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1. Maintained Biosecurity Focus Urged as PED Immunity Dissipates
Farm-Scape
ThePigSite.com
January 29, 2016
US - The Swine Health Information Center urges continued biosecurity as immunity to PED resulting from exposure dissipates, writes Bruce Cochrane.
Although the level of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in the US is low, there is still virus circulating.
Dr Paul Sundberg, the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center, says improved biosecurity and a buildup of natural immunity as herds have been exposed have helped reduce the level of PED but that natural immunity may be short lived.
"One of the things that we think is going on with PED is that the immunity that the sows develop is not as long lasting as other corona viruses like TGE."
"So, where we can detect immunity in sows following a PED outbreak, that might only be 6 to 8 to 12 months so we very well may be at a spot now where we have a growing susceptible herd in the country."
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2. Three Positives for CWD Found in Recent Testing of Deer [NE]
By Justin Stakes
AmmoLand.com
January 29, 2016
Lincoln, NE - The presence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Nebraska deer has spread eastward, according to findings by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
The Commission conducted a CWD sampling operation in its Northeast District deer check stations during the 2015 November firearm deer season. Three samples tested positive for CWD. Those samples were taken from deer harvested in Boone, Nance and Harlan counties. The deer taken in Harlan County, which is in south-central Nebraska, had been taken to a northeastern Nebraska check station, so it was included in the testing.
A total of 759 deer was sampled in three deer management units; Missouri, Elkhorn and Loup East. The deer from Boone and Nance counties were in the Loup East unit. No extensive sampling for CWD had taken place in these units since 2008, when no positive deer were found.
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3. Bartlett horse farm 'at a loss' trying to figure out where virus originated [IL]
The Daily Herald
January 29, 2016
Georgette Litchfield, co-owner of the Sunset Hill Farm at 7N460 Bartlett Road which houses 35 horses, said Friday the farm is under quarantine after receiving a positive test for EHV-1 Thursday. Other farms in the area have been notified of the virus, she said.
Litchfield said the virus can only spread to other horses, but humans can transport the virus from horse to horse. Equipment and vehicles and also transport the virus.
Because of this, she said, nobody is being allowed on the farm while the horses are quarantined, which could be for weeks or months. Horses are being kept in their normal locations, either stalls or the pasture.
She said the farm is following the protocol as set forth by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. It is recommending horses' temperature be taken twice a day, and all must be fever-free for 21 days before the state can start talking about lifting the quarantine, department spokeswoman Rebecca Clark said.
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4. Turf Paradise Racetrack Quarantined Due to Potential EHV-1 [AZ]
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
January 29, 2016
The Arizona Department of Agriculture announced on Jan. 28 that it has quarantined horses at Turf Paradise racetrack, in Phoenix, after determining that three horses could have been exposed to equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1).
The quarantine requires all horses at the track to stay in place and for no horses to come onto the property for at least 21 days.
The quarantine follows three horses coming into the state from Dona Ana County, New Mexico, where several horses have been diagnosed with EHV-1. The New Mexico Livestock Board issued a quarantine for several locations, but the horses at Turf Paradise left before the restrictions were in place.
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5. Survey finds more CWD in Western Canada
By William DeKay
Western Producer
January 29, 2016
A recent hunter surveillance program suggests the population of chronic wasting disease continues to rise and spread in Western Canada.
Trent Bollinger of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative said that of the 200 animal heads submitted for testing, 18 or about 10 percent tested positive for CWD.
While final numbers are still being calculated, Bollinger said 90 mule deer and 90 white-tailed deer were tested. The rest were elk and moose in equal proportions. The positive results appeared only in deer and primarily mule deer, he said.
"These are 200 samples spread all over Saskatchewan but it does appear to be increasing. What we had detected previously from the larger hunter surveillance programs in years past was a couple percent," he said.
"We have four new wildlife management zones so it has spread to new areas in the province."
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6. Overcrowded barns could pose disease risk for beef cattle
By Darrin Pack, AgAnswers
Drovers CattleNetwork.com
January 29, 2016
Beef cattle seeking shelter from harsh winter weather could be at an increased risk of disease in overcrowded barns, Purdue University experts say.
Extreme cold or rapidly changing weather can lower animals' immune response, leaving them more susceptible to disease, said W. Mark Hilton, clinical professor of beef production medicine.
"During good weather, beef cattle tend to spread out a bit and don't seek shelter," he said. "When the weather is inclement, and if a good barn is available, animals will seek shelter there. If the shelter is too small for the entire herd, or if it has poor ventilation, the viruses some animals harbor can be more easily spread to other animals."
Hilton recommends limiting access to barns and other shelters.
"If producers are calving in this weather, which I think is a mistake because the conditions are so variable, calves should have access to shelter while their dams should not," he said. "If cows and calves are allowed free access to buildings it becomes an almost impossible task to keep the environment clean."
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7. A&M hopes to draw more minority, rural students to veterinary school
Austin American-Statesman
January 28, 2016
Texas A&M University is spending $120 million on a new building for its College Station veterinary school and creating partnerships with four sister campuses in an effort to boost enrollment of minority and rural students and to increase the supply of veterinarians who focus on the livestock industry.
"Texas agriculture feeds and clothes the country," said John Sharp, chancellor of the A&M System. "We will always need small-animal veterinarians to take care of our pets, but we also need more large-animal veterinarians helping to protect our state's agricultural economy."
The new building, funded by bonds backed by the state's multibillion-dollar Permanent University Fund, is expected to be finished in June. It will allow the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences to increase enrollment of the entering class above the cap of 132 that accreditors have imposed for years, said Eleanor Green, the school's dean. She declined to offer an estimate of future enrollment, explaining that she didn't want to get ahead of a committee working on a recommendation.
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