The goal of the survey and the resulting research is to provide Montana’s producers with the tools and resources in their vet bag to make effective real-time treatment decisions.
BOZEMAN, MT – A partnership between Montana State Extension and a veterinary practice will provide producers with practical information on use of antibiotics.
Crazy Mountain Veterinary Service has teamed up with Montana State Extension and livestock producers to research antibiotic usage in Montana’s livestock operations. To do so, Dr. Katie Rein and her team are conducting a survey of producers to gather information on our antibiotics are used on their operations.
Dr. Rein told Northern Ag Network’s Colter Brown, she wanted to conduct the survey to offer producers practical information on how to treat common livestock diseases.
“Many years ago, I created a cattle treatment guide that I handed out to my customers for common illnesses seen on their operations,” Dr. Rein said. “But since that time a number of changes have taken place. So, I decided that there was a need to provide producers across the state with updated treatment guides for common diseases. We decided to ask the producers what antibiotics they’re currently using, what diseases they’re currently treating, and then our team is going to go through the scientific literature and find out what should be the best treatments right now for those common diseases.”
The goal of the survey and the resulting research is to provide Montana’s producers with the tools and resources in their vet bag to make effective real-time treatment decisions.
The survey is for all livestock producers, whether they raise cattle, sheep, horses or any other animals.
“We’re asking when you start calving or lambing, because that might make a difference on what antibiotics you use,” explained Dr. Rein. “It asks about how you choose what antibiotics to use. It asks how you keep records and then just what diseases you treat like mastitis or pneumonia, foot rot, pink eye. We want to make it very relevant to producers and the diseases they treat most often and so that’s why we’re asking them these questions.”
With all the changes in antibiotic regulations in recent years, Dr. Rein said producers have more questions about what they need to do to treat animals and hopefully the survey will save both ranchers and veterinarians valuable time.
“With the latest FDA guidelines and more restrictions on antibiotics, we just felt like this was a great time to do some research and help producers find out what the best treatments are. Also, it’s hard to get a hold of a vet sometimes, and when you have the cow in the chute, it’s nice to have a piece of paper to refer back to so you know what you should be treating it with, what the dose is, and what ancillary treatments there might be.”
Once the survey is complete, Crazy Mountain Veterinary Service will present educational workshops across the state of Montana to discuss treatment protocols for the most common diseases.
The survey can be completed online and all responses will remain anonymous and cannot be traced back to the producer. If you prefer not to answer a question, you can skip ahead to the next question.
Dr. Rein said she asked a rancher to time how long the survey took to complete and they had the entire survey finished in less than 5 minutes.
Click here to participate in the survey. Once you arrive on the page, select “Montana Producer Antibiotic Use Survey”. Please only complete the survey once.
“This is a project for producers, by fellow producers and veterinarians,” concluded Dr. Rein. “We hope you’ll participate and help yourself and other producers find the best practices to care for your livestock.”
