CVI, Fair Papers, Health Certificate, Veterinary Inspection, Oh MY!

Did you Know?

Any large animal crossing state lines must travel with a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. 

The only exception that applies to any of our patients, is if sheep and goats under 18 months of age intended for meat are being transported directly to a slaughter facility.  These are also allowed to travel off farm (in NY state) without some form of official identification.

• For Horses official identification is considered to be a negative Coggins test certificate.  These will either have a drawing of the horse's markings or images of the horse's front, left and right sides.
• For Sheep and Goats official identification is a Scrapie program tag or breed registration tattoo when the registration papers are with the animal.
• Alpacas and Llamas are not required to have official identification to travel off farm, but most shows and fairs require a negative Bovine Viral Diarrhea certificate and either a microchip or a detailed drawing of markings signed by a veterinarian.  These are also often required for travel into other states in addition to a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection.

Why?

Disease trace-ability.  If a horse at a competitive trail ride in another state is diagnosed with a reportable or contagious disease soon after leaving the ride, that state is able to pull up the health certificates of all horses who had that ride as a destination.  They will then notify the state the other horse's came from so that owners and veterinarians can be informed and disease control measures can be started.  

Disease Prevention.  A Certificate of Veterinary Inspection requires the veterinarian signing it to certify that the animals listed appear healthy, and depending on the state to certify that there have been no known unhealthy animals on the farm of origin for 30 days.  This allows sick or potential carrier animals to be identified before they travel and spread disease.

How long is a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection good for?

Certificate of Veterinary Inspection's issued in NY state are good for 30 days from the date of veterinary inspection.  This means that you can travel across state line on a single certificate of veterinary inspection for 30 days before requiring a new one.  It is recommended if you are going to multiple locations to ask your veterinarian to issue additional health certificates at the initial inspection rather than traveling to multiple areas on the same certificate (defeats the disease trace-ability aspect of a health certificate).

What about Fair Health Papers?

NY state requires Health Certificates for some species of animals to enter county and state fairgrounds.  The requirements should be listed in your prize list or fair entry information.  These are different than a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection to cross state lines.  If you have any questions about whether you require a Fair Health Certificate for NY state please contact us, and if we do not know the answer we will contact the state veterinarians who are checking in animals directly.

Pre-Lambing/Kidding Management

Depending on your lambing/kidding season your girls may be starting to look like they swallowed watermelons!

The most important part of small ruminant management is the management of ewes and does prior to lambing/kidding.  If your flock is only handled once a year, 30 days prior to the start of lambing/kidding season is the time to choose. 

• Pregnant ewes/does should be handled to assess their Body Condition Score (Ideally they should score a BCS between 2.5-3/5)  Too fat and they may have difficulty giving birth as well as metabolic problems pre and post lambing, too thin and they may not produce adequate colostrum, experience metabolic problems, and will have difficulty supporting lambs during lactation)
  • Ewe lambs and older thin ewes may need to be separated out if they haven't been already and provided with less competition for feed
• All pregnant animals should recieve a CD/T (Clostridium C, D and Tetani) booster vaccination at 3-5 weeks before giving birth.  This stimulates their immune system to produce additional antibodies that will be deposited in the colostrum. 
  
  • You may choose to vaccinate your animals for additional Clostridial diseases depending on what is endemic on your farm, but the CD/T are the most important for protection of young lambs before their own immune systems develop
• Pregnant ewes at this time may be shorn or crutched (the wool around their tail, vulva, and udder clipped) depending on your preference and housing.  Does rarely need crutching, though Angoras and some dairy and meat does with fluffier coats may benefit from a trim or clean up around their back end.
  • This helps newborns to find clean teats instead of manure tags or dirty hair, when they search for the udder
• Depending on your mineral supplementation program, it may be recommended to administer an injectable Selenium/Vitamin E supplement to your pregnant ewes/does at this time.  I prefer to always provide free choice access to a loose mineral supplement, but some management situations may cause an injectable supplement to be necessary.
  • Deficiencies in selenium and vitamin E often cause weak, poor doing lambs.  Severe deficiencies may cause clinical White Muscle Disease.
• Parasite management is important at this point of time as well.  Different programs will involve different methods of control.  It is important to work with your veterinarian to decide which program is best for your flock/herd.  Some may recommend a single blanket deworming of the pregnant animals at this time, some may recommend continuing to utilize the FAMACHA program to strategically deworm, and others may recommend a fecal egg count for pre and/or post deworming assessments.
  • Pregnant animals often experience what is called a Peri-parturient egg rise.  This is an increase in the shedding of gastrointestinal parasite eggs immediately following parturition (giving birth).  It is believed that the increased release of cortisol in the animal's body while giving birth stimulates the parasites to release increased number of eggs.  An animal who had a low Fecal Egg Count prior to lambing/kidding may have a much higher FEC immediately after lambing.
• Flocks or herds with a history of late term abortions should discuss with their veterinarians if additional treatments beginning 3 weeks before lambing/kidding may decrease their late term abortions.

It may go without saying but if you have not had your ewes or does ultrasounded for pregnancy, at this point you may want to feel udder development or ask your veterinarian to teach you to "bump" the abdomen to feel for late gestation kids/lambs, to sort out animals less likely to be pregnant who may not need extra feed/attention.

