can use the calf’s mothers milk. If you are vaccinating for IBR all vaccinated cows will have antibodies to the IBR virus therefore they will give antibodies in colostrum to new born calves and therefore could create a Sero Negative Latent Carrier calf. If you have vaccinated please call NCBC to discuss options.

IBR danger from infected cows IBR Positive Cow Colostrum to calf Mothers Antibodies supress IBR Virus becomes Latent Calf tests IBR Negative “Sero Negative Latent Carrier” Begins sheding virus later After entry to AI Stud

How to Avoid the Danger IBR Positive Cow

Colostrum to calf

IBR Negative Cow

Calf gets colostrum from IBR negative cow

Sero Neg Carrier avoided Calf will be IBR free if he passes tests No Danger to AI Stud

We can all work together to prevent threat of IBR on your farms and at the AI stud. Please contact NCBC if you have any furthur questions. NCBC,Kilcorney, Enfield, Co Meath Telephone:046 9541333 Fax: 046 9541438

Guide to Johnes Disease Control Good planning is key to a successful result. Carefully plan your herd’s health programme with your veterinary practitioner in order to derive maximum benefit from your disease control plan. Independent Milk Laboratories

Bulk Milk Test (Least Reliable)

What is it?

Johnes Disease or Paratuberculosis is a bacterial disease of cattle. What causes it?

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. 30 Cow Screen

(Moderately Reliable)

Individual Milking Cow Herd Screen (Better Reliablility)

How it is transmitted?

This bacterium is shed in faeces by infected animals. Young calves are most at risk of infection and become infected when exposed to infected dung, particularly when nursing from an udder contaminated with infected faeces or from ingestion of infected colostrum and/or milk. M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis can also cross the placenta; however the most common route of infection is through ingestion of the mycobacterium. An apparently normal animal can silently shed mycobacteria in the herd. This bacterium remains viable in the environment for lengthy periods.

Repeated Individual Milking Cow Herd Screen

Clinical signs

(Best Reliability)

• Chronic, eventually fatal, weight loss in cows despite treatment • Progressive wasting despite a good appetite, Persistent and severe diarrhoea • Clinical signs rarely seen in animals less than two years of age.

Continous Monitoring

Control in your herd by:

Be aware of test reliability

On-going management of positive cows Biosecurity

1 Continuous testing to identify high-risk animals 2 Culling of high risk animals if/when economically feasible. 3 Management of high risk animals that remain within the herd 4 Implementing a calf management system to avoid infection i.e. o high levels of hygiene to minimise faecal contamination of young calves o feed colostrum from cows either negative or low-risk for Johnes o rear calves on milk replacer until weaned o if possible, separate newborn calves from all adult animals immediately after birth until at least 12 months of age and preferably until two years of age 5 Using an approved disinfectant in hygiene maintenance. 6 Designing and implementing a biosecurity plan including diagnostic testing Disease Triangle

Testing Options Bulk Monitoring Scheme

Biosecurity Effective Disease Control

• Individual Milk Antibody • Individual Blood Antibody

Diagnostic Testing

Vaccination

for more information: visit www.progressivegenetics.ie or phone 01-4502142 visit www.imlabs.ie or email enquiries@imlabs.ie

Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Guide to Neosporosis Control Good planning is key to a successful result. Carefully plan your herd’s health programme with your veterinary practitioner in order to derive maximum benefit from your disease control plan. Independent Milk Laboratories

What is it?

Bulk Milk Antibody Screen

Neosporosis is a parasitic disease of canines; cattle are infected as incidental hosts. What causes it?

Neospora caninum; a protozoan parasite Test all animals individually for exposure to Neospora

(test in second half of gestation for optimal results)

Cull Neospora positive animals if economically feasible Manage Neospora positive animals if culling is not possible Continous Monitoring

How it is transmitted?

An animal originally becomes infected with Neospora through ingestion of Neospora oocysts (egg equivalent), which are shed in dog (or other canine) faeces. The infected animal may carry the infection for life and will infect some if not all of her subsequent calves. A calf infected during gestation will either be aborted or will survive full term and be born as an otherwise normal albeit infected calf. The congenitally infected calf, if female, will then pass the infection to her off-spring. Clinical signs

• Abortions in mid-gestation • Can occur as an abortion storm • Birth of weak possibly underweight calves with neurological signs i.e. unable to stand, poor reflexes • Possible reduction in milk production and productive lifespan in infected cows Eliminate from your herd by:

• On-going management of herd. • Biosecurity

1. Testing to identify cows that have been exposed; check for antibody to Neospora 2. Ensuring no animal contact with infected placenta or aborted foetuses 3. Breeding infected/exposed cows to beef bulls 4. Culling infected/exposed cows when economically feasible 5. Regularly worming farm dogs or pets and minimise contact of the herd with dog faeces 6. Designing and implementing a biosecurity plan including diagnostic testing.

Testing Options Bulk Monitoring Scheme • Individual Milk Antibody • Individual Blood Antibody

Bulk Monitoring Scheme

for more information: visit www.progressivegenetics.ie or phone 01-4502142 visit www.imlabs.ie or email enquiries@imlabs.ie

Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Guide to Leptospirosis Control Good planning is key to a successful result. Carefully plan your herd’s health programme with your veterinary practitioner in order to derive maximum benefit from your disease control plan. Independent Milk Laboratories

Bulk Milk Test Youngstock Screen

What is it?

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease of cattle. It can also result in lifethreatening disease in humans. What causes it?

