Northern New York Agriculture
Click here to see the December 12, 2017 Spectrum News report by Katelynn Ulrich who visited Five Mile Farm in St. Lawrence County to talk with NNYADP Winter Calf Respiratory Health project leader Dr. Kimberley Morrill and farmer Ryan Akins. Thank you, all!
Click here to read the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded project report on ways to enhance calf health through the cold winter months in Northern NY.
Northern N.Y.; December 12, 2017. Research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is helping regional dairies reduce the risk of winter-related mastitis.
The results of a study evaluating the use of two types of dairy cow udder applications for mastitis prevention are posted at www.nnyagdev.org.
Udder care on dairy farms includes the antiseptic practice of teat dipping prior to and after milking. During winter months, some farms modify teat dipping practices to reduce chapping and teat injury. The practices include blotting the teat end after post dipping to reduce excess moisture, switching to a different formulation of dip intended for winter use, or switching to a powder-based dip.
From early January to mid-February 2016, Cornell Cooperative Extension Regional Dairy Specialist Dr. Kimberley Morrill in collaboration with Cornell Quality Milk Production Services in Canton, NY, evaluated the use of a powdered chlorhexidine acetate teat dip vs. a traditional 1 percent iodine foam post-milking application.
The study was conducted with 331 Holstein milking cows in the dairy herd at Miner Institute in Chazy, NY.
Studies conducted on dairy farms in Idaho and Iowa respectively indicated that the powdered teat dip was as effective as iodine dip at controlling environmentally-based infections but increased the risk of contagious mastitis due to Staph aureus, a common mastitis pathogen.
Only 13 cases of clinical mastitis were seen among the 331 cows in the Northern New York study. Evaluation revealed no difference in clinical mastitis between the cows receiving the iodine teat dip and those treated with the powdered dip. The post-dip treatment with the powder did significantly increase the risk of a positive culture for Staph aureus and minor organisms and even more so the risk for a Streptococcus spp. or coliform-based infection.
Morrill notes that the research was conducted during a temperate winter, with temperatures ranging from 23 to 62.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
“This research suggests that powdered teat dip increases the risk of subclinical mastitis as compared to using a traditional iodine-based dip. To form a definitive recommendation, more trials are needed under the harsher winter conditions that are more typical of a Northern New York winter and might have produced different results,” Morrill said.
To reduce the risk of cold weather-related mastitis regardless of pre and post-milking application, Morrill advises dairy operators to make sure hygienic milking protocols are being used, equipment is well maintained, and teats are dry before the cows leave the milking parlor.
The results of this Northern New York Agricultural Development Program–funded dairy research were shared at the 2017 National Mastitis Council meeting.
The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provides research and technical assistance to farmers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Cornell University entomologist Elson J. Shields and research specialist Antonio M. Testa have written an article on the “Biological Control of Alfalfa Snout Beetle with Persistent Entomopathogenic Nematodes: Expanding a Single Farm’s Success to an Area-Wide Biological Control Program” for the Winter 2017 issue of American Entomologist. The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is acknowledged for its long-term funding of the research to develop the science of this project.
The article notes “Alfalfa snout beetle, Otiorhynchus ligustici (L.), (ASB) remains the most serious insect pest impacting alfalfa production in North America.”
Shields and Testa answer the following questions in the illustrated article:
. Can a cost-effective EPN (entomopathogenic nematode) mass-rearing procedure be developed that is both farmer-friendly and low-labor while retaining the genes for persistence?
. Can EPN application rates and techniques be adapted to low-value crops and typical commercial pesticide application equipment? Is timing of application also important?
. What is the best mix of EPN species to successfully attack ASB?
. How well will the adapted persistent EPNs persist across typical soil types and cropping rotations found within the northern New York ASB-infested area?
. Will a single application of EPNs under the inoculative strategy provide enough mortality to ASB populations to reduce population levels to sub-economic?
. Will farmers embrace an area-wide biological control program against ASB utilizing native persistent EPNs even though impact after application may not be seen for two to four years?
. How will the biological program be sustained for the long term? (This section notes the establishment of one nematode-rearing business with room for others to commercially rear, sell and apply the EPNs to continue the battle to manage ASB to protect regional alfalfa crops).
NNYADP ASB Research: Reports, Fact Sheets, Photos, Video
Farm Pest Biocontrol Now Sought Across U.S.: ASB nematode projects are underway or planned in New Mexico, Texas, Ohio and Michigan
Northern NY; November 15, 2017. As winter approaches, research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has identified cold weather strategies for attention by regional dairy calf managers.
“Winter weather poses a natural challenge to raising young animals. Respiratory illness in calves can negatively impact weight gain, age at their first calving, first lactation milk production, farm revenue and costs,” says project leader Kimberley Morrill, Ph.D., a regional Cornell Cooperative Extension dairy specialist, Canton, NY.
A USDA National Animal Health Monitoring Systems report that helped prompt the research in Northern New York indicated that 12.47 percent of pre-weaned dairy heifers in the United States are affected by respiratory illness with 93.4 percent of those calves requiring antibiotics.
Morrill evaluated 426 calves located across 27 farms in the northernmost counties of New York State from late November 2016 to early January 2017. In total those farms represented 2,408 pre-weaned calves, 32,269 heifers, and 33,557 lactating cows.
Among the factors Morrill measured and analyzed were temperature, humidity, dew point, wind chill, airflow, bedding, and calf age, weight, and health scoring.
Eight of the 27 participating farms had no calves with respiratory illness. On a per-farm basis, the prevalence of respiratory illness ranged from zero to 46 percent. Six farms had higher per-farm percentages of calves exhibiting signs of respiratory illness.
