Fre(e)mont Not Free of Suspects

Today we followed up on the comparative cervical injections that Dr. Schwarck and Dr. Baer performed Monday on a 1500 head dairy that is trying to move down to Indiana. We were checking the 30 suspects and their double injections on the neck. The front-most injection is the Avian tuberculin strain and the second is the Bovine strain. The antigens of these 2 can cross-react with the animal's antibodies during the caudal fold injection, so the comparative cervical tries to use more isolated strains that are void of many of the cross-reacting antigens. The skin thickness is measured the day of injection (Mon) and the day of reading (today). The differences in the thicknesses are compared and the difference determines if the animal is negative, a suspect, or a reactor.

By protocol, each animal that was injected by the veterinarian, MUST be read by the same doctor. Therefore, Dr. Schwarck could not assess Dr. Baer's cows, and vice versa. Both docs found 1 suspect in each of their animals. This correlates with a similar thickness between the avian and bovine reactions. Ideally, we want avian to be larger because then the antigens are not reacting with bovine antibodies, and therefore, the animal is assumed to be bovine TB free. However, 2 were not and were in the suspect zones. These correlated with approximate widths of 13-13.5 mm for avian and nearly the same for the bovine strain.

The suspect animals were taken immediately from the farm and off to the lab for culture, histopath, and will be slaughtered to avoid additional contamination and because they would not be allowed across state lines anyway. If Indiana's Board of Animal officials accepts the quick results from the histopath, which would be back by about Wednesday, then the owner can move his animals without culture results, which can take up to 6 months (sheeesh!) to get back.

1399 was labeled as suspect. She was tagged with a pink ear tag and left the farm the day of reading.

Today was fun and I'm glad I got to experience what a secondary test is like instead of only the initial whole herd testing. I'm sad to say, however, that 2 of those beautiful dairy girls will have to be "put down." (How's that for a nice cow euphemism for ya?)

This made for a quick week! Tomorrow is already Friday! Holy COW! I went into the school today to see if Dr. Ames or Dr. Curry were around doing anything fun, but there wasn't much life in the teaching hospital and nothing too exciting on the calendar. Bummer....but, I'm enjoying my early afternoon off!

Antelopes, Elk, Deer, Pigs, Cows and more!

The last 2 days have been pretty exciting. Dr. Susan Baer went out with Tara and the crew on Monday to do a secondary comparative cervical test on 30 cows that were recorded as suspect from the WHT. She knew we were a little slow in the office, so she asked Tara and I to ride with her to western MI to check some facilities for feral swine. Her goal for the day was to just check the premises to see if there were even pigs there, what their living conditions were like, and to talk to the owners if need be. We stopped at 4 locations, 3 of which didn't have pigs anymore, and 1 of those 3 that never once owned swine before.

The first stop was at a place in Clarksville, MI where the owner is attempting to turn his property into a public exotic zoo. He had multiple antelope species from Africa, India, peacocks, alligators, zebras, camels, monkeys, deer, and more! He was very willing to show us his property, but there were no sign of pigs. He did have 2 wart hogs, but they were apparently not considered "feral swine." One of his workers was also interested in buying tigers and lions for his own farm, and Dr. Baer informed him that it was illegal in the state unless they were grandfathered in. We heard a lot about the state's Large Carnivore Act that prohibits them from being brought into the state lines.

Next was a place near Lowell, MI that didn't end up having pigs anymore either. Nothing exciting there...just a man that was angry to be dealing with government folks like us! Then, we headed over to a farm that I'm drawing a blank on the location..... duh....but they insisted they never had pigs on their property, ever! However, they did have deer all over their property and they were very eager and excited to show strange government employees, like ourselves, their property. It was evident that they were very proud of their property and home. While Dr. Baer had a word with the husband, the wife pulled Tara and I around the back of the barn to show us their deer. The first pen had a doe, by the name of CoCo, and the purest white, 2 year old buck you'd ever seen by the name of Blanzy. He was GORGEOUS. The buck was very people-oriented and had no fear to approach the gate and welcome us with warm, sloppy kisses. The doe was a bit hesitant and stayed back. Soon after, the owner went into the little hut they had within the 10 foot fences to have the fawn come out. The buck instantly got terriorial, but wasn't too aggressive with the owner. The fawn ran out and lacked some coordination, but was absolutely adorable. She ran straight back to her mama, so it was difficult to get a picture.

