Farm Bill

We attended the public meeting for the U.S. Farm Bill that was lead by Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Kansas U.S. Senator Pat Roberts at the Kellogg Center.  Just a few highlights that stress how important agriculture is to Michigan:

• Agriculture is Michigan’s 2^nd largest industry.
• We are 8^th in the nation for milk production (Go Cows)!
• We lead the nation in production of tart cherries, blueberries, and black beans.
• Michigan is the second most agriculturally diverse state in the country.  
• There are 1 million cows in Michigan (job security for us future vets).



Farm Bill Meeting at the Kellogg Center



TB Results with a Side of Animal Welfare

           72 +/- 6 hours later we returned to check the test results.  The first farm had one suspect so the producer’s original plans to sell his animals that day got postponed pending gamma interferon test results.  Once an animal has a reaction to the Caudal Fold Test it is labeled as a “suspect” and the farm is put under quarantine until results of the second test are completed.  A quarantined farm is not allowed to move or receive any animals with the exception of sending animals to slaughter.

            The second farm was free of suspects, but did raise some interesting welfare questions.  I am used to farm properties having a certain amount of “junk” but this one more closely resembled a landfill than an actual farm.  There were three semi-trucks, five or six trailers, and at least 20 cars: none of which were capable of starting, let alone even having a complete set of wheels.  Instead of using straw or hay as bedding, newspaper was continually thrown down in one haggard barn, which meant that soiled, shredded paper was forming its own mountain and spilling out the doors.  There’s a lot more that can be described on this farm, but just watching an episode of “Hoarders” will give anyone a pretty clear picture of the place.

            In addition to having a lot of “stuff” there were a lot of animals: 25 cattle, a donkey, 6 horses, 2 pigs, and 6 dogs.  These animals were clearly well-fed, had shelter, water, but it did make me wonder what a state field vet does when he sees questionable practices or if he’s ever on a farm that is abusing its animals.  Dr. Schwarck made it clear that he does consider animal welfare important both for his job and just personally.  At places like this where practices are a little different, but not necessarily harmful, he does his best to educate producers and keep lines of communication open.  If he saw a clear case of abuse or neglect he would report it to MDA's Compliance Dept.  The frustrating part,in his opinion, is that it’s often up to the prosecution office of the county to pursue criminal actions.  Sometimes prosecutors are for taking action, but sometimes not.  In cases where support of the prosecutor is lacking, field vets can make threats and try to work with producers, but they don't have the full force of the law behind them.  Government always seems to have a lot of gray areas for what seems like a black and white issue to me.

TB Tests and Ear Piercing

            After weeks of reading about TB testing, we went to see how it actually all occurs.  I mentioned on Day One that TB work is complicated, and testing for TB keeps with the trend.  It couldn’t be a simple blood draw, look under a microscope and give a definitive “positive” or “negative”: instead, we drive to a farm on day one and intradermally inject Tuberculin into the caudal fold and come back 72 +/- 6 hours later to see if there was any rejection at the injection site.  A reaction usually means a swelling at the site.  If there isn’t any reaction, the animal is negative and good to go.  Unfortunately, the test is not perfect so 3-10% of negative animals will react regardless. This sounds small but on a 1200 head dairy that can mean 120 animals.  Any animals that react to the Caudal Fold Test are classified as “Suspect” and we do a secondary test which is either a gamma interferon test (blood test) or a Comparative Cervical Test (another intradermal injection which means coming back another 3 days later).

Dr. Schwarck injecting Tuberculin into the caudal fold

            Today we injected two herds both pretty small- 8 at the first, 25 at the second.  I quickly discovered that the hardest and most important part of the whole testing process is setting up the gates.  Many farms do not have their own equipment, so State of Michigan field vets haul in their own chutes and gates.  The idea is to set them up so that there is always a gate between you and the animals—safety first!

Setting up gates and the chute

          At both farms, Danielle and I got to practice putting in RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags so they can be tracked electronically wherever they travel in Michigan.  It is an eerily similar process to getting one’s ear pierced.  The gun is loaded with a tag (earring), it is placed somewhere along the ear, and then it’s clamped down to poke through the ear and lock the tag into place.  Now I know I was told when I got my ears pierced that it wouldn’t hurt, but those people lied, so I sure didn’t blame the cows when they threw their heads around in protest.  Unlike my earrings though, these tags are tamper-proof and will ideally never be removed or changed in the lifetime of the cow.  Any cow with an RFID tag has an individual number on that tag that reads something like 84003005555555.  This number can be scanned with a wand and it will show up in the USAHERDs database with a record of where the animal moved throughout its lifetime and its TB test results.

Ear Tagging

           

Another Perspective on Livestock Markets

        Another market today—Rosebush Livestock Market—though instead of culled cows and feeders, this one was a dairy market.  The two different focuses of these markets was evident by the environment and the prices.  The Ravenna market reminded me of an old barn where function is emphasized, not aesthetics.  Gates are repaired by whatever spare boards are around and no one seems to mind the lack of lighting, cobwebs, or dust in the air.  The auction area is basically a miniaturized arena with a half circle of gates separating whatever animal is for sale from the prospective bidders.  Seats are a hodge-podge of whatever bleacher seats were originally installed and various chair substitutions to cover up broken seats.  Buyers were quite the set of people- lots of hair, missing teeth, and clearly looking for a deal.  Calves were sold by the pound.

