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14 CapitalPress.com February 27, 2015 Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Dairy/Livestock Dairy Markets Spread of antibiotic resistant illnesses a growing problem Lee Mielke ANTIBIOTICS from Page 1 By LEE MIELKE For the Capital press C ash cheese prices were mostly steady in the President’s Day holi- day-shortened week last week. The 40-pound block Cheddar closed Friday at $1.5450 per pound, up 1 1/2-cents on the week but 61 3/4-cents below a year ago. The blocks were un- changed Monday and Tues- day. The barrels closed Friday at $1.4850, unchanged on the week but 67 1/4-cents below a year ago. They were also unchanged Monday but lost a quarter-cent Tuesday, and slipped to $1.4825, 61/4-cents below the blocks, a spread that typically runs 3-5 cents. Three cars of each traded hands last week but six loads of block were traded Tuesday and three of barrel so product may be starting to make its way to Chicago. Cash butter finished Friday at $1.7225 per pound, up a quarter-cent on the week but 6 1/4-cents below a year ago. It dropped 5 1/4-cents Mon- day and 2 3/4-cents Tuesday, likely resulting from bearish cold storage data, and fell to $1.6425. Twelve cars were sold last week and 13 had al- ready sold as of Tuesday this week. Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk reversed four weeks of gains, starting last week with a 5-cent gain only to give it back Thursday and lose an- other 4 cents Friday, closing at $1.11 per pound, down 4 cents on the week. The spot powder lost a penny and a quarter Monday and a penny and a half Tuesday, dipping to $1.0825. It has plunged al- most 12 cents in the last four sessions. The trade saw 24 carloads exchange hands last week, down from 44 the pre- vious week and 54 the week before that. January milk production up 2.1% U.S. milk production con- tinued to top year-ago lev- els for the 13th consecutive month, according to prelim- inary data in this afternoon’s December Milk Production report. The Agriculture De- partment estimates output in the top 23 producing states at 16.5 billion pounds, up 2.1 percent from January 2014. The 50-state total, at 17.6 bil- lion pounds, was also up 2.1 percent from a year ago. W Large impact The spread of antibiotic resistant illnesses is a growing problem in human medicine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have es- timated that antibiotic-resistant infections cause 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses nation- wide each year. The annual impact of anti- biotic-resistant illnesses on the U.S. economy has been pegged at as much as $35 billion in di- rect health care costs and another $35 billion in lost productivity, said a panel of scientists com- missioned by President Barack Obama to study the issue. In his budget outline in Jan- uary, Obama proposed nearly doubling funding to combat and prevent antibiotic resistance to more than $1.2 billion, which would include $77 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for tracking antibiotic use and developing alternatives. “That in itself is a big change in policy,” said Ellen Jo Baron, a former associate di- rector of clinical microbiology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine who now works for a high-tech molecular diag- nostics firm. Within agriculture, topics to consider are changing diets for cows during the last weeks before slaughter to reduce the incidence of enterohemor- rhagic E. coli growth in their guts and moving toward more antibiotic-free livestock — es- pecially chickens, she said in an email. Forming much of the basis for Obama’s actions was the work of the 20-member Presi- dent’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which spent a year consulting with ex- perts to craft recommendations for combating antibiotic resis- tance. Issued in September, the group’s 65-page report suggest- ed improving surveillance of bacteria, developing appropri- ate-use standards for antibiotics and increasing the rate at which new antibiotics are developed. ALTER Scientific council’s report on antibiotic resistance: http:// www.whitehouse.gov/sites/ default/files/microsites/ostp/ PCAST/pcast_carb_report_ sept2014.pdf Fact sheet on the president’s executive order: http://www. whitehouse.gov/the-press-of- fice/2014/09/18/executive-or- der-combating-antibiotic-re- sistant-bacteria Read the California antibi- otics bill, SB 27: http://www. leginfo.ca.gov Tim Hearden/Capital Press David Daley, a rancher and interim dean at California State University-Chico’s College of Agriculture, says many livestock operations have changed their strategies so there’s less need for the therapeutic use of antibiotics. Levy’s organization, the Al- liance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, has surveyed phy- sicians and found that medical professionals “are now touting the careful use of antibiotics” and that “stewardship is now the key word,” he said. Agriculture’s role Dennis Hermesch, a veter- inarian for Elanco, said his company has seen a greater interest among cattle producers in preventive measures such as vaccines, which reduce the need for antibiotics later. Human medicine The report placed much of the blame for the drug-resis- tance crisis at the feet of human medicine, noting that the “vast majority” of antibiotics pre- scribed in outpatient settings are used for acute respiratory tract infections. “Yet most respiratory tract infections are caused by virus- es, against which antibacterial drugs are useless,” the scientists wrote. “Such inappropriate use contributes directly and substan- tially to increased antibiotic re- sistance, increased adverse drug reactions ... and increased cost of care.” “The important point is there’s greater recognition of the problem,” said Dr. Stuart Levy, an author and nationally recognized expert on antibiotic resistance at Tufts University in Boston who was an advisor to the president’s panel. “There’s greater interest among many of the professional societies now in having parts of their outward activities devoted to antibiotic resistance, which we’ve never seen before.” As for animal agriculture, the group asserted that disease prevention in farm animals “is a laudable goal,” but that recent studies have made it “clear” that agricultural use of antibiotics can affect human health. For in- stance, one recent study of over 200 livestock workers suggested methicillin and multidrug resis- tant Staphylococcus aureus — known by the acronym MRSA — can be transmitted from livestock to