Basic Process:
Using antibiotics to treat and control disease is really quite simple. An animal gets an infection, the farmer figures out how best to treat the animal, often in consultation with a veterinarian, and carries out the treatment. Let me give you an example from our farm. The other day one of my dad's heifers got sick. Knowing from experience how to treat that particular ailment, my dad pulled the long-acting oxymycin out of the refrigerator, gave the heifer a shot with the appropriate dose, and put her in the sick pen. When we treated the heifer, I noted her CCIA number, the dose and route of medicine given to her, the reason she was being treated, and the withdrawal date. All of these would be entered into my herd treatment records later.
In this example, we used antibiotics to treat the disease. If it had been a contagious disease, the antibiotics (along with isolation in the sick pen) would have also helped to control the disease by preventing it from spreading through the herd.
Some Notes:
Oxymycin is a tetracycline, which is in the "Medium Importance" category of antibiotics. This category of antibiotics are not often used in human medicine and are commonly used for treating, controlling, and preventing disease in livestock. It is important for farmers to understand what category the antibiotics they use are in. Antibiotics that are more important to human medicine are more difficult to access in animal medicine and may require a prescription from a veterinarian.
Route refers to the way in which the antibiotic was administered. There are three possible routes:
- Subcutaneous (SQ) - The drug is administered under the skin for slower absorption into the body and is often used when large amounts of medicine must be administered.
- Intramuscular (IM) - The drug is administered into the muscle. This is similar to when humans get shots (i.e. for vaccines).
- Intravenous (IV) - The drug is administered directly into the bloodstream (through a vein) for fast absorption. This is the most difficult method of administering drugs.
A withdrawal date is the date at which an animal can be slaughtered after being treated. For example, the oxymycine has a withdrawal date of 42 days. So, the heifer could not be slaughtered for food until March 17, because she was treated on February 3. The withdrawal period ensures that the antibiotic has plenty of time to exit the animal's system, so that there are no residues in the meat. This is why Canadian consumers can be sure that there are never antibiotic residues in any meat.
Treatment records are an important part of a livestock operation. They help us to keep track of withdrawal dates, track disease trends in the herd, make sure our herd health programs are up-to-date, and helps us identify problems with particular animals, diseases, etc.
The sick pen is a pen reserved for sick animals. The sick pen allows us to keep animals in quarantine, so that they don't spread contagious disease to the rest of the herd. Even if the animal is not contagious, keeping the animal in the sick pen allows the farmer to keep a close eye on the animal and take extra care of it.
As you can see, it is a fairly simple process to treat and control disease with the use of antibiotics, but there is a lot that farmers need to know in order to ensure that the animals are healthy and the meat produced is safe for consumers.
This is Dopey. He broke his leg. The vet splinted it, and we kept him and his mother in the sick pen. We had to treat him with antibiotics when his leg became infected and he survived!
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