ANIMAL HEALTH

Outcross boosts herd health

Keith Baker says it’s good news all round since he added VikingGenetics’ VikingJersey as an outcross. Since adding VikingGenetics’ VikingJersey as an outcross, Tooma’s Keith Baker has seen the rate of a fatal lung infection in his herd drop from 25 per cent to about two per cent “We’re in hilly country with a fair bit of river flat and we need a cow that can walk a long way,” Keith Baker says. “I think Jerseys are the most efficient cow.”

As well as knocking the lung infection on the head, the cows are now displaying more vigour, fertility and longevity and have less hoof and mastitis problems.

WITH UP to 25 per cent of his calves developing a potentially fatal lung infection, Tooma dairy farmer Keith Baker knew he had to make some big changes.

The problem had been worsening for more than a decade, but about three years ago it came to a head.

“We had a few with lung infections and it slowly got worse and worse,” Keith said.

“It started about 15 years ago and took about 10 years to go from a few to 10 per cent, then it took only a couple of years to go from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.

“It just blew out and we had to do something about it.”

The solution came when Keith introduced VikingGenetics’ VikingJersey as an outcross.

Within three years, Keith has seen an incredible change.

The infection rate has dropped from 25 to about two per cent — with none of the VikingJersey outcrosses suffering the lung problem.

Out of necessity, Keith has found not only a solution to a problem but improved the health and profitability of the herd and revolutionised his calving system, leading to big time and money savings. More vigour and fertility The cows are now displaying more vigour, fertility and longevity and have less hoof and mastitis problems.

Keith had mixed and matched most of the popular higher ranked bulls under his system for almost 40 years of AI breeding — firstly RBVs then ABVs moving to BPIs and genomics.

He had been dabbling with VikingJersey in his herd for a few years and noticed the health benefits, but it took the lung infection crisis for him to make a big shift.

“We had some cultures done and it showed to be a form of bronchial pneumonia but we noticed that the Danish cattle generally didn’t get it, that’s why we swung to predominantly using Danish genetics to have an outcross in the herd.

“Since we moved to VikingJersey about three years ago, we’re down to two to three per cent with the infection and we don’t have to treat many calves at all.

“I don’t understand why VikingJersey converts below average for type on BPI. In my experience they have just as much to offer in this area as the traditional Jersey genetics used in Australia.”

The farm in southern NSW was settled in 1948 with crossbreeds but the Baker family soon moved to a pure Jersey herd in 1952.

“We’re in hilly country with a fair bit of river flat and we need a cow that can walk a long way,” Keith said.

“I think Jerseys are the most efficient cow.”

The 546-hectare farm peaked at 390 head this year, down from a top of 420 about 15 years ago.

Lemvig was the first VikingGenetics bull used on the farm.

“The Lemvig cows were very good cows; we only had a dozen or so but they were very good,” Keith said.

More recently Husky has added to the quality.

“We had a Husky bull of our own; he’s now the benchmark the other bulls must match up to,” Keith said.

Obvious improvement

The VikingGenetics influence is now making an impact.

“We thought we’d need at least a quarter VikingJersey to make a difference,” Keith said.

“Some are now 50 per cent VikingJersey and we will steadily increase that to 65 to 75 per cent as we try to put an outcross on the whole herd.”

Facing regular calls for vet support and medication bills, the lung infections were impacting on profitability and management time.

“We had to get away from these lung infections and put them behind us,” Keith said.

Calves would start coughing within weeks of birth. They would be treated with various medications but some would be lost. The condition also returned when they hit puberty and when they calved as two-year-olds.

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“Some would respond to treatment but a percentage would die,” Keith said.

Some calves would also relapse or acquire lung problems at weaning.

He reviewed the calf rearing program, changing pellet feed to a home-made muesli, and even attended some calf rearing programs despite having lived on dairy farms for his 65 years.

“We tried to look for wherever the problem might be, to see if we were doing something wrong, but we couldn’t find anything and the vet said the calves should have been fine.

“We weren’t where we wanted to be, we decided we had to try something else genetically.” Classroom inspiration The idea of an outcross wasn’t new to Keith, in fact he recalls a lesson from his school years.

“When I was in high school, we had an ag teacher who was breeding wheat plants.

“He said that with genetics, if you’ve got a disease resistance problem, outcross is the only way to go. He showed us with the wheat and the results were phenomenal.”

The laws of genetics haven’t changed and now the classroom example has turned into a farming reality.

Keith had tried some bulls from other companies but they resulted in long, tall, narrow animals that didn’t suit his requirements.

