Congress trying to get rid of antibiodics.

[Amo]

Don't know all of the facts yet. Might be way off based, but thought Id aleart people here. Didn't know where to put it at, but here goes.

I went to a meeting last week. One of the speakers was talking about pink eye. At the end of his talk he mentioned about not over using antibiodics. Say like as a feed attitive....is there such a thing :?

Any how what he was pointing towards it there is a PETA type group called P.E.W. I think that are supporting a bill in congress trying to eliminate the use of 7 of the 9 families of antibiodics. Guess penninselun is one, oxytetracycline type stuff is another, Nufloor...Naxel...Micotil is another "family" (for lack of better words). They think if people eat food with too much of said antibiodics that the human body will build resistance against such drug. Thus it wouldn't be as effective and be able to treat humans with ailements.

I don't have the paper with me now. The one poster had HR XXXX and S XXXX. Im presuming these are House and Senate bills. If this concerns you as much as it does me please contact your livestock orginazitions to try and stop this.

 

[Suzie Q]

Antibiotics should not be overused. Over here they are not usually fed in feeds. Only if an animal is sick.

 

[chippie]

There are medicated feeds available in the U.S.

 

[Douglas]

Growth promotants like Bovatec, are classified as antibiodics i think.

 

[msscamp]

Say like as a feed attitive....is there such a thing :?

Sure there is. Quite a few of them, I believe. It is fairly common practice to feed antibiotics to cattle, chickens, hogs, probably most animals in a feed-lot type situation to help prevent pneumonia and other illnesses related to the stress of introducing them to that type of environment. As with anything else, it can be overdone and abused. While most producers adhere to the withdrawal time listed on the label of such feeds/drugs/additives, there are always some who don't. Kind of like the chicken litter thing and feeding other animal proteins. We commonly fed a pelleted feed containing chlortetracycline to our weaning calves, but they were never sold for slaughter until well after the withdrawal time was up.

 

[dun]

Our minerals have a low dosage of CTC, I think it helps some with the fescue toxicity. That's what the purpose of it is anyway.

 

[highgrit]

The PEW foundation is a front for the extreme environmentalists. The foundation is bad news for people that make their living off the land or water.

 

[dun]

The PEW foundation is a front for the extreme environmentalists. The foundation is bad news for people that make their living off the land or water.

At least the "pew" part seems appropriate

 

[Amo]

Ya I knew about CTC in mineral or weaning/creep feed. That is one of the "families" of antibiodic's they are trying to get rid of. As well as any kind of penicillin, tetracycline, macrolide,lincosamide, streptogramin, aminoglycoside or sulfonamide, or any other drug or derivative of a drug that is used in humans. This was coppied from the sheet that I recieved at my meeting. I didn't realize that Bovatec and Im guessing Rumensin is aslo classified at an antibiodic. Im feeding a distelers ballancer with rumension myself.

Correct me if Im wrong, but isn't bovatec and rumensin called Ionafores? Im pretty shure your right about them being antibiodics, since you can use them for coxcisiose. I normally don't use it, because I don't think I have a problem with coxy. Feed man says almost every body does and maybe I do and don't know it. Guess I have gotten away mostly. It adds to the cost of the feed. Not much, but still. This year switched companies and they had rumension stuff on hand. Special order plain. If its something kinda off based, maybe we can reclassify Ionafores to something else.

Maybe someone can double check of find out if this stuff is correct. Accornding to my paper PEW is trying to amend the FDA section 201 (21 U.S.C. 321) with HR: 1549 and S:619.

Personally I feel we don't need to give animal rights activists the granade with the pin in it, let them pull it, and have the media throw it back in our face. Im going to contact several cattle orginaztions, and my congressmen. Can you imagine what would happen if this would go through or even get some momentum? My paper has a picture of a poster thats in a subway in D.C. At the bottom of the poster there is an address for them. saveantibiotics.org

We need to nip this thing in the bud.

 

[djinwa]

You don’t have to be part of PETA to question the use of antibiotics. Ultimately, businesses are supposed to give their customers what they want. Many non-PETA people would rather not eat animals who were given antibiotics or hormones or were mistreated. You can either call such people idiots and let someone else feed them, or give them what they want.

There are ethical questions with antibiotic use. Is it right for us to practice husbandry such that animals can only survive or be profitable with antibiotics? Can we treat animals any way we want and rely on antibiotics to compensate? Do we care about animal welfare, or just economics?

One example is feeding high carbohydrate diets to cattle, which ulcerates the rumen allowing bacteria to get into the bloodstream and infect the livers. Some studies show up to 40% of feedlot cattle with liver abscesses. And thus the necessity of feeding antibiotics for prevention. Here’s a discussion from year 2000. Note how we accept making a certain percent of animals sick. Not a very good marketing plan.

http://www.feedlotmagazine.com/archive/ ... ticle.html

Dr. Perino: Liver abscesses are usually not the number-one issue on the feedyard manager's mind until he receives a packer complaint. As long as the percent and severity remain within a range that everyone is used to dealing with, it's not an issue. However, the biggest challenge facing cattlemen is how to reduce liver abscess prevalence and still optimize the performance parameters that we currently benchmark. Given our current state of knowledge, I'm not sure we can reduce liver abscesses without losing ground on traditional performance indicators.