Meet Blanzy

Blanzy, Coco, and her fawn (tough to see, sorry...camera stinks!)

Anyway, in the back of their property, they had acres of woods fenced in and said they had ~30 deer within that pen. Coco, the mother, was found in that pen originally, neglected by her mother, and the owners were sure she wouldn't make it. But, they took her to the solitary pen, bottle fed her, fed her sand, and she's as healthy as ever. Both Coco and Blanzy were bottle raised and are very familiar with the presence of people. It was a wonderful experience for me. I had never seen any captive deer premises before, so it was very eye opening to see the work people put forth to keep cervid species on their property. A pretty cool experience for crawling onto their property on accident, looking for feral swine, ha! However, they have dealt with us before for their deer to be tagged and TB tested.

Lastly, we had an appointment in Dorr, MI, south of GR, with an old wild boar farm. We showed up and the place had junk all over, but the owner was the nicest man to all of us women. We pulled up and he was almost anxious to show us his wild pigs (some of which were bred with Russian boards, which is evident by the striping) and his deer. The pigs were fine, but the owner is looking to get rid of all his swine and cervids. He had a terrible encounter with the DNR officials and wants nothing to do with the enforcements they are trying to place on him. It was interesting to listen to his point of view and it's a shame to see producers having to sell their passions because of rules and regulations...

ANYWAY (sorry, I get side tracked in the "emotional ties" to these events...after all, I was a "Francis" in the class teamwork workshop!), after seeing his pigs, we hopped in the bed of his pick up and headed out back to see the deer. We took buckets of corn to persuade the deer to come feed while we watched them from only 100 feet away. The deer were beautiful, but completely aware that there were strangers present. We sat quietly and observed as mosquitos sucked all the RBCs they could ;o) He had two Sika deer that are rarely seen, a female elk, and the rest white-tails. One doe came up later in the feeding session with twin fawns. They never made it too close, with the exception of one of the fawns (see the picture). Dare devil fawn! haha

Mmmm....food!

Fat Sika deer

Sweet fawn looking for the good food

After seeing the sights there and visiting with the friendly farmer, we took off and called it a day. We arrived back in Lansing around 9:30, only to go home, get to bed, and meet in the car pool lot on I-96 at 5:45 AM the next morning (today).

TB Detection in AZ

This is fairly recent news that I thought I would share. I am not certain on what actions will be taken in Arizona as they have no TB management plan in place. However, USDA has a standardized action plan for TB and Brucellosis that heavily feeds off Michigan's TB management system.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-resources/hot-topics/USDA-agency-considers-additional-testing-for-bovine-TB-124194034.html

A Great day at work

Well, I'm a little behind with my posts, but Thursday we went back out to the farm to read caudal folds. The night before we got loads of rain so we were playing/working in a slew of manure.

First we checked the young pen that belonged to the owner's brother. He wanted them implanted, so Dr. Schwarck showed us how to place the implant under the skin in the back of the ear so that they grow more efficiently before going to slaughter. That slowed down our morning a bit, but it was nice to be able to try placing the implants. This was also my first attempt at trying to move cattle. HA...not as easy as it seems and a butt bar can't protect you all that well either! With "butt bar duty" I was guaranteed a good shower as we pushed cattle through the gates and into the chute. I think I left the pen with ~40 new moles on my face! ;o)

Implanting

Almost every cow within the small group had ring worm around the eyes and snout.

Anyway, we moved over to do the other 100+ and after all was said and done, we found 5 "Suspects" on the farm, so we took blood samples from them to run gammas in the lab. Due to the TB protocol at this point, we had to quarantine the farm. As said before, however, due to the lack of specificity of the test, we expect ~3% to turn up as suspects. So, depending on the results from the lab, and the cultures that will be run, will determine the future status of the premise.

