Post Flooding: Adverse weather and livestock herd health information

Below is a post I provided for the Plant Pest Advisory . If you have not already subscribed to this site, please go to the site and select the commodity group listserve signup.

September 3, 2021

“If producers have concerns about flooded pastures and forage quality; or concerns about heavy metal contamination in flood contaminated water and soils that can lead to livestock toxicities, here is an article for Progressive Forage I wrote on this topic this spring that may be useful. See the article, Adverse Weather Impacts Essential Nutrient Uptake.

In areas impacted by the debris field of tornadic and straight-line winds; and receding flood waters, metal objects and other splintered particles are of concern. Producers (volunteers, workers, families) should review their tetanus vaccinations for themselves and their livestock and be mindful of metal and other small particle debris contamination of any additional forage harvest this season.

Any superficial cuts should be disinfected promptly and monitored for signs of bacterial infection. This is important to remind, as many are wearing rubber boots these days as opposed to hard soled leather boots. Any puncture of any kind should be seen by a doctor if it occurred from an object previously submerged in flood waters.

While this second article in this series focuses on drought bacterial concerns in livestock; it does have useful information on what ingested or respirated bacterial species to be concerned about where livestock have no choice but to consume contaminated forages. See the article, The Biologicak Risk of Drought. 

The third article forthcoming in this series for Progressive Forage focuses on mycotoxins associated with droughty conditions and was recently published in September. See the article Adverse Weather and Hidden Danger of Moldy Feed..

For local information on the storm rainfall estimates from Ida, follow this link: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc4.html “.