Kansas State University and Kansas beef industry to host anaplasmosis meeting in Salina
The day is designed to educate and plan a coordinated effort to control the crippling disease in Kansas.
Released: March 24, 2016
MANHATTAN, Kan. – A meeting to sync up the Kansas beef industry and veterinary profession in combatting anaplasmosis infections in Kansas cow herds will be held May 11, 2016 at the College Conference Center at the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus located at 2310 Centennial Road in Salina.
The meeting is hosted by the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and K-State Research and Extension involving beef-focused faculty from K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Agriculture along with leadership from the Kansas Livestock Association, the Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Veterinary Medical Association.
Anaplasmosis is a crippling blood-borne disease carried by ticks and flies. Once thought to be a cattle disease that was mainly restricted to the coasts of the United States, Kansas beef producers are seeing more and more cases.
“In 2013 the majority of the positive anaplasmosis samples sent through the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory originated from southeast Kansas counties. In 2015 almost every county in the eastern two-thirds, and several far-west counties, of Kansas had samples that were tested and found to be anaplasmosis positive,” said Gregg Hanzlicek, director of production animal field investigations for the laboratory. “We don’t know if the geography of this disease has changed or if veterinarians and producers are looking harder for it, but it is clear that there are positive herds in a very large percentage of Kansas.”
“This meeting is in response to the hundreds of calls, emails and questions about anaplasmosis from Kansas veterinarians and beef producers that are losing cows to this disease. Kansas State University’s role as a land grant institution is to provide venues and leadership to serve the people in the beef industry.” said Dan Thomson, Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology at K-State. “We have many talented veterinary and animal science faculty working on this issue at Kansas State. We will also bring the experts from around the United States. The beef industry brings in over $7 billion dollars in annual revenue. We need to be responsible in providing leadership for the beef industry which is an economic driver for our state and the country.”
Presentations will cover practical, applied topics about anaplasmosis. Speakers will discuss the disease process of anaplasmosis along with clinical signs in cows infected and diagnostic tests that can confirm the disease. Four speakers will discuss how to keep anaplasmosis from infecting your cows including vaccine strategies, fly control, prescribed burning and other management practices that can lower the chances of herd infections. Treatment of cows with anaplasmosis and what to expect in cow productivity after infection will be discussed. The afternoon will end with a panel discussion where producers, veterinarians and allied industry personnel can ask the experts questions about the disease and how it can be controlled. The goal of the meeting is to sync up the Kansas beef industry to develop a coordinated effort to control this disease on Kansas beef ranches.
For more information, contact Anthony N. Ruiz in the K-State Research and Extension Central Kansas District extension office at 785-392-2147 or anruiz@ksu.edu.
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K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan.
K-State Research and Extension
http://www.ksre.k-state.edu
For more information:
Anthony N. Ruiz - 785-392-2147 or anruiz@ksu.edu
