Biosecurity for bringing home new sheep and goats

Biosecurity steps must be in place before the animals arrive to ensure the health of the new and existing herd or flock members and livestock owners.

Resources for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Cattle

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is an emerging issue that poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of dairy herds.

Herd Additions Are Risky: How to Mitigate Biosecurity Risk

As the gavel falls on your cattle purchase, do you really know what you bought? Herd additions have inherent risk. Every movement of cattle onto your cow-calf operation—be they cows, heifers, calves, or bulls—brings biosecurity risks to your farm. It is critical to isolate new additions so that any sickness they break with is not shared with your home herd.

Should you deworm your cattle this fall?

Deworming decisions are farm-specific and depend on the age of the animal, how much exposure they had to infective larvae while grazing this spring and summer or the previous spring and summer, when they were last dewormed, and what products were used.

Biosecurity in the feedlot

Bringing new calves to the feedlot is stressful for them due to transportation, adjusting to a new home, changing feed, exposure to disease, and establishing social order with new cattle. Minimizing both clinical and subclinical disease in feedlots is essential for producers to improve profitability.

Step into biosecurity with clean and disinfected boots

Keeping your livestock safe from microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi, is the biosecurity goal that all farms should have. Wearing clean, sanitized footwear helps meet this goal as foot traffic moves microbes to and around the farm.

Finely ground corn raises risk of acidosis in finishing rations

Finishing rations in our part of the country are usually around 10% roughage, give or take, to get energy levels high enough to finish cattle that will meet packer expectations efficiently. Corn makes up much of the remainder of the ration, and this corn is most often coarsely rolled or cracked.

Use the proper syringe and needle when vaccinating cattle

Using the right equipment when vaccinating your cattle requires the right tools. The correct syringes and needles must be used in addition to a well-designed and functioning headgate to restrain cattle so injections may be safely administered in the neck area.

Easy in, easy out: Incorporate biosecurity upon the introduction of new animals

For decades, livestock producers have moved animals on and off the farm by way of sale, leasing, renting, and between other facilities or pastures owned by the farm. With these movements comes the risk of the introduction or spread of disease.

Cleaning and sanitizing multi-dose syringes and transfer needles

Properly cleaning, sanitizing, and storing multi-dose syringes and transfer needles will reduce contamination from many viruses, bacteria, and fungi. The steps described here use only tap and distilled or deionzed (purified) water and do not render the equipment sterile.