Right after work I got in the car to drive to Wisconsin to see my grandparents and the rest of my dad's side for Tanner's graduation party. The ride was long, but relaxing, so I can't complain. I am currently enjoying my grandparent's company at the breakfast/lunch table. Grandma is slaving away in the kitchen for absolutely no reason, as usual. Can't get the woman to sit down and Grandpa just keeps sharing stories. Everyone here cannot believe that I could be possibly interested in cows. They think it's the strangest thing that I am into doing "that kind" of work. haha....pretty funny.

Anyway, last night was a good time. Went to a tractor/truck pull at noon with my cousin Eric and his girlfriend, went to Tanner's open house for some food and bad mitten (great time!) and then went back out to the sticks to watch some fireworks. This place was impressive. Topped Curwood festival times TEN in terms of people coming out of the woodwork....eek!! Fireworks were great when accompanied by a beer tent!

Well, that's enough of my nice long weekend off. Tomorrow we'll be heading home and I'll be missing a 1200 head dairy getting comparative cervical tests, which we have not witnessed yet, but I will be along for the ride to read Thursday and I'm definitely looking forward to it...should be interesting!

Feed yard test

This morning Tara and I drove up to Ithaca (about 45 min north of EL for those of you unfamiliar with MI)  to meet Dr. Schwarck and test 100+ head. The owner was pretty nice and we had another state employee, Ryan, as well as a USDA employee, Vera, around to help us out. We all worked really well together and the whole day was as efficient as we could have possibly made it.

The whole reason for doing a whole herd test (WHT) on this premise was because he supposedly bought some "exposed" cattle from someone, so today's test was known as a "trace." If anything is found, the farm will be quarantined, IFN gammas would be taken, and until results came back, he would remain under quarantine.

Anyway, the first thing that was said to us females upon walking up to the farm was "you know you're going to get dirty today, right?" I replied back with "yeah, we planned on it..." My nerves are shot with many farmers thinking a girl can't possibly do the job, so I was ready for a good day with lots of practice! haha

While Dr. Schwarck set up the gates and chute the way he liked, Tara and I unpacked syringes and filled with 0.1cc of tuberculin. Once that was done, I operated the head gate, ear tagged, and scanned all day while Tara recorded RFIDs and premise tag numbers in the PDA for each cow. While we took care of business on the head end, Dr. Schwarck was doing injections in the caudal fold, Vera was pushing cows, and Ryan and the owner were maneuvering cows, 3 at a time, into the pen and through the chute.

In sum, we went through ~155 cattle in about 3 hours with breaks...not bad! haha....go back for readings on Thursday.

Lifting the Baiting Ban

Thursday I went to the Lansing Center to attend the public meeting held by the Department of Natural Resources. The commissioners talked about various issues regarding hunting permits, private land vs public land guidelines, and the deer baiting ban that was issued in Michigan back in 2008 when a captive cervid facility was found to have Chronic Wasting Disease in the deer. The disease is easily spread in areas where the deer can congregate, such as baiting piles set out by hunters.

The end of the meeting consisted of testimonies from the public. The subject is very controversial because science shows bait piles favor disease spreading and take away the effort that hunting requires. Another issue, that I see in my job, are farmers that set out bait piles do so just outside their pasture where their cattle graze. Chronic wasting disease isn't the only potential problem, but so is bovine TB.

The flip side of opinions consist of "but I want deer, the deer are beautiful..."
"I don't have enough time to go sit in the woods and wait for a deer that MIGHT come by..."
"I don't have private land that I can hunt or bait on...."

In my mind, the purpose of DNR's biological scientists are being paid for absolutely nothing. Their research has indicated the probabilities of disease in the future based on baiting and found significant results due to what we know has happened in the past. So now, the "hunters" that "do not have the time" can cheat a little bit and bring ten deer onto his/her property to be sure they have a winning in the hour they sat in the blind.

