If you’re considering agisting cattle on your property alongside your own herd or sending your stock for agistment elsewhere, taking some simple precautions may help avoid the risk of a costly disease outbreak.
There are three main considerations to protect agisted stock, where possible:
- Follow your biosecurity plan and the procedures you have put in place to manage risks that could impact your stock or property.
- Request or provide as much information as possible about the health of the stock prior to agistment (ask for or provide a National Cattle Health Declaration).
- Segregate livestock from different properties into designated paddocks. At a minimum, quarantine newly introduced animals in separate paddocks until their health and disease status is confirmed.
There are several diseases or pests that can be introduced to the herd when they are ‘parked’ or agisted.
To minimise the risk of the following diseases or parasites, there are several measures you can take.
Mastitis:
- Milk herds separately, for farmers who receive stock; milk the parked cows after the farm herd, and clean milking plant and equipment between uses.
- Use good hygiene practices. Continue to monitor bulk milk cell count (BMCC), recording and treating clinical cases.
Bovine Johne’s disease:
- Run the cattle as separate as possible, keeping in mind that bacteria may still be present in pastures for 12 months after agisted stock have left the property.
- If Johne’s disease is a concern to you, consider only sending cattle older than 12 months. For those receiving cattle, ensure stock under 12 months are kept in a separate area from any agisted stock.
- Participants in the Johne’s Disease Dairy Score program should be aware that movement of stock to herds with a lower Johne’s Disease Dairy Score may jeopardise their Johne’s Disease Dairy Score.
Pestivius:
- Vaccinate if it is in line with your biosecurity plan.
- Keep newly introduced cattle away from the breeding herd, especially if in early pregnancy.
- Ensure replacement females have developed a strong immunity before joining.
Intestinal parasites:
- Drench stock as they arrive at the agistment property (during their quarantine period) and again on their return home.
Other considerations:
- In order to maintain lifetime traceability, agisted or parked cattle need to be transferred between PICs on the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database. Further information can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.
- As per any other movement when sending cattle to another property (with a different PIC), a National Vendor Declaration (NVD) needs to be filled out.
- The welfare of animals is always of the utmost importance. Stock owners and managers, including those who agist, have an obligation to, at all times, provide proper and sufficient food, water and shelter for stock under their care.
By Richard Smith, dairy industry development officer, Agriculture Victoria, Tatura.