The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has awarded a new grant to the Quality Milk Production Services Lab in Canton, NY, to continue the investigation it began in 2014 into how lesser-known mastitis-causing organisms are impacting dairy herds in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

‘This research is pinpointing the lesser-known mastitis-causing organisms in Northern New York dairy herds and beginning to help us understand just how they impact regional farms in terms of both cow health and economic impact,’ said project leader Jessica C. Scillieri Smith, D.V.M., with the Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center Northern New York Regional Laboratory at Canton, NY.

‘By more precisely identifying the pathogens that cause mastitis, we will help farmers more directly target treatment with fewer chronically-infected cows, potentially less antibiotic use and cost, and less discarded milk,’ Smith added.

In the first year of the project, the Canton lab tested 8,361 milk samples from 143 dairy farms and found infections caused by several species that heretofore have not been considered significant pathogens in bovine mastitis.

These lesser-known species have been previously grouped together as ‘other’ Streptococcal species.

‘There is a strong indication that some of these lesser-known species may be having a larger impact on some farms than previously thought and that they may require different prevention and treatment approaches,’ Smith added.

‘The Lactococcus genus appears to be a potentially significant mastitis-causing pathogen on some farms. The Lactococcus lactis species was identified in milk samples from 19 of 140 farms diagnosed with Strep-based mastitis, and represented over 23 percent of nearly 500 ‘other Streptoccocus’ infections diagnosed at the Quality Milk Production Services Lab in Canton, and by Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Lowville, NY,” Smith noted.

For some farms, the Lactococcus genus was identified as the cause of more than 50 percent of mastitis cases.

The research team, which included cooperating farmers across the Northern New York region, noted a significant difference in the risk of a cow permanently leaving the milking herd based on the specific genus of the mastitis-causing organism.

With the new funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, the research team will more closely study five farms with the higher incidences of the Lactococcus infections.

Additionally, since Lactococcus is not currently identified using standard microbiology techniques, the new project empowers Quality Milk Production Services to develop new testing practices that will identify the lesser-known pathogens to help veterinarians and farmers make more informed and targeted management decisions.

Smith will share the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Other Streptococcal Mastitis Pathogens project first-year results at the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association meeting in June, at the National Mastitis Council Regional Meeting in Syracuse in July, and at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners Conference in New Orleans in September.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provides small grants for on-farm research and technical assistance projects in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Success stories and research results are posted on this website.

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This NNYADP project was assisted by the Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center, Ithaca, NY, using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight, or MALDI-TOF, technology, and the Quality Milk Production Services Molecular Lab in Ithaca, NY, using Rapid PCR technology to assist sample analysis.

Special thanks to Hy-Light Farm co-owner Heather Hyman for her help in sharing the news about this exciting research with media and the public.

See WWNY TV 7 News Video of This Story

Time Warner Cable News visited a Northern New York dairy farm and the Quality Milk Production Services Lab in the Canton NY area to highlight one of the 27 NNYADP projects underway in 2015. She talked with QMPS veterinarian Dr. Jessica Scillieri-Smith about the project investigating lesser-known pathogens. Click here to hear that interview.

Dr. Scillieri-Smith also spoke with DairyLine’s Greg Mills about this Northern New York Agricultural Development Program project that will not benefit the dairy industry in NNY but across New York State. Later this year, Dr. Smith will share the results of the2013-14 start of this project at conferences in Vermont, Syracuse, NY; and New Orleans, LA. Click here and scroll down on the page to listen to her interview with DairyLine.

To read the project report and its first-year results, click here. The farmer-driven NNYADP has awarded new funding for a second-year study.

 

 

 

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Shields Lab at Cornell University are partnering to offer farmers a cost-sharing opportunity to encourage more growers to treat fields with biocontrol nematodes in areas infected with the highly destructive alfalfa snout beetle. The deadline for expressing interest in the funding is May 15, 2015.

Alfalfa snout beetle is the major limiting factor in alfalfa production and stand longevity in all six NNY counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence. The pest is also known to exist in three other counties in New York State and in southeastern Ontario.

‘Uncontrolled, the beetle can destroy a new alfalfa seeding in just a year or two, with field losses from $250 to $400 per acre,’ says Cornell Cooperative Extension Field Crops and Soils Specialist Kitty A. O’Neil.