ANYWAY...
After public comment, the 7 Commissioners of the department voted whether or not to lift the ban. The votes reflected the complexity and controversy of the topic: 4-3 to lift the ban which will be in effect for the next 3 years.

Days at the Office

Well, today is Wednesday and I have completed over 40 phone surveys for the week regarding farms that have been Wildlife Risk Mitigated. WRM is a project operating under the Bovine TB Eradification Program of the Animal Industry Division and is used to mitigate the spread of mycobacterium bovis among wildlife (primarily white-tailed deer) and cattle.

On my own time, I have been looking up Memorandums of Understanding for TB testing. I have read most of this before, but the program is so technical that I forget guidelines once in a while that callers always remind me about! So, as I learn, I suppose I'll teach you.

Some of the changes that Wildlife Risk Mitigation implements are putting up fences, blocking off streams or swamps with significant deer cover, fencing off pasture that are in direct contact with woods/forest, and protecting cattle feed from wildlife as well. The goal is to completely reduce contact between the deer and cattle by ensuring safety of cattle feeding, their watering, and how their feed is stored. The reason for food and water protection is because Mycobacterium bovis has been proven to live up to ~30 days in ideal conditions from respiratory secretions of infected animals. Therefore, cattle can easily pass the disease into wildlife as well. Some farmers in the northeast counties of Michigan are rather angry that they have been forced to manage their operations in a specific way, while others completely understand the process and think it's very important. Most commonly, the older generations are opposed to the change, which is understandable.

TB has been present in Michigan for a very long time. In fact, historical documents I have read date back to 1917 in terms of scientific coverage. It wasn't until 1994 that the problem escalated in Michigan and programs were designed to eradicate this harmful disease. The program has changed as years have passed as veterinarians and scientists have discovered loop holes in the campaigns. Money is tight from the federal government, so farmers in the northeastern counties now have to pay for their electronic RFID tags (~$3/tag), pay for the TB testing in some cases (slew of guidelines, I won't go into it), pay for all the fencing and additional changes WRM requires,and in some cases are not given the indemnity that they believe is fair. Hence, you can probably understand why some farmers are so furious.

When we find suspect cattle after performing the caudal fold test (which can only be done by an accredited veterinarian), the vet can request a gamma-interon blood test or a comparative cervical test. I have not heard much about comparative cervicals being done, but Dr. Schwarck, whom we have shadowed a few times on the job, always sends in green-top blood tubes (heparinized) to DCPAH to be tested for interferon-gamma results. Unfortunately, like I mentioned before, the test has not proven to be very specific, although it is sensitive.

Anyway, there are some of the guidelines to the project I am working on. I've done lots of phoning this week with really good feedback and pleasant participants. Crossing my fingers it continues!

A week of calls

Monday mornings are always tough. I was so tired this morning, but I still went into work by 7 to get some early phone calls in to catch farmers before they left for morning chores, milking, etc. The first few calls were pleasant and I was getting in touch with people pretty consistently. However, around 11 AM I got some nasty people that had a few choice words, but I plunged through.


I've been super uncomfortable all day long. Last weekend I went to an after hours clinic to get my back looked at. Doc said I must have strained it and gave me lots of Flexeril and 800 mg motrin. The muscle relaxant makes me drowsy, so I'm trying to only take those at night. I'm being SUPER careful not to pull anything else, but it's driving me crazy that I can't go for a run on these beautiful days. So, I hang out with Lexi instead!


Doesn't look like anything is planned for this week in terms of going out in the field, so I volunteered for some Pet Loss on Thursday night. Looks like it will be a slow week, but I'm still looking forward to Wednesday and finding my surprise somewhere in my apartment :O) I have the best boyfriend EVER...just sayin.


Hopefully I can update with some sort of excitement soon!

