Texas Dairy Review


	June Dairy Month activities include golf and DairyFest Spring weather and DOPA credits bring producers to tour dairies New $150,000 compost testing lab starts up Dairyman says his cows are his family…with no changes in store soon Cattle groups report Canadian cattle being tested for BSE has decreased Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) confirmed in New Mexico horses
	June Dairy Month activities include golf and DairyFest
	Golfers get ready!!!---to tee off at the annual TCAA Golf Tournament on Thurs., June 2, Par Country Club, Comanche, Texas, at 9 a.m. The tournament will be a four-team scramble, shotgun start. Cost to enter the scramble is $75 per person which includes lunch, green fee, and cart. Hole sponsorships are currently available. Reservations for the scramble can be made in advance or must be made by 8 a.m. on day of play. DairyFest, an annual family fun event celebrating June Dairy Month, is coming up Sat., June 18, at Stephenville City Park. The purpose of DairyFest is to celebrate the success of the tri-county’s largest economic influence, promote its future, and foster a closer relationship between the urban and rural communities in this area through family fun related to dairy animals, products, and services. TriCounty Agribusiness Association (TCAA), sponsor of DairyFest, is asking for help in order to make this year’s event a success. This is an opportunity for people to promote their businesses or organizations with signs or banners while providing a fun ag-related activity for kids. Most activities should be free or only recoup associated cost, unless the activities are used as fundraisers for non-profit organizations. Those who attend DairyFest will be able to enjoy all the milk, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream available. Vendor booths for area businesses, organizations, and arts & crafts will also be available at this year’s DairyFest. Cost is $50 for a 10 X 10 booth. Last year’s event was attended by well over 5,000 people. This year, event hours are extended from 2 pm to 9 pm. Event Sponsorships are available for businesses wanting to show their support for the dairy industry: $500 Milktown Partner, $250 Bovine Friend, $100 Cow Contributor. All event sponsors will have a sign displayed at their event, will be named in a mailout that goes to all area dairymen, and be recognized on the stage at DairyFest. They will also be recognized in TCAA’s monthly newsletters, event advertising and press releases. All proceeds help fund events that promote area agriculture. For those interested in sponsoring an activity or participating as a vendor at DairyFest, contact TCAA, July Danley at 254-965-2406. Call this same number or visit www.tricountyag.com for general information on how to support area agribusiness.
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	Spring weather and DOPA credits bring producers to tour dairies
	A perfectly beautiful spring day brought 116 dairy producers out for two Texas A&M extension dairy tours that allowed participants five (5) DOPA credits. The tours were hosted by area extension agents along with dairy specialists who discussed new methods for treating dairy manure waste. The tour began at Triple X Dairy in Comanche, owned by Wayne Moerman. An applied research and demonstration project for separating solids and liquids through the use of a permeable tube has been ongoing at the dairy since March. The Geo Tube project is being conducted by Dr. Saquib Mukhtar, A&M assistant professor and extension specialist. During the tour, dairymen watched a demonstration of the Geo Tube method which involves a porous synthetic tube that accumulates raw sludge from the dairy lagoon to aid in the dewatering process and containment and removal of solids. Alum and proprietary polymers are added to the raw sludge pumped into the tube from the lagoon. The alum binds the phosphates from the manure with the intention of making the phosphorus insoluble. The polymers are added to help bring the waste and sludge particles together. Once this mixture enters the tube, the liquids are allowed to “bleed-out” of the permeable tube and dewatering begins. Most of the remaining solids are trapped inside the tube as it slowly deflates. The tube is left in tact until the dewatering process has ended and then opened so that the solids can be removed. Tubes vary in size and are selected according to the manure derived from each individual dairy. The second dairy visited by the group was the Frans Beukeboom Dairy in Dublin. Dr. Tamilee Nennich, Texas A&M dairy specialist, spoke to producers on the percentage of solid contents of manure types and the average yearly nutrient excretion based on cows producing 75 lbs. of milk. She gave an example of average crop nutrient removal and how to estimate the number of acres needed for each crop to utilize phosphorus excreted from a lactating cow during a year. Dairy producers watched a demonstration of the Honey-Vac, a machine that vaccumed manure from one of the three freestall barns at the Beukeboom Dairy, followed by a Mensch Side Shooter that dispersed sand. Dr. Sam Feagley, Texas A&M, discussed extractable soil phosphorus (P), correlation with phosphorus forms in soil runoff, and the Texas P index as a nutrient management tool for cows.