workers, the group noted. The group strongly endorsed the guidelines the FDA issued in late 2013 phasing out the use of medically important antibi- otics in livestock for promoting growth or feed efficiency and ensuring that licensed veterinar- ians oversee other uses of such drugs. The FDA is now revising its Veterinary Feed Directive to expand veterinarians’ role, and all 26 animal-drug companies affected by the guidelines have agreed to remove references to growth promotion and feed effi- ciency from their labels. While federal officials con- sider their next moves, the issue is also being debated at the state level. A CCA-backed bill to give the FDA guidelines the force of law in California was vetoed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown after animal welfare and envi- ronmental groups assailed the legislation as “weak.” Now the bill’s author, Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, has introduced new legislation that would bar the over-the-counter sales of antibiotics for livestock, and Brown has directed the state Department of Food and Ag- riculture to study the issue and Odessa, WA 509-982-2644 9-2/#14 IMPLEMENT 1-800-572-5939 “ Your Farm Equipment Specialists” come up with its own proposals. Ongoing research of the is- sue may create additional pres- sures on ranchers to change their practices. Doug Call, associate professor at Washington State University’s College of Veteri- nary Medicine, said he’s about to publish research that shows the population of drug-resistant bacteria is amplified in the ma- nure of animals that have been given antibiotics, highlighting the need for producers to isolate sick animals from the rest of the herd. “I think the only way to get there is to demonstrate empir- ically that there is a problem,” Call said. “We’ve actually done the work (of identifying) how this process works and why it’s important to pay attention to it.” Changes on the ranch Daley, the rancher and Chico State dean, said he hopes livestock producers don’t totally lose the use of antibiotics as a tool when animals get sick. He said it would be impractical to require veterinarians to adminis- ter the drugs to animals, which are often out on the range many miles from town. “As a producer, I understand that they need tracking (of an- tibiotic use) but it should be on a macro level” and not require ranchers to file paperwork each time they administer the drugs, Daley said. However, new management tools are helping livestock pro- ducers move away from using antibiotics even for illness, he said. In recent years, new vac- cines have been developed to “cover more and different dis- eases,” and ranchers are tak- ing such measures as weaning calves at home before sending them to the sale barn to prevent stress-related illnesses, he said. Vaccine and feed additive companies have noticed a new emphasis on prevention among their livestock-producer cus- tomers, their representatives said. “That’s where we’ve got to go,” said Dennis Hermesch, a Nebraska-based veterinarian for Elanco, which makes cattle and poultry vaccines. “If prevention is good enough, we don’t need antibiotics, and our company really feels strongly about that.” Producers are also looking to companies like Alltech for nat- ural feed additives that are rich in carbohydrates and protein and enhance animal produc- tivity, said Tyler Bramble, the company’s Fresno, Calif.-based general manager of ruminant nutrition. The 30-year-old multina- tional company did $1 billion in sales last year and has seen its business grow by as much as 25 percent a year, Bramble said. “We compete every day in the commercial feed additive market,” he said. “I would say we are seeing more and more in- terest from the large players (in livestock production) that had been using antibiotics and are looking to us as an alternative.” Levy, a staunch critic of the non-therapeutic use of antimi- crobial drugs in livestock, no- tices the change in approach. In a recent survey conducted by his Alliance group, 23 of 24 farms said they had eliminated antibiotics for growth promo- tion. “What’s interesting is that the industry is telling us they don’t need it,” Levy said. “Cer- tainly in northern Europe — Sweden and the Scandinavian countries — they raise perfect- ly healthy livestock without an- tibiotics for growth promotion. There’s a lot to be said for a change in attitudes and we’re seeing it.” A tall order Reducing the use of antibi- otics in livestock could be a tall order considering its use had been on the rise before the tighter federal scrutiny began. Use of the drugs in the U.S. rose by 16 percent from 2009 to 2012, to 32.1 million pounds per year, ac- cording to the Pharmaceuti- cal Journal. Simply reducing the pounds sold won’t neces- sarily lessen the instances of pathogens’ disease resistance, UC-Davis’ Maas cautions. Maas faults the president’s scientific panel for failing to consider such factors as dos- ing, noting that animals are given doses based on their weight while humans are mostly given the same doses regardless of their body size. “It’s about decreasing the bacteria that might be resis- tant so when we do need to use the drugs, they’ll be effec- tive,” Maas said. He added the American Association of Bo- vine Practitioners, a veterinar- ians’ group, will be coming out with practical guidelines in the next couple of months. But all in all, Daley said he found the council report “pretty reasonable,” and that the onus is on livestock pro- ducers to show the public they’re concerned about the issue and that they know what they’re doing. “The bottom line is, I think the livestock sector has done an incredibly good job with judicious use and stewardship of antibiotics,” Daley said. “We need to tell that story to the public and we need to keep improving what we do, and we should never rest.” ROP-9-3-2/#4X Cash dairy prices under pressure actors, but for the most part ev- eryone’s jumping on board and have made their plans to operate without using them.” New herd management prac- tices and advances in vaccines and nutrition have led to health- ier animals, said David Daley, a cattle producer and interim dean of California State Universi- ty-Chico College of Agriculture. “What’s changed in many operations is they’ve changed their strategies ... so that there’s less need for the therapeutic use of antibiotics,” said Daley, a California Cattlemen’s Associ- ation first vice president who’s worked on the antibiotics issue at a national level for several years. 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