Farm Bill

Tuesday, May 31/11

Today we went to a Senate Hearing about the next Farm Bill to be passed. It was an eye opener to see how much the bill actually accounts for. There were multiple producers there representing others that harvest their crop, leaders of associations for organic foods, national milk producers, forestry, and many others. Senator Debbie Stabenow was pretty impressive with the amount of knowledge she had for each sector of the bill and how enthused she was to make changes. Next to her, sat Senator Roberts, who is the senator of Kansas, evidently.

Anyway, made for an interesting day. The rest of the day was spent at the office making phone calls for the Wildlife Risk Mitigation satisfaction survey. Today was pretty successful with phone calls. They were NICE people too, which was much more pleasant to deal with. I was able to reach 16 in 4 hours when usually I’m lucky if I get 9-10 in an 8 hour day. Can’t complain!!

Any Suspects?

Friday, May/27/11

Today we went out with Dr. Schwarck again to follow up on our caudal fold tuberculin injections we gave on Tuesday. At the small property in LeRoy, we did find one suspect. Dr. Schwarck was having us update the PDA for the information to go into USAHerds if the cow was negative/suspect etc.  The term “suspect” is used when we return 3 days after the test and see a lump at the injection site. Once this is discovered, blood is drawn for the lab to run an Interferon-gamma test. The test is not well developed, but it’s the best thing there is as of now. If the test turns out as a positive gamma test, then the animal is labeled as a reactor in herd and is usually removed from the herd. For now, the animals on the property are quarantined until we finalize their status. It is known to have “suspects” and have interferon-gamma tests come back negative. Like I said…wish we had a better test, as do producers.

After that, we went to the next farm with the crazy cows and bull and determined they were all negative. However, they had to be round up out of the pasture, again, and the dog wasn't having the best luck this time. All these cows (crossed with the muscly Italian Chianina) were surrounded by their calves and were extremely protective. You can see in the picture that one mama would not leave her calf who was stuck outside of the hot wire. So, we had to go around and get it before she would follow the rest of the herd. It was interesting to see the relationship between the two when you're used to seeing a dairy atmosphere where the calf is separated fairly quickly. 

 I think earlier in the week I hurt my back lifting the gates and taking them off the trailer, so I was in some pain, but not too bad. Regardless, it was fun and I’m excited to go out with Dr. Schwarck in June for a feedlot testing.

TB Testing

Tuesday, May/24/11

Today we met up with Dr. Tom Schwarck in Rosebush to do some TB testing. Our first stop for the day was at a dairy in City of the Lake to collect blood from 6 suspect cows to run for interferon-gamma testing at DCPAH. The owner was compliant, but seemed rather annoyed. This was the first opportunity I had to tag an animal with a USDA metal ear tag, with Dr. Schwarck’s help and working the PDA to enter in information for USAHerds.

From that farm we drove to Leroy, MI to test about 8 more cattle. I was really surprised when we arrived at the premise to find that these cattle roamed some grassy land surrounded by a thin wire with junk laying all over the property. There was not a home, barn, or building of any kind on the property, but the cattle were confined for us within a pen by the time we arrived. The owner was very pleasant and helpful. He simply “inherited” the cows by, what did not seem like, choice. The cows were his parents’ that were given to him. He blatantly admitted he didn’t know a thing about cattle. So, we set up our chute, filled syringes with 0.1 cc’s of tuberculin, and injected all the cows. Calves under 18 months were not tested, which is uniform routine for the state. The cows were calm and very curious (as seen from picture of them snooping in the truck).

Last, but not least, was a farm a little further north than Harrison, MI. The farm was, in sum…interesting. We pulled up to multiple campers, trailers, rubber tires, cars, and any other large pieces of equipment piled in the yard. We parked our truck, put on new coveralls, washed up our boots, and headed toward the pasture. Expectedly, the cows were not round up in any manner, so we had to consolidate their area any way we knew how.

The blue heeler on the farm was used to gather and round up the cows. He, “Little,” was quite the character and well mannered. What seemed to be an indefinite struggle to round the cattle turned into quite ease once the dog went to work and chased them down to the front half of the yard and behind a gate.

