Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » Prevent zoonotic diseases on your dairy farm
DISEASE PREVENTION ... Comments

Prevent zoonotic diseases on your dairy farm

Producers must take preventative steps to protect themselves and their employees

PUBLISHED ON December 3, 2017

Holstein dairy cows eat a prescribed feed to support good health. USDA photo by Scott Bauer.
Holstein dairy cows eat a prescribed feed to support good health. USDA photo by Scott Bauer.
The compliance of preventive measures protects not only people in direct contact with animals, but also people in their homes. Prevention is especially important if there are children under 5 years old, elderly or people with weak immune systems in the families of the dairy personnel, since they can get sick more easily and could have more severe symptoms of the disease. (USDA photo by Scott Bauer via Flickr)

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A current outbreak of multi-drug resistant Salmonella has been associated with dairy calves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the outbreak has affected 54 people in 15 states, and around one third of the affected required hospitalization. At the moment, no cases have been reported in Michigan, but situations like this remind us that we should always keep zoonotic diseases in mind.

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that are transferred between animals and people. Some of the zoonotic diseases of dairy cattle that are present in the U.S are cryptosporidiosis, E. Coli, ringworm, salmonella, and tuberculosis. These diseases are not present in every herd, but they represent a potential risk that need to be addressed in every farm.

Cattle do not always show clinical signs of the diseases, despite being carriers. For example, a healthy cow can have E. coli in her digestive system and be shedding E. coli in its feces. That same E. coli can cause severe symptoms if a person is infected with it.

People that work with dairy cattle can be at risk of becoming infected with a zoonotic disease. However, families of employees and people in close contact with dairy personnel can be at risk too. The compliance of preventive measures protects not only people in direct contact with animals, but also people in their homes. Prevention is especially important if there are children under 5 years old, elderly or people with weak immune systems in the families of the dairy personnel, since they can get sick more easily and could have more severe symptoms of the disease.

Contracting a zoonotic disease not only has consequences on the health and wellbeing of the person affected, it also impacts the normal operation of a dairy farm. In times when the work force is very limited, producers cannot afford to have a valuable worker off the farm due to a preventable disease.

Michigan State University Extension recommends the following preventive measures of zoonotic disease:

  • Cow health: Good health and disease control reduces or eliminates the risk of infection.
  • Education: Make sure that the dairy personnel, especially new employees without livestock experience, know what zoonotic diseases are and how to prevent them. You should work with your veterinarian or Michigan State University Extension educator to provide the education for your workers.
  • Use of personal protective equipment: Dairy personal should wear coveralls or dedicated work clothes, boots and gloves. If possible, work clothing should be washed and kept at the farm. In some cases, mask and googles might be necessary.
  • Hygiene: Wash hands after working with animals or with equipment that is in contact with animals, do not eat or drink while working with animals and store work clothes and boots outside the house.
  • Unpasteurized milk: Do not allow employees to drink unpasteurized milk or colostrum from the farm. Unpasteurized milk consumption could potentially cause infections with tuberculosis, salmonella, brucellosis or E. coli.

These preventive measures may not eliminate the risk of zoonotic disease completely, but they help to control it and decrease it.

Efforts need to be made to prevent zoonotic diseases from impairing your employees and their families. If you have not address this issue, now would be a good time to start implementing this advice. With the help of your veterinarian or Michigan State University Extension educator, you can develop a strategy to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease on your farm.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

— Paola Bacigalupo Sanguesa, Michigan State University Extension

For more news from Michigan, click here.

Click Here to find out more about your favorite topics

dairy

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

grapes

Wine Grape Vineyard Establishment Conference

grazing sheep

Changes to the USDA scrapie id program

Primary Sidebar

MORE

MICHIGAN CLIPS

Virtual reality could boost poultry health
August 10, 2022
2022 All-American Dairy Show online entries now being accepted
August 10, 2022
Depending upon the degree of immaturity, harvesting corn as silage, earlage, or snaplage may result in greater crop revenue than harvesting as high-moisture or dry-shelled corn. (Photo by Monica Jean, Michigan State University Extension)
Consider snaplage timing, quality for optimal nutrition
August 10, 2022
Farm production expenditures up more than 7%
August 10, 2022
cow dairy (Photo by Ryan Song on Unsplash)
NMPF commends climate provisions in Senate’s Inflation Reduction Act
August 9, 2022
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Assessing value-added dairy business expansion
August 10, 2022
OpEd: Farmer-processor relationship must underpin milk pricing reform
August 10, 2022
Depending upon the degree of immaturity, harvesting corn as silage, earlage, or snaplage may result in greater crop revenue than harvesting as high-moisture or dry-shelled corn. (Photo by Monica Jean, Michigan State University Extension)
Consider snaplage timing, quality for optimal nutrition
August 10, 2022
Come celebrate 30th Kiddy Tractor Pull at Harford Fair
August 9, 2022
Twilight Tour and Ag Safety Event – August 18
August 9, 2022

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Customer & Technical Support

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Invite Your Friends
  • Subscribe to RSS
  • WeatherTrends
  • Just Me, Kate

© 2022 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.