Gippsland › Latest news › Department of Primary IndustriesDPI Agricultural Recovery CentreThe Department of Primary Industries have deployed teams of staff to assist private landholders who have suffered losses of stock, pasture and infrastructure While the main focus of agencies remains on controlling fires across Gippsland, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has also deployed teams of staff to assist private landholders who have suffered losses of stock, pasture and infrastructure. The DPI Agricultural Recovery Centre is based at the Calvert Street office in Bairnsdale and comprises teams with expertise in animal health and welfare, livestock nutrition, pasture management, soil and water conservation. The initial focus of the Agricultural Recovery Team has been assessing fire-affected stock and property and assisting with the humane destruction and burial of animals. The role has now broadened to encompass longer term issues such as managing remaining livestock, protecting stock water supplies and conserving fragile soil. Landholders who have been affected by fire and are seeking advice and assistance should contact the Gippsland Fire Information Line on 1800 668 066. AFTER THE FIREASSESSING DAMAGE DPI veterinary and animal health officers are available to assist landholders in the task of assessing damage to livestock and property after the fire. Animal health staff conduct an assessment of the burnt area as soon as it is safe to do so. They work their way from farm to farm. If your farm has been affected and you have not been visited by animal health staff, they can be directed to your farm by phoning 1800 66 80 66. Animal health staff generally operates in teams of two and are equipped to deal with the immediate aftermath of a fire. Part of their task is to record loss of grazing area, fodder, fences, buildings etc. Damage assessments provide information to government and other agencies on immediate and longer-term needs so that decisions can be made to assist recovery. MANAGING & ASSESSING BURNT LIVESTOCK Veterinary and animal health officers are available to assist with this distressing task. Animal Health officers are equipped with appropriate firearms and ammunition to destroy burnt stock that have no chance of recovery. When assessing individual animals, areas to be examined closely include the face, ears, lips, legs, hooves, anus, vulva, penis, prepuce, scrotum and udder and in sheep other non-wooled areas, including axilla (under forelimbs) and inguinal (between hind limbs). Sheep often need to be tipped in order to make a thorough assessment. Singed wool is not always a good indicator of the severity of a sheep's burns. Examine non-wooled areas closely. Sheep with more than 15 % of their body surface burnt are unlikely to survive even with intensive treatment and nursing. Mobility is a good indicator of chances of survival. If the coronary band (the area immediately above the hoof) cracks and leaks fluid it is an indication that the hoof will be shed within the next few days. Stock without hooves will not survive and should be destroyed. Copies of "Assessing Sheep after a Fire" are available from DPI Animal Health staff. Phone Maffra DPI on 5147 0800 and a copy will be posted to you. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF LIVESTOCK FOLLOWING FIRE Fire has exacerbated drought conditions and has destroyed around 150,000 small bale equivalents of hay in Gippsland. Drought is affecting much of the continent and as a result, supplementary feed for stock is extremely dear and agistment almost unavailable. Making it through to the break will be challenging and expensive. There are tools to help with crucial decisions, such as whether to off load or feed stock. The "Drought Preparation and Survival Guide" has been prepared by the former NRE in response to the current drought in Victoria. Sections on livestock management and farm management decisions are very relevant to farms affected by fire. It also provides contact details for the full range of rural service providers. For those seeking more in-depth information on managing sheep and beef cattle in a drought, the former NRE revised its publications, "Drought Feeding and Management of Sheep", and "Drought Feeding and Management of Beef Cattle". Copies of all three drought publications are available free of charge through DPI offices in Bairnsdale - 5152 0600 and Maffra - 5147 0800. FEED BUDGETTING ADVICE AND FARM VISITS DPI beef and sheep specialists are able to conduct telephone interviews or to visit to discuss feed budgeting issues. If you would like a livestock officer to visit your property to advise on feed or feed budgeting, please call 1800 66 80 66. It is important that all affected farmers have been visited by or contacted by Animal Health teams from DPI - these teams will ensure that a damage assessment report has been logged. This will ensure that all affected farmers are advised of information / support that will assist in recovery. CHOOSING MILK FOR CHEESEMAKING – IS BREED IMPORTANT?"There is nothing more certain to start an argument amongst dairy farmers than a discussion about which breed is best," says Dr Martin Auldist, a scientist at DPI Ellinbank. "For years, breeders of