The Hidden Killer

A simple three-step program can help eliminate anaplasmosis, which costs Southern beef producers millions of dollars in annual losses.

3 Easy Steps After Diagnosis Control, according to Scharko, consists of an injection of long-acting tetracycline after the disease has been diagnosed. The following summer it is vitally important to get on the three-step program outlined below. Control biting insects. These include ticks, horse and stable flies, and mosquitoes. Sprays, back-rubbers and dust bags are effective. Use clean needles and surgical equipment. Scharko prefers that producers use a clean needle for every animal in a known infected herd. At the least, change needles after vaccinating 10 to 15 animals in all herds to minimize the risk of spreading the disease. Needles should not be disinfected, as this will inactivate modified live vaccines and make them useless. Feed aureomycin (chlortetracycline). It should be fed at the rate of 0.5 milligrams per pound of body weight per day (a minimum of 350 mg per head per day for animals weighing less than 700 pounds).

Whether you have a few cows or a few hundred, there may be a killer hiding in your herd. And you may not know it until you go out one morning and find a dead animal in your pasture.

Each year, anaplasmosis causes thousands of cattle deaths throughout the South-east. This disease is caused by a pathogen that invades the red blood cells, keeping animals from carrying enough oxygen to their brain and other vital organs. In the worst cases, animals literally suffocate and die. Even if animals don't die, you can lose money because they won't gain weight or produce milk. Then their suckling calves suffer.

Your local Southern States retailer can help you head off this costly disease. They can provide the appropriate insecticides and feed products containing CTC (chlortetracycline) to use while following a simple three-step recommended program (see sidebar).

Mike Peacock, beef feed sales and marketing manager for Southern States, says the co-op sells several products with CTC. Nutra Plus™ 10G can be mixed into a feed ration, topdressed on feed or incorporated into a mineral mix. Aureo 4G Crumbles can be topdressed or mixed with feed. The medication is also available in Graze-N-Gain Mineral, 2:1 Mineral with CTC, Vit-A-Mag with CTC, and Fly Stop Beef & Dairy Mineral Mix with Altosid and CTC.

Patty Scharko, a Kentucky Extension ruminant veterinarian, says the problem with anaplasmosis is that few cow owners recognize the disease before it's too late.

"The disease is commonly transmitted in summer from animal to animal by biting insects such as ticks or horse flies," Scharko explains. "It also can be spread through needles. Usually in late August or September, something triggers the disease.

"In most cases, you don't get much warning," she adds. You may just find one or more dead animals.