Don’t let Salmonella sneak up on your herd

The clinical signs of Salmonella are easy to identify — sudden weight loss, weakness, fever, diarrhea and dehydration. While these symptoms signal clinical Salmonella on your dairy, they are only the tip of the iceberg. The majority of Salmonella infections in herds are sneaky and often can go undetected for long periods of time in the form of subclinical salmonellosis. These cases show no visible clinical signs of disease, so they are difficult to identify yet reduce a herd’s productivity. What’s worse, Salmonella pathogens can spread from animal to animal throughout an operation for months without detection.

“USDA data tells us that nearly half of all dairies are infected with Salmonella, and in herds over 500 cows, that number jumps to 61 percent,”¹ explains Gary Neubauer, DVM, senior manager, Pfizer Animal Health Cattle Technical Services. “Most of those infections are subclinical, resulting in decreased milk production and cattle that are more susceptible to other diseases, especially right after calving.”

A subclinical case of salmonellosis can develop as a result of exposure to three different types of pathogen carriers:

· Active carriers that shed the Salmonella organism in manure and/or milk

· Symptom-free carriers that infrequently shed organisms

· Dormant carriers that harbor Salmonella but do not shed bacteria

Dr. Neubauer points out that cattle can often move among these carrier states. For example, a dormant carrier may become an active carrier and vice versa. Carriers can infect the rest of the herd through fecal-oral contamination of bacteria shed during periods of stress. Dr. Neubauer recommends taking these steps as part of a Salmonella control plan:

· Maintain clean facilities. Evaluate your fresh cow, transition and calving pens. Apply fresh bedding on a consistent schedule and remove all manure from the facilities.

· Sanitation is key. Feeding equipment and loaders should not be used for manure handling. Help reduce the spread of bacteria by using chlorhexidine (Nolvasan® Solution) to clean calf-feeding utilities and oral treatment equipment, on a regular basis.

· Enforce biosecurity measures. Insist that all visitors, including your veterinarian, wear clean boots and clothing. Wash boots regularly with orthophenylphenol (Stroke Environ®) and launder work clothes daily. Ideally, work attire should be left at the dairy.

Work with your veterinarian to develop a Salmonella control program. Discuss the role that vaccination with Salmonella Newport Bacterial Extract vaccine* with SRP® technology can play. Reducing your herd’s risk of Salmonella Newport is important for the future of your dairy, as well as safety of our food supply. Don’t wait until you’ve seen a clinical outbreak of the disease; start working on a program today.

For more information on ways to reduce your risk of Salmonella visit www.SalmonellaRisk.com.