Dr. Hall: I know for a fact that packers would like to screen and then discount cattle, or just not buy them, if you have a high incidence of liver abscesses. I believe the incidence of abscesses are reflected in the price of cattle now. According to Dr. Perino, our industry accepts up to 15 percent liver abscessation. The price of cattle is discounted for a 15 percent liver abscess incidence. If you were able to guarantee that your cattle were only going to have one to two percent liver abscessation, you could request from the packer (and probably receive) a premium for your cattle.

Q: Should we be concerned about the reliance on antibiotics in the feed to control liver abscesses?

Dr. Nagaraja: As an industry, we should be concerned. Particularly, as Europe is clamping down on using feed-grade antibiotics. I don't know when it's coming to this country. But I have a feeling, eventually, we may have to live without antibiotics as feed additives. I don't know how many more years we'll be able to use tylosin.

Dr. Cullor: From a national perspective, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the USDA jointly said that all antibiotic resistance in salmonellosis in humans was due to antibiotics being fed in agriculture. That's a pretty bold statement. Those of us in animal agriculture are going to have to deal with that perception. We need to plan now for what we can do should they eventually try to ban feed-grade antibiotics.

Q: Without the use of Tylan, what other choices do we have to control liver abscesses?

Dr. Cullor: Well, it's management. I'd like to see bunk management, better nutrition and immunization or vaccines. There probably won't be a single silver bullet, but a combination of how to manage for it when the antibiotics are gone. That's going to be better rations, better nutrition and immunizations.

 

[Amo]

Interesting article. Before this thread I didn't realize how many feed atititvies were classified as an antibiodic. I knew CTC for instance. I have used it for a short time to get rid of phnewiona (sp I know), or bad year of foot rot or pink eye till it clears up. I never imagined that what I thought was an Iaonafor (bovatec, rumensin, tylan) were antibiodics, more like growth promotants. Kinda like a implant, but not an implant. I also thought tylan was for hogs. Im cow calf, and background till after the first of the year. So have no clue about liver abseses.

Yes if you have a nische market that is willing to buy your product and pay for it go ahead. Its a free world and yes there are people that are willing to do it. I seen a study somewhere (sorry I cant find it to back it up) that said the consumer would rather buy born and raised American beef. When it came to price though they wouldn't pay much of a premium. This was a national cattlemans study trying to opose COOL. Personally I liked COOL. So thats kinda my theaory on nische markets. Ive seen a few people try stuff like that. Bout 50% of them have to sell out, because they ran out of equity before they had their group of high paying customers to reward their way of raising animals. My calves go into a feedlot or a backgrounder (I keep them pretty green). I live a long ways from the big cities where there are farmers markets. I know of 2 people that are selling fat beef the way you are talking. The one guy I know says it kinda works, but its a PITA a lot of the time. Bad checks, people saying they will take some then changing their mind, stuff like that. He has continued to do it ( only a very small percentage compared to the rest that he raises regular), but says what he gets sometimes isn't worth all the headaches that go with it. The trickle down thearoy hasn't appeard here yet for that kinda stuff in a sale barn. I do follow BQA, no implants, that kinda stuff.

Like I said I didn't realize the feed attitives were antibiodics. That I might question. What human antibiodic are dirivied from ionafores? Yet, haven't all these product been tested and approved by the FDA after strengent testing? Yes thats a whole other area of discussion as well as Area 51! :lol2:

Ethical questions about antibiotic use and good animal husbandry? So Im soposed to let this activist group get rid of antibiotics? Then I have a sick animal and have to let it suffer and good chance of it dying because we need to be "green" (for lack of a better word). I don't know you at all, but I think I care about animal welfare and economics. When you are sick do you go get an herbal remidity or go to the Dr. and get a prescribtion? I think Im treating my animals they way I would want to be treated. I have yet to see a premium for drug free/organic/what ever that would pay for a dead animal. Yes it could of happened, I haven't seen it personally myself. Guess thats more of where Im comming from. I could live without Bovatec and Rumensin. CTC is awfully handy at certin times. I think out of 15 years or raising cattle, Ive used it about 3 or 4 times as a mass treatment. Other than that the only time I use an antibiodic is for a sick animal. I would really hate to lose them because for treating sick animals due to a bunch of left wing loons spinning facts to confuse the public. Thats kinda where my grenade statement came about. By overusing them thats giving PEW a grenade. Then they spew their line of what ever, which is pulling the pin. Then they spin some facts to sell their openion and give it to the media. Thus confuses the public.

Don't get me wrong. I have no problem if you want to buy beef that has not been altered by man. Guess my openion is this. Different things have been tested. Yes there can be mistakes, but tests are tests. Could implants, ionifores, etc. cause human ailements....I sopose anything is possiable. Eating said products would remove you from this. Thing is IMHO I think cancer has been here since the day of Adam and Eve. My Dr. said if any man lives long enough he will get prostrate cancer. IMHO I think medical research has exposed different dieases that back in the old days people died of cancers or heart diease they called it old age (unknown causes). I really do hope they find a cure for cancer, alheizamers, etc. I also think the reason they can't find a cure is because its something that has always been here. All the mental hospitals back in the day...alheizhimers. I don't think its something that has been brought appon ourselves do to drugs, preservitives, steroids, what ever.

I understand what you are saying. I just wanted to clarify what Im trying to say. No hard feeling, and have a good day.