The Moos Room™

00;00;11;03 - 00;00;47;14
Emily
And welcome everybody to The Moos Room. Just Emily this week, flying solo. Give you a little break from Bradley. You're all very welcome for that. It's it's Brad's turn to be the one with all the crazy busy travel right now. And then next week, it's my turn. So, Brad, we do miss you. But, yeah, he's got a lot going on right now, so I am taking over the reins for the week, and I thought we would just have a quick chat, about something that's kind of just been top of mind for me lately.

00;00;47;16 - 00;01;10;26
Emily
You know, we're giving in to county fair season and and, moreover, you know, as a, as a dairy cattle girl myself growing up, you know, it's show season. Here in Minnesota, it was just our state Holstein show. Again, county fairs are kind of getting started. We've already had a few of them in the state. I would say a lot of them really happened in July and then, early August as well.

00;01;10;29 - 00;01;34;09
Emily
And so I thought now would just be a good time to to take a quick pause before we get into the true craziness of county fairs and everything else. Just to provide some reminders about biosecurity for show season. You know, again, I grew up showing dairy cattle, and for each I have incredibly fond memories of doing that.

00;01;34;11 - 00;01;59;02
Emily
Really, really enjoyed my time as a forager and absolutely loved showing dairy cattle very excited. This year I have a niece and nephew who are going to be showing some beef calves. Hopefully if they like it, we'll get them into dairy next year. So, you know, I think that showing is just such a great thing to do and especially doing it through our youth programs like for each and FFA.

00;01;59;05 - 00;02;24;00
Emily
It's a really great opportunity for our kids to learn a lot about animal science, about, you know, what it takes to care for an animal and prepare it, and learning about showmanship of that animal. And I think right along with that can also be an opportunity for them to learn about biosecurity. And of course, you know, I'm really going to focus on kind of county fairs and more like youth shows today.

00;02;24;03 - 00;02;43;16
Emily
But if you are an adult listening who shows, I mean, hopefully you're doing all the things we talk about today. You know, but let these serve as some reminders for you. And I would say, especially if you are somebody who is working with kids at shows, really think about again how you can start teaching them about some of this.

00;02;43;16 - 00;03;07;21
Emily
You know why biosecurity is important, why we do it, etc.. So, you know, again, this should be a pretty quick episode today. I just wanted to chat with you all for a little bit about this, but you know, kind of high level to get started. As we know, biosecurity practices reduce transmission of disease causing organisms or pathogens, right?

00;03;07;21 - 00;03;39;03
Emily
That is what biosecurity is all about. It is about maintaining germs, from one farm to another. And, you know, biosecurity plans help protect farms, help protect animals from pathogens. And of course, things like shows, exhibitions, county fairs, etc. are really high risk events simply because we are bringing a lot of different livestock across many different species, from many different farms, all to one place.

00;03;39;05 - 00;04;06;13
Emily
So while of course I love shows and fairs are fabulous, when I think about it from a safety and biosecurity standpoint, it can certainly be a little bit scary when you think about that, that it's all these animals, all these species from all different farms, all together in one place. And so that's why by, oh, security is important in your preparation, in your time at the show and when you immediately arrive home as well.

00;04;06;15 - 00;04;38;09
Emily
So preparation what I mean by that, making sure that you are bringing animals that are healthy, that are safe to leave the farm and be out around other animals from other farms. So, I mean, I think we all kind of know the, the horror stories of somebody who maybe brought an animal with ringworm. And I know, we had an incident like that when I was growing up in forage and many, many cattle got infected with ringworm.

00;04;38;11 - 00;05;03;07
Emily
Because somebody just tried to cover up that their heifer had it, and it gave it to everyone. So again, as you prepare, you know, making sure that you are bringing animals that are healthy, that are ready to be away from the farm and at a show and again, be exposed to other animals because, you know, sick animals don't just run the risk of infecting other animals, but they run the risk of getting sicker.

00;05;03;07 - 00;05;29;01
Emily
Right? They have a depressed immune system already, and then you're exposing them to all these other outside pathogens. And that can become too much of of a load on that immune system for that animal. So, you know, is your preparing really thinking about making sure your animal is at its best health and is safe to to bring out and along with the animal is the stuff, right?

00;05;29;01 - 00;06;02;05
Emily
If there's one thing I remember about, showing in forage, just packing the shoebox and one thing I remember my dad and my older brothers really emphasizing each year was like washing the shoebox itself because it sat in one of our sheds, you know, for the rest of the year collecting dust and who knows what else. So always watch the shoebox, wash the pails, wash everything you're bringing, you know, and and I remember when I was younger, I just thought like, oh, yes, we just wash this stuff so that it looks nice.

00;06;02;05 - 00;06;28;26
Emily
And so people think, you know, we have our stuff together and everything on our farm. Is this clean all the time? And maybe that was part of it, right? Who knows? But now, right, as I got older and as I learned more through the project, I learned that part of it was, again, that that preparation, biosecurity for going to the show is not just bringing, you know, making sure the animal is free of pathogens, but the stuff that you're bringing.

00;06;28;26 - 00;06;58;20
Emily
So feed pans, scoops, halters, brushes, again, the shoebox itself, anything that you are bringing should should be wash, should be clean when you bring it with you. And then of course, so that's kind of for me the, the preparation biosecurity. And then we move on to being at the actual show. Right. And, and I would say with that, if you have done your preparation, hopefully your fellow showmen have as well.

