Well, now that we have Trich in the area and laws to try and protect us; how do we prevent the disease? Management, management and more management. I will try and explain this in this article.
First, we must test your bulls. This is done by taking a preputial scraping and sending it to a lab that can run a PCR Trich. I prefer using a good squeeze chute, such as a hydraulic. Bulls can be very hard on equipment. And I do have to crawl underneath the bull to get the sample. Good equipment is expensive, but it is cheaper than any hospital bill. Plus, the cattle will generally work easier with less stress in good facilities.
Now the cows will need to be pregnancy examined. We can pick up a partial diagnosis here by having too many open cows or heifers. This will lead us to the bulls. And by preg checking your cows we might pick up on some opens or infected cows coming from a neighbor’s bull. And if you are buying replacement’s, I only recommend purchasing cows and heifers that are at least four months pregnant. This is because Trich causes abortion the first three months of gestation. Plus, in infected herds you can pick up on those few cows that have a pus filled uterus from Trich. These cows need to be culled immediately, so they will not recontaminate your new bulls and the other cows in the herd.
Along with this, is your herd open or closed? Are you raising your replacements or purchasing them? Obviously, closed herds are much easier to control Trich. Open herds have others coming in all the time that may bring this disease into yours.
Now, there is a vaccine. It will protect a cow for a short time, if vaccinated properly. It does require two doses two to four weeks apart to confer proper immunity. And right after getting the second dose in, we should be going to the bulls for breeding. The vaccine does call for an annual booster and should be done just prior to breeding season. This vaccine will not protect your bull and it will not get the disease out of a cow that is infected. It is only labeled for cow protection, if given properly.
The next step is to make sure you do not have any neighbors visiting. Keep all of your fences in excellent repair. These infected bulls must be quarantined and shipped under a restricted permit to move infected cattle to slaughter. Our state livestock inspectors are monitoring this along with the federal officials. So, you do not want to fool around and not do what is stated with these restricted permits. It is like moving the old S Brands and bangers from 20 years ago. The state is serious.
Dr. Tim E. O’Neill owns Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
