Cows Needed for Antimicrobial Study on August 29

Gaby Maier is the UCCE Specialist for Beef Cattle Herd Health and Production at UC Davis . She is conducting a study looking at antimicrobial resistance in bacteria in the feces of mother cows and unweaned calves.

It will be important to have the Central Coast represented in her study so I am looking for three ranchers who would be willing to gather 7 or 8 cows and run them though the squeeze on August 29. Gaby's team will be in our area that day and we will collect fecal samples as they move through the squeeze. I know most of you are not spring calvers, but if you have calves right now, she's looking for calves as well. Please let me know right away if you'd be interested in participating in the study. You can reach me at drorao@ucanr.edu or 831-637-5346 x14.

Gaby describes the study as follows:

Antimicrobial resistance is a major global public health challenge. In the recent past, use if antibiotics in livestock has been scrutinized and new legislation introduced to ensure the judicious use of these drugs in livestock. The fear is that the bacteria in animals that have been treated with antibiotics develop resistance to these drugs. When a person then is exposed to these bacteria, e.g. to E.coli from eating undercooked hamburger, and gets sick, the same types of drugs will not work on these patients anymore. Although there is little evidence that the use of antibiotics in livestock may lead to drug resistance in people, scientists and regulators take a prudent approach to the monitoring of livestock for antimicrobial resistant pathogens.

As part of this effort, we are asking for your help in letting us sample your animals. We are trying to establish a baseline of antimicrobial resistance in the bacteria in feces from different age groups of pastured beef cattle to see if there are any patterns. In addition, we would like to see if there are any differences between herds that are managed differently, for example, organic versus conventional.

After analyzing all the data, we will get back to you with the results of your own herd and the results of the entire study. All information will be handled confidentially. We will never disclose the source of our samples to anyone.