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The Times Advocate, 2005-02-09, Page 17Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Exeter Times -Advocate 17 Beef producers learn about animal health By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF KIRKTON — When it comes to keeping beef cattle disease free, husbandry and art are just as important as science. That was one of the messages beef producers heard at the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre. Feb. 3 during the Kirkton Veterinary Clinic's beef producer meeting. The meeting was preceded by a dairy pro- ducer meeting the day before. Speaking on vaccinating beef cattle was Dr. Randy Graham of Pfizer Animal Health. Graham said one aspect of importance for farmers is to assess the risk of disease new cattle have been exposed to. Depending on whether or not the cattle are high risk or low risk animals, farmers can then determine what type of vaccine and antibiotic program they can be placed into. Coundil plans fire meeting By Pat Bolen TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF VARNA — Bluewater fire chiefs will draft recom- mendations on hiring a manager of fire services to present to Bluewater council at a review of fire ser- vices meeting to be held Feb. 15. Fire chiefs Dave Johnston and Ken Bruxer were at council Monday night to discuss a letter from Johnston to Bluewater council on behalf of the Bluewater Fire Chiefs Association. The letter asked for a clarification of the agenda and format for the meeting next week. Johnston said in the letter at a Bluewater fire chiefs meeting Jan. 31, it was discussed whether council was seeking further knowledge of the opera- tions of the fire departments in Bluewater or if it was looking to unify the fire departments under one chief or manager. The letter stated while the Bluewater chiefs were ready to work with the council to address its con- cerns, it would be difficult to do so until it was expressed more clearly what those concerns were. Proposing a motion on hiring a fire services manag- er, Coun. Bill Martin said the requirements should be drafted by the fire chiefs along with recommenda- tions and costings. Johnston said the chiefs were unsure what was intended to be done at the Feb. 15 meeting andwhat its format was. Coun. Bill MacDougall replied council was looking for information on what duplication of services there is at fire halls and what hard assets could be used in more than one area. Coun. Marg Deichert said the motion was prema- ture until the Feb. 15 meeting. Bluewater Mayor Bill Dowson said council had to decide how much it was willing to spend on hiring a fire services manager and it might be too much this year for the Municipality to afford. Coun. Rod Parker asked Bruxer if hiring a fire manager would cause problems between depart- ments. Bruxer replied the chiefs could see benefits of the policy and they wanted to see improvements. Coun. George Irvin told Johnston all the informa- tion that could be provided for the meeting would be beneficial. Coun. Joshua McClinchey added he would like to understand the job description of the proposed fire services manager. Johnston agreed to have information ready for the meeting on the services, assets and coverage areas of the Bluewater fire departments. In other business, council accepted a recommen- dation from the Zurich fire department that Rick Fisher become the new Zurich fire chief effective Feb. 28, taking over from Doug Erb who will resign as of Feb. 27. Facilities manager Tom Dickens told council a new policy was being developed on ice time cancellations. He said the facilities department was losing rev- enue in the area of $8,000 to $10,000 due to groups cancelling at the last minute before the 48 hour deadline of pre -booked ice time. Dickens said other arenas have stronger policies than Bluewater, "and the one with the weaker policy suffers." He told council a new cancellation policy would be presented to council in the next couple of months for the 2005/2006 ice season. Also, Graham said water availability, feed access, lots of room and fresh dry air are important for new arrivals. The more crowded the cattle are, the greater the chance that disease will be spread. He also said farmers should handle the new cattle as "stress -free" as possible." "Don't make it a rodeo," Graham said. Graham said respiratory disease is unavoidable but the key is making the animals as healthy as possible with a strong immune system. Without a strong immune system, antibiotics won't be effective. "If the animal doesn't have any fight in it, you can spend a lot of money on it and be frustrated," Graham explained. Vaccines don't last forever and they aren't 100 per cent effective. "We're just decreasing the risk and tipping the odds in our favour," says Graham. Among any animal population, there will be a range of immunity levels. Even after vaccination, there will still be some animals with low immunity. "The hardest challenge will overcome the best vac- cine." The key, Graham explained, is to increase resistance to a disease before the disease hits. Graham compared an animal's immune system to an armed forces. The first line of defense against dis- ease are the physical barriers such as skin, tears, coughing and sneezing; the foot soldiers are local white blood cells and antibodies; the "air force and navy" are the circulatory antibodies and white blood cells. Graham encouraged farmers to "boost" all vaccines that require them and always vaccinate 10-14 days before a risk or challenge arises. He said farmers should always read the labels of whatever vaccine or immunization they are giving their animals and should direct any questions to their veterinarian or the manufacturer of the product. "Handle vaccines as per the label," Graham said. Vaccinations can fail for a number of reasons: • improper storage; • a disinfectant has been used; • the host could already be harbouring the disease; • there could be maternal antibody interference; • the host could have an insufficient immune system; • age is a factor; • and human error is a possibility. Dan DeWit of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Mitchell was also on hand to talk about Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow dis- ease). The disease has a two to eight year incubation period and is found in cattle, bison and water buffalo. The youngest reported case of BSE has been in a 20 - month old animal. The disease has no preference for breed or sex and can withstand extreme tempera- tures, DeWit said. It is transmitted by feeding cattle meat and bone meal, a practice banned in Canada in 1997. There doesn't seem to be an "animal to animal" transmission, DeWit said. Animals stricken by mad cow disease become ner- vous, fearful, have tremors, engage in frequent nose licking, are easily startled and hyper -sensitive to light, touch and noise. Locomotion becomes disturbed and the animal starts to lose weight. DeWit discussed Canada's mad cow program, which has become much more strict after BSE was found in an animal in May 2003. DeWit said the government feels Canada won't see any more BSE cases after this year, since the bone meal ban has been in place since 1997 and the disease has an incubation period of up to eight years. While bone meal is still being fed to pigs in Canada, Europe has a complete ban on the meal. For more information, visit www.inspection.gc.ca —4-711 ' . �� •r • A • .. rk AL— A !Y ♦ ti i • f. . 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