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.