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Organic Animal Health

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pig-and-cow-nose-to-noseAt a time when pastured poultry raisers are being urged by officials to keep their flocks indoors — to supposedly prevent their being contaminated by wild birds — it is encouraging to see the National Organic Standards Board trying to toughen the regulations regarding organic poultry by requiring them to have meaningful access to the out-of-doors. The NOSB recognizes that natural decontamination from sunlight, fresh air and bio-diverse soil are the best ways to promote animal vitality.

Organic standards for livestock health are primarily based on keeping the animals healthy in the first place, which is as it should be. No medications or interventions can be as effective as prevention, humane care and a proper diet. The articles in this issue are based on that organic principle. We analyze both disease and good health from the perspective of organic regulations and management.
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Epidemiology 101

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epidemic_graphThe cheap food policy in this country is probably most evident in livestock raising systems. The vast majority of animals raised for milk, meat or eggs in the United States these days are housed in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) on factory farms. As a result, they are crowded inside buildings or into feedlots where conditions are conducive to the spread of disease.

Once an infectious agent (germ) is introduced into a host animal in such an environment, the potential for that infection to spread to other nearby animals is significant. The animals are close together (indoor space is expensive and factory farms try to minimize expenses), manure and urine are omnipresent, and ventilation is costly (especially on cold days when it requires extra heat for the buildings). The sterilizing effects of bio-diverse soil, fresh air, and sunshine, which still exist on small family farms (especially among NOFA members), are too expensive for CAFOs to make available.

Accompanying the growth of this confinement system, naturally enough, has been the growth of outbreaks of disease at American CAFOs. Most notable have been cases of avian flu at large poultry operations — which are located, naturally enough, primarily in the grain-growing breadbasket states. Despite the administration of antibiotics in most of the feed at these facilities, health conditions are so deplorable that when an outbreak occurs it rapidly overwhelms the facility and the response is usually to kill all the birds immediately, dispose of the bodies, sanitize the place as best they can, and start over.
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Animal Health Tips

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reproduced with permission from The Moo News Archive at http://www.hubertkarreman.com/
hubert-karreman-pixThe immune system (September 2013)

The immune system is such an incredibly important system in our daily lives and we rarely think of it, unless an illness arises. The immune system is a con-stantly changing, dynamic aspect of each of us – and every animal life form, to greater and lesser extents. Frogs have immune systems, crayfish have immune systems, salamanders have immune systems, snakes have immune systems – as do lobsters, swordfish, haddock, penguins, otters, armadillos, loons, moose, cows, pigs, sheep, dogs, cats, and mice. The immune system separates every living being from every other living being, essentially saying, “this is me, not you”. The immune system protects us every breathing moment that we are alive, whether we think of it or not.
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The Modern Ecology of Avian Influenza

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Modern poultry houses can contain hundreds of thousands of “cage-free” birds in tight quarters

Modern poultry houses can contain hundreds of thousands of “cage-free” birds in tight quarters

Many emerging infectious diseases in human populations originated among animals. Attention has often focused on wild animal reservoirs, but most zoono-tic pathogens (ones which can be passed between animals and humans) of recent concern to human health either originate in, or are transferred through domesticated animals raised for human consumption. A case in point in Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) which has resulted in massive poul-try-house culls in recent years.

Intensive food animal production systems and their associated value chains dominate in developed countries and are increasingly important in developing countries. These systems are characterized by large numbers of animals being raised in confinement with high throughput and rapid turnover. Although not typically recognized as such, industrial food animal production generates unique ecosystems—environments that may facilitate the evolution of new patho-gens and their transmission to human populations.

It is often assumed that confined food animal production reduces risks of emerging diseases. Evidence suggests, however, that these industrial systems may increase animal and public health risks. Moreover, the economic drivers and constraints faced by the industry and its participants must be fully understood in order to develop effective preventive policy.
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Homeopathy Simplified, for the Shepherd

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Introduction to Homeopathy

Samuel Hahnemann, originator of homeopathy

I grew up midway between Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas on a sheep & crop farm with 500 head of Western range ewes. We kids did the majority of sheep chores during the winter lambing months, before the ewes went out to winter wheat pasture. After 1 long day of tail docking and castrations, the flock was rotated through various summer pastures of alfalfa brome and grasses growing along the Pawnee creek, a tributary of the Arkansas River.

