Weekly livestock news: December 18, 2023

Cal-Maine Foods loses 684,000 hens to avian flu in Kansas

Cal-Maine Foods reported that a company facility in Kansas tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, affecting approximately 684,000 laying hens, or about 1.6% of the company’s total flock, WattAgNet reports. Production at the facility has temporarily ceased as the company follows USDA-prescribed protocols. Cal-Maine Foods is reportedly working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to customers. This is the first case of HPAI to appear in a Cal-Maine Foods flock during the 2022-2023 outbreak, according to WattAgNet.

New livestock drug rules collide with rural veterinarian shortages

As part of the FDA’s goal of slowing antimicrobial resistance, Guidance for Industry 263 has been in effect for over six months, transitioning all medically important antibiotics from over-the-counter to prescription. Part of that guidance says livestock producers must establish a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, or VCPR. GFI 263, however, has become a law at a time when the number of rural veterinarians is at an all-time low, putting livestock producers in the unique predicament of navigating government regulation while facing the current realities of rural veterinarian availability, Farm Progress reports. Nikki Johnson, veterinarian and Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association president, advises veterinarians to establish a VCPR proactively so that both parties understand the farm’s location, needs and animals, and then communicate quickly when emergencies occur so veterinarians can schedule accordingly. In addition, a proactive vaccination protocol can help reduce unnecessary illness.

Making the case for more rural veterinarians

Veterinarians aren’t useful only when something goes wrong. Disease prevention helps avert unseen drains on animal productivity caused by disease-causing germs. In addition, veterinarians have expertise in nutrition, genetics and facilities. Producers utilizing this help achieve the highest value for their calves, pigs or milk they market. When a solo rural practice adds a veterinarian or two, they are all more able to help clients become more productive. That increased productivity—the ability to sell more and higher-value calves, milk or better seedstock, for example—translates into better sustainability for those farms and ranches. Rural veterinarians are also important to our national food supply. Healthier animals produce more and higher-quality beef, pork and milk. And when veterinarians aren’t involved, our food safety system has to work harder. Low-level animal illness means more potentially harmful foodborne bugs for packing plants to deal with, Russ Daly writes in Farm Forum.

Antibiotic sales for food animals rose 4% last year: FDA

Data released by the FDA shows that sales of medically important antibiotics for use in food-producing animals rose 4% last year, CIDRAP reports. The latest summary report from the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine shows 6.2 million kilograms of medically important antibiotics were sold and distributed for use in livestock (chicken, turkey, cattle, swine, etc.) in 2022, up from 5.9 million kg in 2021. Medically important antibiotics accounted for 56% of all antibiotics sold for use in food-producing animals. Since 2015 (the peak year of animal antibiotic sales), the volume of antibiotics sold for livestock and poultry in the United States has dropped by 36%. But the decline in sales occurred in 2016 and 2017, when new FDA rules ending the use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion went into effect. Since 2017, antibiotic sales have steadily risen.

New research reveals surprising complexity in the minds of farm animals

At the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology, a leading center for investigating the minds of livestock, scientists are probing the mental and emotional lives of animals we know almost nothing about from a cognitive perspective. The work is part of a small but growing field that’s beginning to overturn the idea that livestock are dumb and unworthy of scientific attention, Science reports. Over the past decade, researchers at FBN and elsewhere have shown that pigs show signs of empathy, goats rival dogs in some tests of social intelligence, and cows can be toilet trained, suggesting a self-awareness behind the blank stares and cud chewing that has shocked even some experts. “If we don’t understand how these animals think, then we won’t understand what they need,” said Jan Langbein, an applied ethologist at FBN.

Kansas Livestock Association sets policy priorities for 2024

As demand for veterinary services becomes significantly greater than the number of rural veterinarians currently available, Kansas Livestock Association members approved a resolution during the group’s annual business meeting in Wichita supporting the continuation of and increased funding for the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas. The resolution also supports the creation of new programs, or the expansion of those already in place, to incentivize students to attend Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine or other accredited colleges in this field outside the state and emphasize working in a large animal practice in rural Kansas, or a clinic where the majority of the patients are large animals, upon graduation. It also passed a resolution enabling technicians to work with licensed veterinarians to perform certain procedures and approved a separate resolution regarding the permitting of small-scale meat processing plants in Kansas. Morning Ag Clips reports.