Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

The summer continues to swelter on. The week of July 21-25 brought some good and bad things. We received an ample amount of rain for the end of July which was needed. We also diagnosed South Dakota's summer pasture problem - anthrax.

Our area hasn't had an anthrax quarantine for several years. When we do it gives the more senior members of the community a chance to remember previous problems. Several can recount the losses in the 1930s to 1940s when anthrax was at epidemic levels in the area. Most of the recent problems are in areas where many animals were lost and buried. Heavy rains or mechanical earth moving expose these burial pits and allow the anthrax spores to be consumed by grazing herds.

Anthrax is one of the oldest diseases in livestock. Heavy losses occurred during cattle drives in western history. These animals were fevered and usually wandered into sloughs and water holes to die. The anthrax organism prefers alkaline soils of these areas to perpetuate the long life of its spore. When the animal dies the bacteria in the animal are exposed to air. This exposure causes the anthrax organism to form a spore, a hard-shelled long living seed-like organism. When this spore is ingested in an animal, it becomes a bacteria and causes the animal to be ill.

Anthrax results in sudden death of the animal. Usually the cow is showing signs in several hours and may be dead in a few more. Normal clinical signs are staggering, blood emanating from all body orifices, bulging eyes, shortness of breath, but usually dead animals are all you see. The more animals exposed or consuming the organism at one time, the greater number of deaths you will have over a short time period.

Vaccination is a good means of control. State veterinarian Sam Holland recommends that all cows be vaccinated before going to pasture. The fewer outbreaks we have, the fewer spores will be formed in the area. This stops the contamination of more pastures with the anthrax spores. The cost of the vaccine is minimal (about $1 per head) but some herds still slip through the cracks and susceptible animals get to pasture. Exposed herds should be vaccinated as soon as possible and antibiotics are administered. These quarantined herds are revaccinated in 10 days.

One bright spot for veterinarians, aside from increased vaccine sales during what are normally slow months, is the concern that producers with the problem had for their neighbors and fellow cattlemen. In this era of information and data confidentiality, many people prefer that no one knows their business.

The two producers I had with anthrax, personally called all the neighboring farms and ranches ,fully explaining their problem and the need for others to vaccinate and prevent the spread of the disease. One herd owner was notified and traveled over 25 miles to vaccinate his cattle the day they called him.

Anthrax is a common problem in South Dakota. The source of the disease, spores, have been left behind by previous generations for us to deal with. Good range stewardship to minimize additional spread requires: vaccination of all animals before turnout, diagnosis of pasture deaths and cooperation between producers, veterinarians and regulator officials.

We may never remove earlier contamination, but we must avoid contaminating more rangeland.

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