Missouri’s new state veterinarian already faces a tall order. When asked what the state’s biggest animal disease challenge is, Dr. Linda Hickam answers without hesitation.
“We’re looking at probably one of the most financially devastating disease to livestock producers since maybe brucellosis,” said Hickman, referring to trichomoniasis, a venereal disease caused by a parasite in breeding bulls, which then infect cows and cause infertility.
“Cattle producers can have a diminishment of, say, 40 percent to 50 percent of their calf crop, which a lot of people can’t withstand financially,” she said
In the Springfield state vet lab alone, which serves 39 Missouri counties, Hickam says 5,000 cattle have been tested for trichomoniasis.
“Of those we have around 2,000 that have [tested] positive,” said Hickam, “most of those are going to be bulls.”
Most cows with trichomoniasis get over it with about 120 days away from bulls, said Hickam, but she recommends that infected bulls, for which there is no effective treatment, be removed from service and sent to slaughter.
This month a state law went into effect requiring that bulls be tested for trichomoniasis before a change of ownership takes place within the state of Missouri.
Hickam takes over as the state’s chief animal practitioner from Taylor Woods, who served nearly two decades in that position. Woods is to stay on as a senior advisor to the state veterinarian.
AUDIO: Linda Hickam (6 min. MP3)
Latest: 