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	New $150,000 compost testing lab starts up
	Scientists in Stephenville have started up a new $150,000 state-of-the-art soils analysis lab to serve the area’s dairy waste composters. Dr. David Weindorf, a soils scientist who has a joint appointment with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Tarleton State University (TSU), said new standards adopted by TxDOT require more extensive assays of compost material than existing labs were able to supply. To meet these new requirements, the lab will feature a plasma atomic emission spectrometer and a carbon-nitrogen analyzer. Such equipment doesn’t come cheap, Weindorf noted. But both pieces of the lab equipment are absolutely critical to meet the new TxDOT testing standards, which were created by the U.S. Composting Council, a trade and professional organization involved in research, public education, composting and development of compost standards. For example, the council’s standards require compost be analyzed for heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic. The new spectrometer can analyze a compost sample for 40 different elements in about 60 seconds. It works by using high temperature “plasma torch” to vaporize the sample. Heated so, each element in a compost sample emits a distinctive “fingerprint” of colors or spectrum. The spectroscope uses an elaborate optical system to analyze this fingerprint spectrum to an accuracy that is measured in the parts per billion. Another factor that must be examined under the new standards is the ratio of carbon to nitrogen. If the ratio is low – for example 12 parts carbon to one part nitrogen – then it is likely the compost is still decomposing. In comparison, a sample with 50 parts carbon to one part nitrogen is more stable. The lab is an example of how two universities can pool resources to benefit the region’s agricultural-based economy, Weindorf said. Not only is the cost of his salary shared between the two universities, so is the housing and cost of the lab. TSU paid for the plasma atomic spectrometer with a $107,000 National Science Foundation grant. The Experiment Station paid for the carbon/nitrogen analyzer with $45,000 in competitive grants and money from sample processing by a previous lab. Some of the equipment will be housed at the TSU campus; some at the Texas A&M University System Research and Extension Center on the outskirts of Stephenville. The lab is about a month away from being fully operational, Weindorf said. “Currently, we are undergoing a ‘ramping up’ process whereby we are being evaluated for STA (Seal of Testing Assurance) certification through the U.S. Composting Council,” he said. “At this time, there are no STA-certified labs in Texas. The goal of our project is to serve our local composters by providing them with timely, accurate information regarding the quality of their composted products. Furthermore, the data accumulated through our testing procedures may be useful for future research in other areas.”