I was active in 4-H, which gave me credentials during the time before Affirmative Action, and I was accepted into Kansas State University veterinary school, graduating as a DVM in 1976. I headed East, to NYC and the Animal Medical Center for their continuing education, and I eventually built a small animal hospital in the East Village of Manhattan. I later merged my practice with Dr. CW Schaubhut, who brought his homeopathic library and pharma-cy with him, and my initial disbelief turned to acceptance.
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Homeopathic Midwifery

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In cases where everything appears ready, but the ewe will just not “get down to business,” alternate Cimicifuga and Caullophyllum (6C) every hour until labor starts.
Pituitary or Posterior Pituitary sarcode (6C) can be considered in an overdue pregnancy when “nothing is happening.”
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Homeopathic References and Supplies

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hahnemann-revisitedDr. Robin Murphy, ND, Homeopathic Medical Repertory  

 Nature’s Materia Medica: 1,400  Homeopathic and Herbal Remedies

(Dr. Murphy published the first American homeopathic Repertory in the 100 years since James Kent, and his 3rd edition is now titled Homeopathic Clinical Repertory: A Modern Alphabetical and Practical Repertory.  It is the most user friendly repertory I have ever used, with a word index not found in any other textbook, and a chapter format geared to the modern age. Same praise for his Materia Medica.) 

 

Dr. Luc De Schepper, MD, PhD, C.Hom, D.I.Hom, Lic.Ac., Hahnemann Revisited: A Textbook of Classical Homeopathy for the Professional

(Dr. Luc has been my most inspiring teacher, and his books match his speaking style and ability to translate complex theories into easily understood concepts. As a practicing clinician, he brings years of practical experience to his readers.)

 

Dr. Roger Morrison, MD, Desktop Guide to Keynotes and Confirmatory Symptoms, Desktop Companion to Physical Pathology

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Factory Farms and Animal Health

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hog-cafoLivestock farming has undergone a significant transformation in the past few decades. Most meat and dairy products now are produced on large farms with sin-gle species buildings or open-air pens. Breeding programs have focused on production, getting more food produced in less time and for less cost per unit. Since 1960 milk production has more than doubled, meat production has more than tripled, and egg production has more than quadrupled. It now takes far less time to raise fully grown animals. In 1920, for instance, a chicken took approximately 16 weeks to reach a little over 2 pounds. Now they can reach 5 pounds in 7 weeks!
These new technologies have allowed farmers to continually reduce per unit costs, which means bigger profits on less land and capital, which results in further incentive to increase farm size.

“Factory farms”, those that use these confinement approaches and scale up, are often criticized for the smell and water pollution caused by the resulting vol-ume of manure; the unhealthy, grain-heavy diets ruminants consume there; and the stressful, crowded conditions in which the animals live.
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Grazing Livestock Control Parasites with Self Medication

excerpted from a longer article

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The term “self medication” comes from human medicine. It is defined as “The consumption of a substance, without physician input, to compensate for any medical or psychological condition.”

Parasitism is one of the greatest disease problems in grazing livestock. Controlling parasites with drugs is challenging, particularly in recent times due to the rise in drug-resistant internal parasites. Evidence suggests that parasitized animals in the wild use natural plant secondary compounds as anti-parasitic agents. Can parasitized domestic sheep and goats also learn to use such compounds? If the answer is yes, they could learn to self-medicate with them and eat plant secondary compound-rich vegetation, either on rangeland or pasture, when needed, while having other nutritious and safe forages available to meet their nutri-tional requirements.

Wild animals apparently use medicinal herbs to treat illness. Unfortunately, the information available on self-medicative behavior in wild species is often anec-dotal. Controlled experiments in the wild may be constrained by animal welfare and preservation issues.
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IFOAM’s André Leu to Keynote NOFA Summer Conference:

Reversing Climate Change and Improving Farms

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André Leu, president of IFOAM, to keynote 2016 NOFA Summer Conference

André Leu, president of IFOAM, to keynote 2016 NOFA Summer Conference

André Leu is both a farmer and an advocate. With his family André operates a 150-acre fruit farm in tropical Australia. Once defeated and run down, his farm is now a lush and productive permaculture landscape, a system designed to minimize inputs and labor and maximize productivity, nutrient recycling and biodiversity.

For over 10 years he has been influencing international climate change policy, not only drawing attention to the role of soil in absorbing carbon to mitigate existing climate chaos, but also demonstrating how organic agriculture can help farmers and societies adapt to the effects of climate change. After the November 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, he sees this as a critical time to galvanize nations to agree to include shifts in farming policies in their agreements and pledges and to see those pledges from idea to action.
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