Understanding Forage/Hay Analysis

Its snowing here in Avon.  This is a cold reminder that we are heading into winter and stored forage feeding (hay or haylage) season.  We recommend testing your stored hay for nutritional analysis atleast annually.  This allows you to know exactly what you are feeding your horses, sheep, goats, or 'pacas, and to accurately balance how much grain supplementation they may need.  

Hay samples are taken with a special bale corer attached to a hand crank or drill.  This allows bales that will be used later in the season to be sampled without opening.  The hay cores are bagged and mailed to a nutritional laboratory (we use Dairy One/Equi-Analytical).  

I've attached a glossary that can be helpful in understanding the Nutritional Analysis report that you recieve back.

Glossary of (basic) terms:

ADF—Acid Detergent fiber. The least digestible fiber (higher the number the poorer the forage).

Ash—mineral content of the feed (inorganic matter in the feedstuff). 

Crude Protein—nitrogen from protein as well as non-protein nitrogen sources such as ammonia, DNA and RNA. 

DMI—estimated level of intake an animal must consume of a ration that contains the energy concentration recommended by nutrient tables.

Dry matter—everything in the feed except water

Fat—amount of crude fat in the forage.
Lignin—component of cell walls that is indigestible.
Moisture—amount of water in the forage.

NDF—Neutral detergent fiber, makes up the bulky part of the plant. 

NEG—(net energy for gain or growth) estimate of energy available used for weight gain once maintenance is achieved.  

NEL—(net energy for lactation) estimate of energy available for lactation after needs for maintenance have been met. 

NEM—(net energy for maintenance) estimate of available energy to keep the animal as is. 
NFC—Non-fibrous carbohydrates (sugars, starches)
pH—measure of acidity or alkalinity.

RFV—relative feed value. 100 is considered average. 

Soluble Protein—protein that is able to be broken down in the rumen.

TDN—total digestible nutrients. Also a measure of the energy value of the feedstuff. 

What's Inside a Sheep (or Goat)?

Ever wondered exactly what your sheep or goat looks like under that wool or hair?  The Online Veterinary Anatomy Museum has some great labeled images. 

Sheep and goats are classified as ruminants.  Ruminants digest forages and fiber by microbial fermentation before it reaches their "true stomach".  This enables them to utilize feeds that would otherwise not be digestible.  They have a four compartment stomach, made up of a Reticulum, Rumen, Omasum, and Abomasum.  

Feed initially enters the reticulum from the esophagus.  The reticulum is lined with honeycomb like projections that let any heavy materials consumed (rocks, metal, etc) fall into the lining while the feed moves sorted by particle size into the rumen.  The rumen is a huge fermentation vat.  It is filled with fluid and feed, with a fiber mat floating on the top.  This allows anaerobic bacteria to flourish below the fiber mat and breakdown feeds (hay, grass, fiber) into volatile fatty acids.  Most volatile fatty acids are absorbed through the rumen and the remaining .  From the rumen, fluid, bacterial protein, and small particle size feeds move into the omasum.  The omasum is lined with "leaves" which allow it to trap particles and squeeze them to absorb as much fluid as possible.  Semi digested feed particles are then moved into the abomasum.  The abomasum acts as the "true stomach" and uses chemical and enzymatic digestion to break down feed particles for absorption.  From the abomasum digested feed moves into the small and large intestines.

Breeding Season is Here!

Are You Ready?

As breeding season is now in full swing for our sheep and goat producers, making plans for this important season is often overlooked. Aside from the essential first step of making sure you have enough “ram/buck power”, there are a few other management procedures that can be used to ensure the season is a success.

1. Vaccinate and deworm (if necessary) your flock. Performing FAMACHA analysis or Fecal Egg Counts on your flock is a wise management decision especially if you pull them off pasture to begin flushing them prior to breeding.  This will help you assess whether your flock needs deworming prior to breeding. Make sure vaccinations are up to date, consult with your veterinarian to determine which vaccines may be necessary for your flock or herd pre-breeding.
2. Have a Breeding Soundness Exam performed on your rams/bucks to test your rams semen levels and motility.  During the BSE your veterinarian will also palpate and measure his scrotum and testicles, looking for any variations that may be suggestive of diseases or lack of fertility.  This will ensure that they are capable of breeding the quantity of ewes/does you need them to.
3. Monitoring breeding by using a marking harness can tell you more than just if a ram has bred a ewe. It can tell you when she was bred, which ram bred her, and whether or not she cycled again. How? By switching crayon colors every week to two weeks and using different colors for different rams.

By switching colors throughout the season you will be better able to guess when a ewe should lamb by looking at the color on her back. If you used red during the first 2 weeks of breeding and blue the second 2 weeks and the ewe is marked blue, then she should lamb later in the season. If you use different colors for different rams you will be able to tell which ewe was bred to which ram. If a ram is outfitted with a color but that color is not on any of the ewes, then he is not doing his job or is being out competed by another ram. Since these marks do not last forever, be sure to write down when you notice a ewe has been marked. Add 145-149 days and this should roughly tell you when she should have her lambs. Also write down when you used a specific crayon and which ram it was on. 

Hopefully these tips will give you a jump-start on breeding and lambing/kidding seasons. Good luck on the upcoming breeding season.