00;06;58;22 - 00;07;25;10
Emily
Right. It should be pretty smooth sailing while you're at the show, just being mindful of things like being aware. If you notice cattle that don't look very good, or maybe you hear some coughing from somewhere, and just being aware of where that is and maybe steering clear of that area, keeping an eye on your animal, watching them for signs of heat, stress or anything else that could be going on with them will will be very important.

00;07;25;10 - 00;07;54;02
Emily
And of course, just being mindful. So making sure that you know, when you're walking to and from the wash rack, your heifer isn't, you know, sniffing in some other cows food or is drinking out of a water pail that isn't theirs. Right. That's an area where there could be some cross-contamination. So making sure you're being a responsible steward of yourself and your animal and all of your things, keeping things to yourself.

00;07;54;02 - 00;08;11;13
Emily
If you do need to lend something to somebody, of course, use your best judgment on if it's a safe thing to be lending to somebody else, and then just making sure you're cleaning it up before you give it to them and wash it again when they give it back, even if they've washed it as well, you can never be too sure.

00;08;11;15 - 00;08;33;13
Emily
So again, at the show, really just thinking about being mindful of who is using your stuff, where your stuff is, where it's been, is it clean, how often is it being cleaned, etc.. And then when we get home from a show and I know for me that was always, how do I put this? At that point I didn't care.

00;08;33;13 - 00;08;53;12
Emily
Right when I got home from the fair, I was exhausted. I was tired, especially as I got older and I was just me. I didn't have my siblings helping. I would just dump the shoebox and ignore it. Right? For far too long, and also just let my heifers or my cows whatever, back into the pen and be done.

00;08;53;14 - 00;09;20;03
Emily
And so it's really important though, learn from my mistakes, that when you are back from a show, you should absolutely be quarantining those animals for a short period of time. Just keep an eye on them again for 24 to 48 hours. Take their temperature, check them for any signs of sickness, check for coughing, any sort of, you know, mucus or discharge that's unusual for them.

00;09;20;06 - 00;09;47;05
Emily
Keep an eye on those things because if your animal does have something, it should show it relatively early. And then that way you can hopefully avoid having that be exposed to the rest of your herd whenever it is. So I really strongly suggest some form of quarantine for animals that have been at the fair or show. You know, find a way that works for you.

00;09;47;07 - 00;10;07;29
Emily
You know, again, I mentioned we had this shed where we kept our shoebox. That's also where I kept the show heifers tied up. And so that would have been a great place to bring them back to after the fair for a couple days, just to make sure they were okay and be in quarantine that way. So it doesn't need to be anything super complicated.

00;10;08;01 - 00;10;34;05
Emily
But you know, me and the safety person, so I will always on the side of better safe than sorry. And it's responsible from a biosecurity standpoint. And along with the cattle of course, back to the stuff. So everything you brought to the fair, everything that comes back should be washed again. Feed pans, pails, buckets, brushes, halters, anything and everything should get a wash, should get cleaned.

00;10;34;07 - 00;11;04;06
Emily
If there is something that has gotten dirty and you cannot get it clean, replace it. If there's something you know that has been broken or somebody else was using and you're not quite sure what they did with it, consider replacing it. These are all just some some small things, right? That can be done to hopefully help reinforce biosecurity and keep operations on your farm running smooth before, during and after show.

00;11;04;07 - 00;11;31;16
Emily
I will also, you know, briefly mention, of course H5 is still something we are dealing with on the dairy cattle side. As far as I am aware, I just checked as time of recording the exhibition rules for last year related to testing lactating cattle, those have been rescinded. And of course, as a reminder, the state of Minnesota is still doing its, bulk tank surveillance testing.

00;11;31;18 - 00;12;01;02
Emily
And so they are using that right now in place. So as of now, I'm recording this on June 26th. If you would like to know, there is no specific additional testing needed for exhibitions. That doesn't mean it won't change, but for right now, that regular surveillance boxing testing that's getting done should suffice. So there shouldn't be any additional pieces you need to do on that H5 piece.

00;12;01;05 - 00;12;21;24
Emily
Of course, if I'm wrong on that, I can issue a correction. Or if you're listening and you're screaming, you're wrong. You're wrong. Please let me know that. And and we can get that corrected. But again, with things like H5 being still prevalent on the rise and of course, other diseases as well, not just in dairy cattle, but beef cattle as well.

00;12;21;24 - 00;12;43;03
Emily
It is so important to refresh your memory on these biosecurity practices. As for the show season, I hope you all have a fabulous show and fair season. I hope there are many blue and purple ribbons in your future, and I hope that you all, get there and get back home safely. So with that, we will wrap it.

00;12;43;03 - 00;13;17;14
Emily
It will just be a short kind of ten minute episode today. Thank you all for listening. We'll see who you will have talking up to next week. If it'll be me or Brad or me and Brad or. Yes, who knows? Right. The mystery, continues, and hopefully that's what keeps coming back. But with that, if you have any questions, comments or scathing rebuttals about today's episode, you can email those to the newsroom at, that TV that's MOS rom at UMD.

00;13;17;16 - 00;13;27;19
Emily
You can also find us on the web at extension that, that we'll catch you next week by.