To date, the beetle-attacking nematodes have been applied to between 8,000 and 10,000 acres of NNY farmland. A single application is enough to prompt success.

‘Early adopting producers who have applied the nematodes to multiple fields within an area have reported a significant decline in the alfalfa snout beetle population on their farm and are now successfully growing alfalfa again,’ says Cornell Cooperative Extension Field Crops Specialist Michael E. Hunter.

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is making funding available to help underwrite the rearing and application of the native nematodes. Extension personnel are serving as the application conduit.

‘On-farm research in Northern New York in the past seven years indicates that just a single application of the biocontrol nematodes is required in a field as the nematodes will persist in the field for many years,’ says Cornell Entomologist Elson Shields.

Click here for more information and application details

Click here to see video by CCE Field Crops Specialist Mike Hunter of alfalfa snout beetles in Jefferson County, NY

 

Northern New York farmers grow 156,221 acres of corn; five of the six northernmost counties each grow more than 24,000 acres of corn. Corn is an essential feed crop for the Northern New York agricultural industry. To help farmers decide which corn hybrids have the best chance to produce high yield and high quality under Northern New York growing conditions, the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, NNYADP, funds annual corn variety trials.

Click here to read the rest of this announcement

The results of the 2014 on-farm trials, conducted in St. Lawrence and Clinton counties, are now available online

 

A cost-sharing program to encourage the application of biocontrol nematodes for managing alfalfa snout beetle shas been funded for 2015 by the NNY Agricultural Development Program Small Grants Program and is being implemented by Cornell University Cooperative Extension Field Crops and Soils Specialists in Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton and Essex Counties and the Shields’ Lab at Cornell University.

Click here for program guidelines

For more information and to enroll, contact your local CCE Specialist:
Jefferson and Lewis counties: Mike Hunter, 315-788-8450 ext 266, meh27@cornell.edu

Clinton, Essex, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties: Kitty O’Neil, 315-854-1218, kitty.oneil@cornell.edu

Alfalfa Snout Beetle (ASB) is the major limiting factor in alfalfa production and stand longevity in all Northern New York counties. Uncontrolled, ASB can destroy a new alfalfa seeding in just a year or two. Field losses cost producers from $250 to $400 per acre from this insect. Over the past 25+ years, with funding support from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, an ASB biological control program has been developed by the Shields’ Lab at Cornell University that uses native, insect-attacking nematodes (biocontrol nematodes). To date, approximately 8,000-10,000 acres of alfalfa have been treated with these ASB-biocontrol nematodes on about 65 farms.

Some farms have inoculated the majority of their alfalfa acres while a number of farms have only inoculated 1-2 fields. Early adopting producers, who have treated multiple fields within an area have reported a significant decline of ASB on their farm and have returned to growing alfalfa successfully. The decline in ASB population in an area has taken 3-5 years after multiple fields were treated. In contrast, farmers who have treated only a couple of fields in an area are not seeing much impact on their ASB populations. For these reasons, this cost-sharing program was developed to encourage more growers to treat fields within problematic ASB areas.

On-farm research the past 7 years indicates that just a single application of biocontrol nematodes is required in a field because these biocontrol nematodes persist in the field for many years, including across multiple year rotations to row crops.

Many farmers are hopeful that planting the new ASB-resistant alfalfa varieties will solve their ASB insect problems, but these varieties are currently only moderately resistant and can be overrun by high ASB populations. For example, heavy ASB pressure wiped out all of Cornell’s resistant alfalfa lines planted in a Lewis County field comparison in 2014.

To effectively control ASB, a dual management strategy must be used. ASB populations must be reduced using biocontrol nematodes before ASB resistant alfalfa can be used effectively. The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has funded the selective breeding of ASB-resistant alfalfa varieties.

 

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program held its 2015 annual meetings in Watertown in January and at Miner Institute in Chazy in February. NNYADP Co-Chair Jon Greenwood led the Watertown meeting; NNYADP Co-Chairs Joe Giroux and Jon Rulfs led the Chazy meeting.

Farmers attending the meetings heard the successful results and updates of several research projects funded by the farmer-driven NNYADP for Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Legislators, legislative aides and media also attended the meetings.

Each meeting included the opportunity for farmers to gather by commodity groups: dairy and field crops, livestock, horticulture, and maple to review past projects and identify areas of need and opportunity for future small grants funding.

Click here to see photos and summaries.