Jerseys and Friesians have claimed their breed is superior for reasons such as production, efficiency, reproduction, and many others. Some of these claims are valid, but some are not. The surprising thing is, there is little controlled data available that proves these claims one way or the other!" Early last year, Dr Auldist returned from seven years in New Zealand, where he worked for on-farm dairy research specialists Dexcel, in Hamilton. He now has a position in the specialist nutrition group at Ellinbank, and says his New Zealand experience has answered at least one of the many breed debates. Across the Tasman, anecdotal evidence that Jersey and Friesian milk was somehow different for cheesemaking aroused the interest of scientists attempting to formulate on-farm systems for producing milk for cheese manufacture. They decided to settle the issue once and for all. Dairy cattle researchers from Dexcel, led by Dr Auldist, and cheese scientists from the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute in Palmerston North, collaborated to design a tightly controlled experiment which would tease out any differences in the manufacturing quality of milk from the two breeds. Thirty cows of each breed were selected for study. The breed groups were balanced for age and grazed together for the duration of the trial - but each breed was milked into a different vat. On three occasions in two weeks, milk was collected from each breed and transported in a small tanker to the Anchor Foods pilot scale factory at Hautapu, near Hamilton. Before cheesemaking, all milk was standardised to a constant protein:fat ratio. Then, 400 litres of milk from each breed was made into Cheddar cheese. The remaining milk was also standardised to a constant content of total solids – this was achieved by ultrafiltering some water out of the Friesian milk to make it the same concentration as the Jersey milk. Thus two batches of cheese were made from each breed on each cheesemaking day. Results were interesting, albeit unspectacular. Jersey milk yielded around 10% more cheese per kilogram of milk then Friesian milk (see Figure 1). However, there were no differences in cheese yields between breeds that could not be entirely explained by the higher initial concentrations of protein and fat in the Jersey milk. This was confirmed by the fact there was no difference in cheese yield between breeds when water was removed from the Friesian milk so it contained the same concentration of solids as Jersey milk. Similarly there were no breed-related differences in cheese moisture levels, one of the key quality parameters for Cheddar cheese. There were subtle differences in the colour of the cheese, with Jersey cheese being more yellow than Friesian cheese – but not enough to affect the marketability of the cheese. There were also some differences in the texture and flavour of the cheese, but again, not enough to affect cheese value or marketability. To sum it up, the trial removed some milk myths. There was nothing magical about the milk from either breed that made it better for manufacturing Cheddar cheese. Differences in cheese yield were related solely to differences in the solids content of the original milk. In theory a high protein Friesian could out-perform a low protein Jersey. The conclusion is a simple one, but an important one. When considering the value of milk for processing, the colour of the cow it came from is not important. Look first at the composition of the milk! PETS, WORMS AND HUMAN DISEASE Pets are a real pleasure, to young and old alike. The advantages of pet ownership outweigh the risks of contracting disease from them, provided that the risks are known and managed accordingly. Visceral Larva migrans or toxacariasis is a disease of humans resulting from infection by larvae of the common roundworms of cats and dogs. Almost all untreated puppies are infected with roundworms, generally via infection from their mother before they were born. Adult roundworms in puppies, kittens, dogs and cats live for about four months and can produce up to 200,000 eggs per day. Young puppies can be heavily infested. As dogs become older, the level of infection declines but viable larvae may persist in tissues for many years. Dogs and cats can also spread infection to their offspring through milk. Roundworm eggs passed in the faeces of dogs and cats take about two to five weeks to become infective or embryonated and eggs can survive in the environment for years. People become infected by ingestion of infected or embryonated eggs. Contamination of soil surfaces with roundworm eggs can be high in areas where young dogs and cats are kept. Parks and sandpits can become heavily infected. Visceral larva migrans usually presents in children aged 1-4 years with a history of eating dirt. Coughing, wheezing, fever, paleness and abdominal pain are common symptoms. The risks of visceral larva migrans can be managed by regular and early anthelmintic "worm" treatment of young dogs and cats and elementary hygienic measures, including the collection and disposal of dog and cat faeces cats and covering children's sandpits when not in use.Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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