Day: June 8, 2010

Several Florida horses are found to have pigeon fever

Traditionally considered a West Coast disease, pigeon fever was recently diagnosed in several Florida horses. Pigeon fever is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, which tends to live in the soil in hot, dry environments. It is primarily spread by flies and causes abscesses on the pectoral region that give a horse a “pigeon breast” appearance (hence the name). Pigeon fever is not unusual in West Coast states like California, which reportedly had severe pigeon fever conditions during the 2009 fly season. While an estimated 2% of the 1,922 mustangs at the Calico Complex in Nevada had signs

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June 8, 2010 No Comments

Euthanasia one of first issues for livestock board

COLUMBUS — The voter-approved Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board will tackle downer animal and euthanasia issues among its first orders of business, with hopes of submitting recommended care rules by the end of summer. “Those issues are the ones that have a great deal of both federal and state rules and regulations already in place,” said Agriculture Director Robert Boggs. “So, unlike some of the other commodity sorts of issues that are going to take a lot of study and a lot of research, we believe that we can move forward on those fairly soon. … We

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June 8, 2010 No Comments