            In contrast to the old barn that resembled the Ravenna Market, Rosebush was like a show facility: clean, freshly painted, and every chair actually matched.  The crowd was a mixture of what I would call the typical producer and Amish farmers.  Heifer calves were not sold by the pound, but by a starting price of around $300 and typically got raised much higher by bidders.

                         Auctioning off heifer calves at the Rosebush Market           
     Instead of just touring and observing this market, Danielle and I got put to work generating movement permits for purchased heifers.  In order to move cattle across TB zones, say from this sale in the Isabella county—MAAZ Subzone 3—to the Upper Peninsula—TB free zone—the cattle would cross 3 TB boundaries.  They would start in MAAZ Subzone 3, cross into MAAZ subzone 2 once they enter Clare county, then into MAAZ subzone 1 at Crawford county, and finally into the TB free zone when they cross the bridge.  To legally move cattle across these zones in Michigan, and to make it past the Mackinac Bridge inspection point, all cattle must be officially identified with an RFID tag and producers must have a movement certificate that says where the animals are coming, where they are going, and that the animals are TB-free.  These permits can be created through the USAHERDs database program, but with a slow internet connection, they can take some time to create.  Danielle and I helped to enter every cow that a producer bought while the state field veterinarian ran back and forth getting RFID numbers and adding tags.  We worked with USDA inspector Laura and Dr. Schwarck.

           

Market Day

          We got to get out of the office today and travel to the Ravenna livestock market.  This sale was primarily for finished steers and culled dairy cows, but there were also goats, sheep, and deacon calves.  We were able to tour the market from an observation deck with one of the USDA Inspectors.  We learned about how the market runs and what the role of the Inspector is within the market.  I would have thought that a USDA Inspector would have a lot of power to regulate and cite the market for violations whether they are for failure to properly identify animals or for welfare issues.  In reality, the Inspector rarely writes a market a ticket, even though he has a ticket book “somewhere” in his truck.  Instead of the USDA inspector policing and punishing markets, he educates employees and producers and reminds them of proper procedures.  Often, a reminder is all that’s really required of most markets.  If a market employee or a producer continues to violate regulations, the Inspector can report them to the Compliance Department, which can sort out the situation through warnings or fines.

            The Inspector, Jeff, did say that he thinks welfare concerns will start to take up more of his time in the markets as bovine TB is less of a concern to this southern Lower Peninsula market.

                                             Front of the Ravenna Market

A Visit to the Local Slaughterhouse

Trip to the slaughterhouse today.  I know technically it’s called a “meat processing plant,” but the term “slaughterhouse” provides a much more accurate vision.  I was able to visit this particular plant last summer so I was prepared, but seeing Danielle’s reaction to her first visit reminded me of my own initial feelings for this place.  The reality of it both matches and drastically diverges from my original expectations.  I knew I would be horrified by this place, and I quite frankly continue to be.  Animals are alive and in the space of maybe 15 feet come out a carcass waiting to be butchered.  There is a machine that literally rips the skin of animals so that within maybe 15 seconds a dead cow becomes a hanging piece of meat.  It’s hot, deafeningly loud, and there are knives everywhere, so slipping and falling is not an option.

            The picture that I had in my head of this place being an absolute nightmare is not really accurate though.  I figured that with death being the inevitable conclusion for every animal that sets foot in this place, any thought for their humane care would have long departed.  I was wrong.  Animals were not rushed or stressed, or abused.  They are calmly walked up in small groups.  If an animal is unable to walk then they are humanely put down where they lay.  In addition, workers are friendly.  There never appeared annoyed by our presence, even if it slowed them down a bit.

            Our role there was to collect lymph nodes from the head, thorax and abdomen from 12 cattle that had been exposed to bovine tuberculosis.  The language here is meant to be very specific- “exposed,” not “infected.”  These 12 cattle unfortunately came into contact with an infected animal so they can either be put under quarantine and tested repeatedly or sent to slaughter.   Once there, the animals are inspected for gross lesions, which were not present in any of these.  We still collected lymph nodes, which will later be cultured for M. bovis.  It took us only about an hour and a half to collect all the samples, but with it being 85 degrees outside, we were soaked in sweat. 

Day One

First day of work had all the introductory items that I’ve come to expect: lots of introductions to people that I still can’t remember, new badge to get in the office (there is a security guard and everything), setting up my cubicle, and getting lost numerous times in the building.  With getting a job with the bovine tuberculosis unit there is of course the need to learn about bovine tuberculosis in Michigan, so we read a lot today: a history of the program, zoning orders, proposed zoning orders, a code of federal regulations.

Constitution Hall- office on the 5th floor.