The next challenge was to set up a working chute to test each of the 20, or so cattle. We helped Dr. Schwarck set up the fences to create a closed-off pen that led to the chute. The cattle were a little feisty, but worked fairly well with us. As for moving around the gates, Tara and I got an upper body work out!

Once the 20 and their calves were within the pen, Dr. Schwarck would pick one to bring up and close gates as she progressed to get her into the chute. I was at the head gate with the owner and Tara to catch each animal and to ear tag them with a USDA metal tag (an RFID is not required in Michigan if you do not reside in the MAZ and do not plan on moving cattle. If you do live in the MAZ zone, all cattle are required to have 2 forms of ID: an RFID and a metal tag/tattoo. However, if you plan on moving them to any sale outside of your county or to another farm, they must have the electronic tag for Michigan’s traceability). Once in the chute, Dr. Schwarck would perform his test, Tara collected information in the PDA and I clipped the ear tag. It was quite the experience for me because some of the heifers had never been in a head gate before and nearly flipped out when I touched them.

Once the cows and heifers were through, we had to test an Angus bull. He was very tense and aggressive and bellowed upon making eye contact with him. We managed to get him into the chute, but it was quite scary. Thankfully, he was already tagged with an RFID, so metal tagging was not a priority.

Although I was cautious a lot of the day, I learned a great deal about how you can manipulate the area that cattle are held to make it advantageous to yourself as a veterinarian. I also learned some about the behavior of cattle and the range of temperaments they may have whether or not they have been in a chute before, breed, their environment, etc. Dr. Schwarck was an excellent teacher and also placed a lot of confidence in Tara and I to get a job done well. I look forward to working with him again this coming Friday to do follow-ups on the last 2 farms we tested and also use him as a resource in the future that may open up additional opportunities.

Thursday 5/19/11

Thursday was a very interesting day. We went to a public hearing given by the USDA, Veterinary Services (VS), APHIS, and MDARD to address rule changes for the Tuberculosis and Brucellosis plans for cattle. Producers were there, Dr. Steve Halstead, many federal employees, but the industry division wasn’t represented all that well. Regardless, when Dr. LeeAnn Thomas from the USDA presented information on possible changes that could take place, producers were not shy to share their views.

This was an opportunity to offer suggestions to the federal government about critical changes that need to be implemented to transition these programs to become more of a success. We met in small group discussions regarding indemnity, program guidelines, and how to deal with affected herds. Indemnity was a heated topic with producers. Currently, the USDA only offers a “fair market value” to a farmer that they are taking the cattle from. However, many producers, especially beef herds are irate about it. They strongly believe that an animal’s weight, age, and pregnancy status should not be the only factors when figuring an appraisal value, but also genetics. Sitting in on the discussion, I completely agree with producers. If their time and effort has been spent on creating a genetically superior herd, they should receive the appropriate value for their head. Another, indefinite problem persists however, and that is budget. Currently the federal government has 1 million out of the 15 million for the TB program allotted to indemnity. The rate at which they are testing and removing herds and depopulating them surpasses this amount, especially when considering a calculator including genetic aspects.

Saturday, May/21/11

I just started my phone calls for the Wildlife Risk Mitigation Project this morning. I wanted my first call to be at home in a relaxed environment so I didn’t feel any pressure from the surrounding people in the office (not that they would)! I reached my first interviewee and she was very pleasant and very informative. My goal with this project, besides collecting the data for the state, is to learn the lingo of some farmers, relate to them in a positive manner that hopefully gives them a better impression of the state, let them share their feelings and suggestions for the program, and to be a resource for the state to gather valuable information that may improve our current system. 

Michigan Sale yards and Markets

Monday 5/16/11

Today we got the chance to travel over to Ravenna, Michigan to observe a sale yard. Ravenna’s sale yard has two components: one side for dairy cattle and the other for slaughter animals, feeding animals, calves, hogs, goats, and sheep. We arrived in Ravenna ready to see a sale of primarily animals going for slaughter. The facility was small with workers on edge with the constant flow of animals coming in.