Continuously Monitor

• Bulk Milk • Annual Youngstock Screen

Vaccinate annually

Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo Adapted to cattle: Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar hardjo Other leptospiral serovars: Adapted to other species e.g. rats, dogs How it is transmitted?

A leptosprial infection can be transmitted from one animal to the next through direct contact with infected urine/water, milk or placental fluids. Infected animals often show no signs of infection but harbour the bacteria in their kidneys, shedding them intermittently into the environment. Some wildlife species (e.g. rats) also shed leptospires in urine making avoidance difficult. Transmission via semen is possible but uncommon. Clinical Signs

• Biosecurity • Ongoing management

• Decreased reproductive efficiency (infertility) • Decreased milk production (milk drop syndrome) • Abortion sometimes with retention of afterbirth • Stillbirths and weak calves • Septicaemia (blood poisoning) Control in your herd using

1 Vaccination 2 Selective treatment with high dose antibiotics 3 Rodent control 4 Fencing of wet ground and streams 5 Keeping housing clean and disinfected 6 Designing and implementing a biosecurity plan including diagnostic testing Disease Triangle

Biosecurity Effective Disease Control

Testing Options

Diagnostic Testing

Vaccination

Bulk Monitoring Scheme Blood Antibody Test

for more information: visit www.progressivegenetics.ie or phone 01-4502142 visit www.imlabs.ie or email enquiries@imlabs.ie

Disease situations differ between herds and between locations and your veterinary practitioner is best placed to assist you in deciding which control programmes are best suited to your farm.

Mastitis & SCC

Is herd SCC >200,000? Are there clinical mastitis cases?

1. Information

Identify high SCC cows using

milk recording data and cows with clinical mastitis cases

Components of scc management 2. Advice

a. Milk Recording Cow SCC b. Problem cow reports c. Mastitis ID – key new development d. Treatments e. Progress reports – Milk Recording

a. Vet b. Farm Advisor c. Milk Parlour Tech

a. Plan based approach b. Based on available information c. Follow up

3. Action

What we can provide:

Use mastitis ID test on problem

cows to identify what bacteria is causing mastitis/SCC

• Cow SCC • Mastitis ID • Problem Cow Reports • Agrinet software

Mastitis Incidence Problem - Cow Report

Use guidance notes on bacteria

to understand effect, transmission and management factors influencing source of mastitis

PROGRESSIVE GENETICS KYLEMORE ROAD BLUEBELL DUBLIN Tel: 01/4502142

Herd owner: Herd No:

Scheme A6

Print date:

29/05/10

Test date:

25/05/10

Page: 1(4)

Mastitis Incidence History (Current Lactation)

Decide on course of action

Actions will depend on type of mastitis causing problem. Action plan should be discussed in conjunction with vet, farm advisor, milking parlour technician etc and may include a combination of treatments and management changes.

Cow ID

I&R-Tag

Calv. Date Lact. Tests > 250 Latest SCC

Cow name

Age

Days

Sire ID

Group

Test Mast Treats Last treat

677

30/01/10 3y 8m

OKN

802

IE-2814636-1-0802

Monitor Progress

IE-2814636-3-0399

11/04/10

Spring

1 5

797

IE-2814636-5-0797

SUW

731

check www.animalhealthireland.ie for more information.

IE-2814636-5-0731

OKN

514

IE-2814636-2-0514

14/05/10

2y 4m

Spring

25/03/10

Spring

12/03/10

5y 11m Spring

LCX

114

Mastitis ID

IE-BJWK-0114-E

HWR

617 50

For more information: www.progressivegenetics.ie www.imlabs.ie email: enquiries@imlabs.ie Tel: 01-4502142

12y 2m

Spring

29/03/09

IE-2816593-1-0064

23/02/09

SUW

474

IE-2814636-4-0474

14/05/10

741

IE-2814636-7-0741

05/04/09

3y 1m MCL IE-2814636-3-0242

1 11

01/06/09

68 0

4021

3944

480

255 3 0

2597 4.5

1831

172

5.5

0 0

1718

3034

574

5.5

4 0

1525

4.2

2 0

1343

184

289

47 0 0

1014

621

382

508

397

6828

129

135

1.2

Spring

GPO

4411

12.8

456

2y 3m

6y 4m

422

Spring

RIL

2453

7709

Mast Treats

23-nov 16-sep 15-jul

05/04/10

3y 1m

GPO

• Staphylococcus aureus • Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (CNS) • Staphylococcal beta-lactamase (penicillin resistance) gene • Streptococcus agalactiae • Streptococcus dysgalactiae • Streptococcus uberis • Escherichia coli • Corynebacterium bovis

IE-2816593-4-0050

03-feb

74 10

4y 8m OKN

242

Which Pathogens?

IE-2814636-6-0617

3y 3m

06-apr

0 1

112

Spring

Tests > 250

Previous mastitis treatments

20.6

02/02/10 7y 6m

IE281463660245

115

Spring 2y 3m

399

Ave. SCC

% Herd SCC

25-may IE-2814636-9-0677

Prev. lact.

Previous SCC (*1000) herd tests

878 2.2

415

847 1.6

7 1

0 4

358

Spring

24/10/08

9y 9m

578

Winter

199

846

669

1128

1790

202

1488

977

714

2277

1004

1.3 7

796 1.1

5 0

• Arcanobacterium pyogenes • Enterococcus faecalis and/or faecium • Klebsiella oxytoca and/or pneumoniae • Serratia marcescens Large-scale prevalence studies indicate that >95 % of all clinical and subclinical mastitis cases are caused by the species detected by the PCR test.

ers with positive Providing Vets & farm e their businesses solutions to improv

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Independent Milk Laboratories