“Both environmental and management factors influenced the percentage of calves with respiratory illness per farm. Those factors included the type of housing system, bedding type and quality, and the number of calves per calf pen along with pen environmental quality, and weather factors,” Morrill says.
The project design included development of strategies to reduce the risk of respiratory illness in pre-weaned calves. Each farm participating in the project received an individualized report with recommendations for steps to improve their winter season calf management. Recommendations included:
Morrill notes that the majority of the farms participating in the project have adjusted their practices based on the recommendations received. The impact of the changes will be evaluated after the winter of 2017-18. Morrill will present an update on this research at the 2018 American Dairy Science Association meeting.
“Knowing the factors that have the greatest opportunity to enhance calf health through the winter helps farmers manage for seasonal challenges by taking the necessary steps to improve respiratory health,” Morrill added.
Earlier research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program evaluated warm season factors influencing the respiratory health of pre-weaned dairy calves on regional farms.
The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provides research and technical assistance to farmers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Northern N.Y.; October 31, 2017. Farmers in New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, and Michigan want to know more about a crop pest solution developed on farms in Northern New York and in the Shields Lab at Cornell University.
Initially developed to protect the alfalfa crops so critical to the Northern New York dairy industry, using biocontrol nematodes as a non-chemical management practice has shown promise for reducing not only damage by alfalfa snout beetle but by other field crop and fruit pests.
With a mandate backed by a 30-year commitment from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Cornell University entomologist Dr. Elson Shields and Research Specialist Antonio Testa pioneered the science of using a combination of two NY-native nematodes to reduce the alfalfa snout beetle populations that were frequently destroying entire fields of alfalfa in one season.
Once they proved the biocontrol nematodes, in a single application, could significantly reduce the pest population by destroying alfalfa snout beetle larvae over multiple growing seasons, Shields and Testa tested and found success with the use of the biocontrol nematodes for managing pests in strawberry and blueberry crops.
Current funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is underwriting on-farm trials evaluating the impact of biocontrol nematodes on corn rootworm in corn grown in rotation on alfalfa acres.
In June 2017, New Mexico-based researchers established a biocontrol nematode test plot in an alfalfa field infested with white fringe beetle, an insect similar to alfalfa snout beetle and similarly not controlled by conventional pesticide treatment.
If soil samples analyzed this fall by the Shields Lab show establishment of the microscopic biocontrol nematodes in the trial plot in northeastern New Mexico, the research will be expanded to include the potential to control white fringe beetle and longer-term persistence studies.
In West Texas, near Dalhart, a biocontrol nematode trial was established in May 2017 in a cornfield with severe corn rootworm populations. Rootworm populations in the area are suspected of becoming resistant to the various Bt-rootworm toxins incorporated into corn varieties.
Shields notes, ‘We did not expect any positive results from the West Texas trial until 2018, but the biocontrol nematodes reduced the rootworm feeding damage by two-thirds compared to conventional corn planted without soil insecticide. The NY-native nematodes performed beyond expectations under the extremely heavy pressure.’
Recently analyzed samples from the West Texas trial showed the biocontrol nematode population there has dramatically increased.
Shields and colleagues in Ohio and Michigan are awaiting response to a USDA grant request to test the NY-native biocontrol nematodes against corn rootworm in those states and to continuing the promising field work in Texas.
Northern New York farmers on 100 farms have applied the biocontrol nematodes to more than 19,000 acres of alfalfa as of September 2017.
The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program commitment to the science needed to develop a solution fostered a sound, science-based approach that has provided farmers with a biocontrol system utilizing naturally-occuring and persistent soil nematodes in tandem with progressively-bred alfalfa snout beetle-resistant alfalfa varieties developed by a separately-funded NNYADP project led by Dr. Donald Viands and Dr. Julie L. Hansen of the Cornell University Plant Breeding and Genetics Department.
The Northern New York biocontrol nematode research has also attracted international attention. In June 2015, a Russian delegation representing the largest milk producer in Russia and Europe traveled to Northern New York specifically to meet with Dr. Shields and tour regional farms seeing the results of applying the biocontrol nematodes.
In Europe, alfalfa snout beetle is also a pest of grapes and hops, newly emerging agricultural crops across New York State. The New York Farm Viability Institute, which funds projects statewide, is currently funding biocontrol nematode trials against pests in corn, sod, apples, strawberries and greenhouse crops in the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and other regions of New York State.
The history, results and widespread impact of alfalfa snout beetle research are chronicled on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org.
The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provides research and technical assistance to farmers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
MORE INFO:
. Alfalfa snout beetle is an invasive pest introduced into the U.S. from Europe through the port of Oswego, NY, between 1845 and 1896, and spread to more than 500,000 acres of alfalfa with losses of more than $1,000 per acre.
. Alfalfa snout beetle populations began dramatically increasing in New York State in the 1980s after the 1972 cessation of baiting due to environmental impact concerns.
. Alfalfa snout beetle research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program prompted a new business enterprise in Franklin County, where Mary DeBeer established a biocontrol nematode rearing lab in conjunction with the custom crop spraying business she operates with her father Ronald DeBeer of Moira, NY. In 2017 they reared and applied biocontrol nematodes to approximately 1,700 acres in Franklin and Clinton counties.
. Farmers in Northern New York scout their fields, digging soil and root samples to check for the presence of alfalfa snout beetle larvae in the fall season.
. See the Field Crops: Alfalfa section of this website for research reports and more information.