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	Dairyman says his cows are his family…with no changes in store soon
	“This is my family,” said Frans Beukeboom as he motioned toward the many cows standing in the freestall barn at his dairy in Dublin. Although it seemed like an ordinary statement from a dairyman who has a strong and vested interest in his cows, it wasn’t exactly the answer I expected. I was looking for a real family---a wife, children, and the whole nine yards. It was only after I asked a second time that it dawned on me that there is no wife or children. Frans is a single---as in not-married---dairy producer who doesn’t seem overly concerned about changing his status anytime soon. “Oh, if the right woman comes along, I’d think about it,” he laughed and said. But, at this point, he’s too busy taking care of his cows and running his dairy. Frans is a native of the Netherlands and moved to the US In 1987. He spent some time in east Texas before moving to Comanche where he milked for a number of years. While in Comanche, he began to lease his current land in Dublin and in 1997, bought the dairy. He soon remodeled the milking parlor to a double 16 parallel. The Beukeboom Dairy is located on 330 rolling acres just outside Dublin. The dairy is permitted for 1250 cows, currently milking 990. The dairy barn is outfitted with DeLaval equipment and automatic takeoffs. Beukemboom Dairy milks 3X per day and has three freestalls. Two of the larger freestalls accommodate 400 cows each and the third houses 100 cows. The dairy employs eleven people to help run the busy operation. Frans raises his own coastal but leaves the rest of the commodities he feeds up to the professionals. He raises his own calves up until they are a year old, then turns them over to a calf raiser. When they are six months pregnant, he gets them back. Raised on his father’s small dairy in the Netherlands, Frans said the opportunities were much greater in the US, especially in Texas. “It took too much capital to start a dairy over there,” he said. “They are also on a quota system,” he added. “Here, you can produce as much milk as you want.” Frans said he likes the open spaces in Texas and the freedom in the dairy business that it offers. He has some criticisms about the state and federal regulation but says it’s something he just has to live with. “I just try to keep my dairy operation simple, running efficiently, and where everyone knows what they’re supposed to do each day.” Since he’s not well versed in Spanish, he solves any language barrier by simply not hiring anyone who doesn’t speak English. “I also learned not to hire any single guys,” he laughed. “If they have a wife and children to take care, they’ll stick around a lot longer. The single ones just aren’t that reliable.” Like many of his Netherland friends, Frans is a soccer enthusiasts and plays sweeper or center midfield for a Forth Worth adult soccer league. He also coaches a children’s team in Stephenville. Beukeboom Dairy was recently part of a Texas Cooperative Extension dairy tour held at the end of April. Part of the discussions at the Beukeboom Dairy focused on manure management in freestalls, vacuum technology and manure slurry application. Dr. Tamilee Nennich, Dairy Extensionist Specialist, spoke on solid contents in manure and nutrient excretion. Dr. Sam Feagley, Texas A&M, presented information on the Texas phosphorus (P) index as a nutrient management tool for Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs).
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	*Cattle groups report Canadian cattle being tested for BSE has decreased*
	Despite the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) found in four Canadian cattle in the past two years - two of those cases being announced in January - the number of Canadian cattle being tested for BSE per month has substantially decreased, making it impossible to monitor the effectiveness of Canada’s BSE risk-mitigation measures. “Reports by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) show that Canada tested 7,088 cattle for BSE during December 2004, while the average number tested per month for January, February and March totaled only 5,258 cattle per month - a 28 percent drop,” noted Leo McDonnell, R-CALF USA president and co-founder. “At this slow rate of testing, even a relatively large BSE problem may remain hidden for many months or years.” Canada has maintained that if it tested 30,000 cattle per year, it would be able to detect one BSE case in a million, but Canada has not yet tested this many cattle per year, and yet four cases have been detected under far less testing. This suggests a BSE prevalence rate significantly higher than 1 per million. “Statistically, the detection sensitivity of a testing program is driven by the number of cattle tested per month, not the size of the herd,” said nationally renowned disease risk-assessment expert Louis Anthony Cox Jr., Ph.D., of Cox Associates in Denver, Colo. “Canada would have to double its testing rate, then double it again, then double it yet a third time to reach parity with the U.S. in the level of scrutiny being given to cattle to protect consumers and the cattle industry against BSE. “Just as the accuracy of a political poll depends only on the number of people interviewed rather than on the total number of voters, so the accuracy with which the prevalence rate of BSE-positive tests among inspected cattle can be determined depends only on the