We met with USDA Inspector Jeff Schaner and he was able to explain the process of how the animals come in on the truck, are placed into pens (males usually separated from females), and are auctioned off. It was interesting to see how the facility worked. 

After learning a lot about how their business worked, Tara and I got to sit in on the auction and observe what rates animals go for and how the auction is carried out. We got the chance to talk to some farmers and get their “two cents” about “the people in Lansing.” Ha!

On the way home, 10 miles from our exit, the state truck lost power steering and signaled to us to “check gauges.” Soon after the engine temperature gauge escalated to hot within a matter of seconds, so I pulled off the first exit I came to. Of course, the exit did NOT have any rest area, gas station, business, or anything! I called my boyfriend, Levi, to ask for some advice and he told us to pull over ASAP and to open any of the vents in the car we could. We could not reach anyone back at the office because it was already 6pm, so we called Beki Kennedy’s cell and she told us about the towing facility we were supposed to call. With her help and Levi coming to pick us up, we made it home safe and sound around 7. Woo! What luck on our first day with the truck!

Wednesday 5/18/11

Wednesday we were on the road again up to the Rosebush Market. The facility was completely different than that of the one in Ravenna and operated under cleaner conditions, but they also had more space to work with. When Tara and I arrived we met Dr. Tom Schwarck who was issuing movement permits to buyers from the sale. One buyer wished to move 69 cattle up to the UP, so he taught us how to enter the cattle into USAHerds and select a movement permit for them. We discovered just how slow the database worked on an air card and how inefficient the program is in some cases. It would be nice to see improvements for those inspectors and veterinarians in the field to get their job done in a timelier manner.

Week 1

Tara and I were able to jump right into the events, meetings, and projects involved with the Michigan Department of Agriculture’s Bovine Tuberculosis Eradification Program. Monday through Wednesday consisted of reading lots of articles to familiarize ourselves with how the program is run at both a state and national level. Articles included information about zoning areas, specific tests that are used, movement certificates, and projects within the program, such as the Wildlife Risk Mitigation Project.

The project’s goal is to implement change on farms that have issues with their cattle coming into contact with wildlife, particularly white-tailed deer. Many farmers are not happy with the plan that has been proposed for their land and it is evident by the attitudes and tone we receive when making phone calls. Overall, the biggest problem seems to be that people are upset that they have not been given a choice on their plan of action and additionally, they have to spend their hard-earned dollars on a way to carry out the plan (ie. putting up fences). If they are not angry with the plan, then they are angry about the “fair market value” for their cows to be removed from the farm. The USDA offers an appraisal, which is fair market value for a slaughter animal, and most disagree that the price is “fair.”

When not sitting in on conference calls and meetings, we practiced using the USAHerds database that is routinely used in Michigan. The database contains information on every animal with an RFID, including sheep, goats, pigs, cervids, bison, and cattle. We were free to explore the database to familiarize ourselves with the program for future use.

Early Thursday morning we met with a USDA worker (Katie) from the Scrapie program at DCPAH. We drove about an hour and half away to meet up with Dr. Joe Woltanski on the west side of Grand Rapids in a town called Hudsonville. Hudsonville is where the West Michigan Processing Slaughter plant is located. Our reason for travel was to work with Dr. Woltanski and Katie to extract lymph nodes from areas of the head, thorax, and abdomen of Ohio cows that were exposed to tuberculosis traced back to Indiana.

The plant was nothing like I expected. My mind predicted a large plant with an observation deck looking overhead. I was dead wrong. The plant was small and had approximately 10-12 workers on the kill floor at one time, along with a USDA inspector. Our goal at the plant was to squeeze ourselves in on the floor and collect lymph nodes, split them, and put half into a formalin solution and another in borate solution used for culture.  No gross lesions were seen in the lymph nodes we extracted, but it was quite the experience! To make it more “exciting,” for the lack of a better word, I nicked myself with a scalpel while cleaning up some of the lymph nodes. The cut was as minor as a paper cut, but we were quick to clean it up and get back to work. 

Check out what's going on with bovine TB @ http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25804---,00.html