Anthrax Kills Hundreds of US Cattle - NYT 8/18/05

[Guest guest]

> ...all they ever think about is kill, cook and eat...

>

> Is that why they don't use anthrax vaccination on time or not at all?

 

 

Called my brother in North Dakota to get the inside scoop. He has been out

of the livestock business for years, so not completely up to speed, but has

knowledge by association.

 

Anthrax outbreaks only occur rarely, under specific set of conditions - wet

spring , followed by humidity, followed by dry and hot late summer. The

Stand Operating Procedure is they don't vaccinate unless there is a hot

spot. You have a death, or your neighbor does, then the vet calls and tels

you to vaccinate your herd.

 

The difficulty is that the vaccination is live. It is more dangerous to

humans than anthraxed meat or tissue. An accidental needle stick and you are

dead. Have you ever tried to give a large animal a shot? it can be

problematic, especially with range cattle who are unaccostumed to being

around humans.

 

In the late spring, we used to round up our herd, which would be between

100-150 at the time I was there. We had a very efficiently designed corral

system that we used to separate the cows into different categores according

to what they would have done to them. Mostly it was vaccinations, tho for

calves it would be branding and, cross your legs guys, castrating. Once we

had a group sorted into a holding pen, we would push them thru a squeeze pen

into a chute. At the end was a head hold that would clamp the head. Good

timing required by the guy on the clamp, so the cow wouldn't back out. Then

another guy would slip a fence post in behind the cow that would be held

from going backwards by posts in the chute. Then whatever whatever, when

finished, the clamp was released, the side door opened, and the animal

allowed to leave.

 

I was the pusher. I was the guy who would step into the contained, milling

animals and cut out the ones we wanted, one at a time. I had a gate man who

as soon as I had separated a cow and got it headed for the pre chute holding

pen, would swing the gate behind the cow. For a young guy, it was dangerous

enough that it was exciting to step into the herd and cut one out, on foot.

Had to be quick, and totally into the head of the cow - needed good

defensive reads :-) Most of it is done with eye contact, really.

 

That probably sounds worse than it was, it was actually very quick and

humane. Point is, the spring roundp was when vaccinations were made. To use

live vaccine routinely on range cows would be a very dangerous thing for an

infrequent occurence.