New regulations aim to stop cattle disease

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Published on Wednesday, 24 August 2011 14:59

Cattle producers want to keep their herds healthy and provide top quality products to the marketplace in spite of the drought. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) is helping them reach those goals with regulations aimed at protecting Oklahoma cattle from a serious disease called Trichomoniasis.

The long name belongs to a small protozoan, about the size of a sperm cell, which infects bulls and can be transferred to female cattle during breeding. As a result, cows usually abort their calves early in the pregnancy and become temporarily infertile..

Dr. Rod Hall, ODAFF State Veterinarian, stresses the value of knowing which cows have produced calves and recording the birth dates.

“When I was in private practice, a lot of clients didn’t keep records,” Hall said. “This problem can go on for years in that type of herd.”

Infected breeding bulls don’t look sick and continue to act in a normal manner. Once a bull is infected, he remains infected and capable of spreading the disease. There is no approved treatment or vaccine for infected bulls. Laboratory testing is the only way to confirm whether or not the animal is infected. Hall estimates this disease costs over $5 million per year in Oklahoma’s cattle population.

Regulations put into effect on January 1, 2011 combat the spread of disease by requiring that any bull changing ownership in Oklahoma by private sale, public sale, trade or barter must have a negative test for Trichomoniasis within 30 days of change of ownership.