As I write this, we’re settling in for a heat wave and I anticipated leading off with an article regarding heat mitigation, or perhaps the impacts of heat stress on livestock. But I was just made aware of an issue that I think many of you will find important to address. Per a letter posted by the Directors of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Database (FARAD) and reproduced below, FARAD is in jeopardy of losing its funding and shutting down operations as early as 2025. The Directors are asking for anyone that is able and willing to contact their state representatives to do so as soon as possible and show your support for this program.
I suspect that many of you have utilized the services of FARAD in the past and have grown to depend on FARAD’s input in a pinch. For those of you unfamiliar with FARAD, it is a university-based program supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), with a mission to protect the U.S. food supply against accidental or intentional contamination of animal-derived foods so that they are safe for human consumption. FARAD maintains and provides an array of resources for veterinarians, extension specialists, farmers, regulatory personnel and others who are the stewards of our nation’s expansive commercial food animal industries and the growing number of small backyard livestock operations. Since 1982 this program has provided real time support service to veterinarians and related stakeholders. In 2023 alone, FARAD scientists directly assisted with 5,833 inquiries (33% increase from 2022) impacting 5.8 million animals (68% increase from 2022) representing dairy, beef, swine, poultry, small ruminant, and honeybee production systems.
More information regarding FARAD can be found on their website, and you can view an AVMA position statement (opens as a pdf) supporting continued funding of $2.5 million for FARAD to carry out its vital services. If FARAD is something you deem worthwhile, I would suggest letting your state representatives know sooner than later given that the Farm Bill is currently under consideration.
Moving on . . . I am happy to say that we had several poster and oral presentations delivered by WSU faculty and graduate students at the recent American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting held in Palm Beach, Florida. The abstracts are listed below and highlight areas of ongoing research within WSU Veterinary Medicine Extension and FDIU.
I also wanted to use this space to make a brief mention of a honey bee resource that was just brought to my attention. Michigan State University and collaborators have developed an excellent site regarding Diagnostic tools for honey bee diseases. For those of us new to the honey bee game this is a phenomenally practical guide.
Finally, I thought I’d mention that I recently had the pleasure of being named the Director of the WSU CVM Veterinary Continuing Education program. This role provides the opportunity to tie together the livestock work Dr. Figueiredo and I do within Veterinary Medicine Extension to the broader landscape of all veterinary CE. Of course, the reality is that our behind-the-scenes administrative assistant, Katy Heaton, keeps both the CE and Extension machines well-oiled and running smoothly! That’s my segue into the fact that Katy and I hit the road the other day to drop off a survey to local practitioners asking for input into what CE folks would like to see offered through WSU. Please take a few minutes and fill out this survey to let us know how we can expand and improve our CE offerings across species and topics, and we’ll do our best to accommodate. I’ll leave it at that. I hope that as you read this you’re out of the heat and enjoying a cold beverage of your choice. By the time the next newsletter comes out we’ll probably all be wondering where the warm weather went . . . so enjoy it while we have it!
Stories in this issue
- Food Animal Residue Avoidance Database (FARAD) Letter from the Directors of US FARAD
- WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Continuing Education Survey Our Continuing Education program is built around “3 V’s” – Vision, Visibility, and Value.
- The association between bovine leukemia virus infection and diseases in lactating dairy cows Although only 1-5 % of infected cattle develop malignant lymphoma, bovine leukosis is one of the most prevalent diseases in dairy cows.
- Recent data related to feed additives strategies to reduce methane emissions in dairy cows Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane have clearly become a major topic of discussion.
- ADSA Annual Meeting Abstracts Shifts in uterine microbiome associated with pregnancy outcomes at first insemination and clinical cure in dairy cows with metritisThe association between bovine leukemia virus infection and metritis in dairy cowsDifferences in lactational performance associated with antimicrobial therapy and clinical cure of metritis in dairy cowsClinical cure failure of metritis is not associated with differences in the uterine metabolome of dairy cowsPeripheral leukocyte transcriptomic changes in preweaned Holstein dairy calves with varying stages of Bovine Respiratory Disease
- WSU Ag Animal Faculty Research Updates, July 2024 Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Respiratory Bacteria from Weaned Dairy HeifersAn artificial intelligence approach of feature engineering and ensemble methods depicts the rumen microbiome contribution to feed efficiency in dairy cowsInvestigating relationships between the host genome, rumen microbiome, and dairy cow feed efficiency using mediation analysis with structural equation modelingCharacterization of the preweaned Holstein calf fecal microbiota prior to, during, and following resolution of uncomplicated gastrointestinal diseaseShifts in uterine microbiome associated with pregnancy outcomes at first insemination and clinical cure in dairy cows with metritisDietary supplementation of rumen native microbes improves lactation performance and feed efficiency in dairy cows
- WSU College of Veterinary Medicine senior paper highlights, July 2024 When “out on pasture” isn’t picturesquePorcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in swine herds in the United StatesAnalysis of transcriptional changes in peripheral leukocytes from pre-weaned Holstein dairy calves with respiratory disease