“Then we looked for another Jersey population in the world where they were different to what we were using for an outcross.

“The other thing VikingGenetics does is measure everything in Denmark, giving us the information that we need.”

Not only has the lung problem almost evaporated, the herd is healthier and calving easier.

“We notice the calves are stronger at birth, get up very quickly and are better at suckling.

“We had a problem that some calves weren’t getting a drink and we’d have to intervene and feed them, but with VikingJersey you don’t have to.”

Mastitis and lameness have also reduced significantly.

“Our profitability has increased quite a lot and I think we’ll get other benefits over time.

“We’re very happy with the results.”

LSD tripping close to home

Lumpy skin disease surveillance map. Source: OIE-WAHIS

BY LUCY COLLINS

IN MARCH 2022, cases of lumpy skin disease (LSD) were detected in Sumatra and the disease has the potential to spread across the rest of Indonesia over time.

If containment eff orts fail and LSD reaches the island of Timor — less than 800 km from mainland Australia — it presents a very real threat for our beef and dairy industries.

LSD is a pox virus aff ecting cattle and water buff alo. Originating in Africa in the 1970s, it has gradually spread since the 2000s across the Middle East, south-eastern Europe and Asia (as shown in the map).

The virus transmission is still not fully understood.

Biting insects such as fl ies, mosquitoes and ticks have been proven experimentally to transmit the disease via their saliva. Infected bulls can also excrete the virus in semen. Transmission via direct contact, contaminated feed, and iatrogenic methods (such as repeated use of needles between animals) are also suspected.

LSD has an incubation period of up to 28 days, with peak outbreaks during wet summer weather, although infections can still occur during winter.

Clinical signs include discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation, enlarged lymph nodes, persistent high fevers, depression, loss of appetite, and the appearance of characteristic painful, raised, fi rm skin lumps, 1 cm to 5 cm in diameter, especially around the head, brisket, neck, udder, limbs and genitals, which can become ulcerated and infected (the number of lumps can vary greatly with severity of disease).

Lesions can also be found in the mouth, nose, trachea and lungs on post-mortem. Pneumonia, lameness, mastitis and abortions can also result from LSD infection.

About one third of infected animals will show no signs of the disease, one third will show mild to moderate signs and one third will show severe signs.

European breeds and high-producing dairy cattle are more susceptible and usually more severely aff ected, with sharp drops in milk yield and body condition commonly reported.

There are no eff ective treatments for LSD, and supportive care or humane euthanasia is necessary for badly aff ected animals. Mortality rates in naive herds are reportedly as high as 10 per cent, and recovery is generally slow in surviving infected animals.

Ringworm, mange, hives and several other viral and bacterial infections can cause skin lesions similar to LSD, so diagnosis is essential via tissue samples, virus isolation or PCR.

Outbreak controls include vaccinating, restricting movements and culling.

Australia currently has no vaccine approved for use, but this is under discussion as part of our biosecurity plan with a threat so close to home. Recent government funding boosts to northern Australian biosecurity and surveillance eff orts are also a welcome addition.

Overseas, containment and vaccination programs supported by the Australia-Indonesia Health Security Partnership and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN FAO) are also under way, and ongoing funding for these programs is vital.

Should LSD arrive in Australia, controlling the spread across northern Australia would be almost impossible even with a vaccine due to the extensive nature of our cattle enterprises, and the sheer distance biting insects can potentially travel when climactic conditions allow.

An incursion would have substantial implications for our international trade and exports.

Economic impacts for dairy and beef farmers alike would be felt through mortalities, reproductive losses, drops in body condition, reduced milk production, processor rejection due to hide and muscle damage, export restrictions (including genetic material, dairy products and live animals), and potentially forced culling to manage an outbreak.

Not to mention the social and environmental ramifi cations that would undoubtedly result from such losses.

At home — regardless of where, how or what we farm in Australia — it’s important that we are all aware of the signs of exotic diseases such as LSD, support surveillance, biosecurity and quarantine eff orts (especially if visiting farms while travelling overseas) and know who to contact if needed.

LSD is considered exotic to Australia, notifi able and an emergency animal disease. For further information, contact your state department veterinarian or in the case of a suspected outbreak call the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888 (24 hours a day, every day of the year).

Lucy Collins is completing her Dairy Residency with The University of Melbourne. She works as an on-farm veterinarian for Apiam Animal Health, and alongside her partner on his family’s dairy farm in south-west Victoria. She is a 2021 Nuffi eld Scholar supported by Gardiner Dairy Foundation.