West Texas Intermediate futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange advanced in...

Archer Daniels Midland this week filed an appeal of a May 3 ruling by a federal court in Illinois. The court ordered the release of documents in...

Farmers Marc Arnusch of Keenesburg, Colorado, and Luke Garrabrant of Johnstown, Ohio, are reporting on crop conditions and agricultural topics...

When cattle producers realized the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) meant they would no longer be able to buy medicated, free-choice mineral to control anaplasmosis in herds, worry set in for many who commonly used the practice. For some, that worry turned into losses, as the blood-borne illness spread, leading to aborted calves, and in the most severe cases death of infected animals.

A new treatment option, Baytril 100-CA1 Injectable Solution (enrofloxacin), has been granted conditional approval by the FDA for treatment of clinical cases of anaplasmosis in cattle. The product is expected to be available for this use beginning in May.

The product label will allow use on all classes of beef cattle except for: calves under 2 months of age and breeding beef bulls. Also, cattle for slaughter for human consumption, require a 28-day withdrawal time from the last treatment. Additional limitations apply for the dairy industry. For specifics see the product label at www.BayerLivestock.com

Anaplasmosis can be spread by needles, ear taggers, ticks, and biting flies. It causes severe anemia, to the point of death, and has been found in beef cattle in 48 of 50 U.S. states.

Cattle can be carriers of anaplasmosis, without ever showing signs. Once infected they are carriers for life. Herds can essentially have a developed immunity, but new animals without that immunity brought in can quickly become infected.

Visible signs of anaplasmosis may include weakness, lagging behind the rest of the herd, not eating or drinking, aggression, abortions, weight loss and labored breathing.

Treatments have included tetracycline antimicrobials, oxytetracycline or chlortetracycline medicated feed (CTC). With the conditional approval of Baytril 100-CA1, an option exists now for a single-dose treatment, administered by subcutaneous injection. This is not a preventative, but to treat clinical cases of anaplasmosis.

Copyright 2020 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.

Please correct the following errors and try again:

Please correct the following errors and try again: