Prevention is the only cure
Para TBC is a contagious disease which is characterised by incurable gastro-enteritis. The illness is caused by the microbe Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (MAP), which is found in ruminants.
Many ruminant farms are contaminated with this microbe, causing health fluctuations among cows, reduced calf birth weight, weakened resistance and lower milk yields.
Any infection also has major economic consequences. Research has shown that milk production will decrease by 19.5 % when animals are clinically ill, and by 6 – 10 % in the case of sub-clinical contamination (the cow is infected, but the infection is not visible).
Separate calf from cow after calving
Infection takes place early, usually in the first few weeks after birth. The calf will be contaminated through colostrum, milk, manure or saliva. Young animals, up to the age of around six months, are highly susceptible to infection. An intake of just 0.01 grams of contaminated manure (or 10,000 MAP microbes) is enough to infect a calf. The symptoms of illness are apparent only later; the incubation period is between two and six years. For this reason it is better to separate the calf from the cow direct after calving.
Hygiene programme most effective treatment
In recent years, various methods of dealing with Para TBC have been investigated.
Different trails include separating infected and non-infected animals, vaccinating all animals, and a hygiene programme for the first six months. This last method, a hygiene programme, appears to be by far the most effective, as the graph below demonstrates.
Prevention due to hygiene programme
“Prevention is the only cure” is a good motto in the fight against Para TBC. However, precautionary measures are not yet common on cattle farms in the Netherlands, nor in countries such as the United States and New Zealand.
A proper hygiene programme could prevent many problems. It is highly important that the calf does not come into contact with sources of infection such as milk and manure. This applies at the moment of birth as well as during the first six months of life.
Key Points of a hygiene programme:
- Make sure the calving area is separate and is clean.
- Ensure proper hygiene around the time of birth. Clean the cow’s back, udders, our hands and all equipment.
- Move the calf to clean accommodation immediately following birth.
- Keep calves under the age of six months separate from older cattle and any calves bought in.
- Feed only pure colostrum from Para TBC-free cows.
- Do not feed the calves with a colostrum mixture or milk with a high cell number.
- After two days of colostrum, switch to feeding Sprayfo milk replacers.
- Provide clean roughage, not roughage from land with spread manure.
Sprayfo calf milk replacers part of programme
Crude milk of infected cows is the easiest way to infect calves with para-TBC. Sprayfo calf milk replacers are an important part of the hygiene programme. The MAP microbe is killed by sunlight (UV light) or pasteurisation. Only pasteurised milk products are processed in Sprayfo, which ensures Sprayfo is free from MAP microbes.
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