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1. Reminder: Webinar on new veterinary services grant program - Feb. 25
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Bulletin
February 23, 2016
USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will host the Veterinary Services Grant Program webinar on Feb 25, 1-2:30 p.m. EST to seek public comment and input regarding the new program.
Any U.S. citizen interested in the program may submit written comments, suggestions, or questions about the VSGP at www.nifa.usda.gov/vsgp. Submissions will be accepted beginning Feb. 25 through 5 p.m. EST, Feb. 29. Those attending the webinar may offer brief (2 min. max) oral comments or ask questions. A transcript of each listening session and copies of materials presented will be made available here [ http://tinyurl.com/j3hvpk2 ].
Webinar Link: http://nifa-connect.nifa.usda.gov/r1o9d3vxe12/
Dial-in: 1-877-369-5243 or 1-617-668-3633
Access Code: 0532084#
Do you need an International dial-in number? See:
http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDANIFA/bulletins/138337c
The Veterinary Services Grant Program is authorized by Section 7104 of the 2014 Farm Bill and received a first-time appropriation of $2.5 million in the FY16 Federal budget. NIFA anticipates releasing the first Request for Applications for this program in April 2016 and announcing the first grants awarded under this program by Sept. 30, 2016.
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2. Heightened awareness to farmers' biosecurity practices [MI]
ABC10Up.com
February 23, 2016
LANSING - In recent years, diseases like high pathogenicity avian influenza in poultry and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in swine have brought heightened awareness to farmers' biosecurity practices.
Biosecurity is essentially a set of farm management practices working to prevent animals from coming in contact with germs which would cause them illness. While how the practices are implemented may vary from farm to farm, there are always the same key components:
Keep Your Distance: It's important to restrict animal access to people, wildlife and other domestic animals that could potentially be carrying disease. In addition, any time new animals are added to a farm, there should always be a period of time in which they are separated from other animals to ensure they are healthy before introducing them to the established animals.
Keep It Clean: Washing your hands, clothes and footwear thoroughly before and after working with animals and regularly cleaning and disinfecting your equipment are essential to the prevention of disease on any farm.
Don't bring in disease: It's important to think twice before sharing equipment or supplies with neighbors. If you decide to share equipment with others, always clean and disinfect equipment before and after sharing. It's also important to disinfect boots, vehicle and other items after returning from another farm.
Recognize a sick animal: Early detection of unhealthy animals can help prevent the spread of the disease among your animals and in your community. It is always wise to consult with your local, licensed veterinarian.
"Regardless of the size of your farm, it's crucial to always implement and practice proper biosecurity," said State Veterinarian Dr. James Averill. "Not only does it prevent your animals from becoming ill, it protects Michigan's animals."
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3. Pigs' genetic code altered in bid to tackle deadly virus
University of Edinburgh
EurekAlert
February 23, 2016
Researchers have made an advance in the fight against a deadly virus that affects pigs.
The team used advanced genetic techniques to produce pigs that are potentially resilient to African Swine Fever -- a highly contagious disease that kills up to two-thirds of infected animals.
The new pigs carry a version of a gene that is usually found in warthogs and bush pigs, which researchers believe may stop them from becoming ill from the infection.
African Swine Fever is spread by ticks. When standard farmed pigs are infected, they quickly become ill and die, but warthogs and bush pigs show no disease symptoms when infected.
The research is focused on one of the pig genes associated with African Swine Fever Virus infection called RELA. The gene causes the immune system to overreact with devastating effects.
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4. WGFD, contractors collar elk for brucellosis surveillance study [WY]
Staff Reports
The Sheridan Press
February 23, 2016
SHERIDAN - On Feb. 16-17, contractors placed radio collars on 25 cow elk in an area west of Sheridan from Wolf Creek northwest along the face of the mountain onto the Kerns Wildlife Habitat Management Area.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department contracted with Native Range Capture Services, Inc. to capture and place the radio collars on the elk.
The project was undertaken as part of a larger brucellosis surveillance study that will take place in the northern Bighorn Mountains over the next few years. A small number of elk testing seropositive for the brucella bacteria were found during the 2012-2014 hunting seasons on the west side of the Bighorns.
"The elk were collared to refine seasonal habitat use and movements of elk from the east side of the northern Bighorn Mountains," said Sheridan area WGFD wildlife biologist Tim Thomas. "We will be able to determine if there are elk moving from the east side of the mountain range to the west side and vice versa.
"Elk were collared on the west side of the northern Bighorns to complement the collaring we did on this side," he added.
For as long as the batteries last, which should be about six years, the collars will transmit the elk's location twice a day to a computer database. Biologists will be able to access that database to observe the location of each individual elk to determine its daily and seasonal travel habits. WGFD officials are encouraging hunters to not shoot collared elk in the northern Bighorns for the next few hunting seasons. If a collared elk is harvested, the hunter should report the harvest and turn the collar in to the WGFD so it can be reused.
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5. Dairy and Beef Well-Being Conference at UW-Platteville March 10 [WI]
Focus on consumer education, care practices
SWnews4u.com
February 22, 2016
UW-Extension will host the annual Dairy and Beef Well-Being Conference in the UW-Platteville Markee Pioneer Student Center and Pioneer Farm in Platteville March 11.
Since consumer confidence is a critical piece of food production, this year's conference will focus on educating consumers and animal care practices. Dairy and beef producers, veterinarians, farm service providers, educators, emergency managers, first responders, and elected officials are encouraged to attend. Youth are also encouraged to attend as this will be the first conference to offer a youth track with hands-on and interactive activities by conference speakers.
The keynote speaker will be Wanda Patsche of Minnesota Farm Living, a blog working to connect consumers to the farmers and people who grow their food. Patsche will be addressing how to share your story with consumers with a presentation titled Building Your Ag Story Through Social Media. In addition, Ron Gill, widely known as a pioneer in animal handling and stockmanship will be on hand for a demonstration with live animals.
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6. Penn study reveals how fish control microbes through their gills
Univ. of Pennsylvania News Release
Science Codex
February 22, 2016
Oriol Sunyer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, has described fish as "an open gut swimming." Their mucosal surfaces -- their skin, digestive tract and gills -- are in constant contact with water, including any pathogens that that water may contain.
In aquaculture facilities, this exposure is a risk, as diseases can quickly tear through populations. In hopes of improving vaccines that keep fish healthy, researchers are therefore very interested in learning how fish detect and respond to pathogens through their mucosal surfaces. There is also great interest in learning how fish control the community of "friendly" microbes, the microbiota, that dwell in and on their respiratory surfaces.
In a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, Sunyer and colleagues made headway in this understanding. Their work reveals that fish induce production of a particular antibody in their gills in response to pathogen exposure. In addition, the researchers found that the gills' microbiota is coated with this same antibody, an immunoglobulin called IgT, the function of which was first discovered by Sunyer's lab in 2010. Prior to this study, it was thought that only mammals had such a refined local mucosal immune response.
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7. IPPE: Vaccines and the Fight Against Avian Flu
ThePoultrySite.com
February 22, 2016
US - Last year's outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the US were devastating for poultry producers, but industry players used lessons learned from these outbreaks to help with control of the disease in this year's Indiana outbreaks.
At the 2016 International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta, a seminar was held to look at the lessons that could be taken away from the outbreaks.
Dr David Swayne, Laboratory Director for the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, talked about the trends of avian influenza infections around the world, and how vaccination is used in some countries to help with prevention efforts.
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