number of cattle tested, rather than on the total size of the herds,” explained Cox. “In both cases, what matters is just the proportion of the respondents that indicate a certain result. “Canada’s BSE test results to date suggest a possible true BSE prevalence rate greater than about 5.5 case per million head of cattle, which is the same order of magnitude as the BSE incidence rate found in countries considered to have a serious BSE problem, such as France and Germany,” Cox continued. “Moreover, unlike those countries, there is no historical trend in BSE testing results in Canada to indicate that the rate of BSE infection in the Canadian herd is decreasing.” R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will not allow countries with a BSE prevalence rate of two cases per million head of native cattle to be classified as ‘minimal BSE risk.’ “Even if a country met all of the other OIE criteria for ‘minimal BSE risk’ status - which Canada does not - a country must also have found its BSE prevalence rate to be less than two cases per million head during each of the last four consecutive 12-month periods to qualify as a ‘minimal BSE risk,’” Bullard pointed out. In contrast, the United States continues to test at the rate of over 45,000 cattle per month, but has never detected BSE in its domestic herd. Additionally, the U.S. already has exceeded its plans to test 268,500 domestic high-risk cattle - those animals judged most likely to exhibit BSE if the disease were present. As of April 8, 2005, the U.S. had tested more than 305,000 of the 446,000 cattle targeted for testing, with no cases of BSE detected. At Canada’s recently reduced rate of testing, it would take approximately 51 months (268,500/5258) to achieve the same level of inspection (number of cattle tested) that the U.S. achieved in the first quarter of 2005, according to Cox. “All other BSE-affected countries - following initial detection of BSE in their native herds - immediately begin a mandatory testing program that includes testing all high-risk cattle over the age at which tests results are meaningful, and/or cattle subject to normal slaughter,” McDonnell said. “Canada’s testing program cannot provide a science-based estimate of its BSE prevalence rate, and it follows none of the crucial protocols established by other BSE-affected countries.” As a result of these inadequate policies - along with multiple discoveries of BSE - it’s very likely that additional BSE-positive cattle exist in the Canadian herd but aren’t being detected, and Canada’s decision to reduce BSE testing after the two most recent cases could indicate that adequate testing may not be forthcoming.
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	*Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) confirmed in New Mexico horses*
	Vesicular Stomatitis (VS), a domestic viral disease that primarily affects horses, cattle and swine, has appeared early this year. Laboratory tests completed April 27 confirmed the infection in two horses on a premises in Grant County, in southwest New Mexico. VS appears sporadically, usually involving New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Colorado and occasionally, other states. Recent outbreaks occurred in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2004, with initial cases detected in mid-May or early June. Outbreaks usually end in early winter. VS outbreaks cause concern among ranchers, because signs mimic those of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious and dangerous foreign animal disease. VS can cause production losses, because affected livestock may develop blister-like lesions and open sores in the mouth, dental pad, tongue, lips, nostrils, hooves and teats. During the usual two- to three-week healing time, infected animals may be lame, or refuse to eat or drink. Dams may reject their nursing offspring, and dairy cattle can experience a severe drop in milk production. “VS-infected animals, and all other susceptible livestock on a premises are quarantined until 30 days after all lesions are healed,” said Dr. Dee Ellis, who heads up field operations for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency. “This ensures that sick animals are not moved, and helps prevent the disease from being spread by direct contact or through contaminated saliva or drainage from sores. Prior to quarantine release, animals are re-examined by a state or federal regulatory veterinarian.” Dr. Ellis noted that some states place prohibitions or restrictions on livestock moved from VS-affected states. TAHC regulations require livestock from affected states to be accompanied by a valid certificate of veterinary inspection (health paper) on which the accredited veterinarian certifies the animals are not from a quarantined premises. “We urge livestock owners in Texas to report any signs of VS to their private veterinary practitioner or the TAHC,” commented Dr. Ellis. “History could repeat itself. In 2004, Texas had confirmed cases on 15 premises. In Colorado, VS was detected on 199 ranches, and on 80 sites in New Mexico.” “A free laboratory test will ensure the animal’s blisters or sores are from VS and not from an introduction of foot-and-mouth disease into the U.S,” urged Dr. Ellis. “If you examine sick animals, wear latex or rubber gloves and practice good hygiene, as VS can be contagious to humans, resulting in short-term flu-like symptoms.”
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	VOLUME XIV, NO. 5	MAY 2005