{"id":353,"date":"2014-09-18T10:22:57","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T14:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/veterinarylab\/?p=353"},"modified":"2014-09-18T10:22:57","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T14:22:57","slug":"proposed-animal-plant-disease-and-insect-control-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/veterinarylab\/2014\/09\/18\/proposed-animal-plant-disease-and-insect-control-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory would share resources, serve all of Maine\u2019s agricultural communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UMaine
Dr. Anne Lichtenwalner, director of the University of Maine Animal Health Laboratory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maine is one of the US states without a veterinary school. We are surrounded by some excellent schools, such as Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts, and Atlantic Veterinary College on Prince Edward Island. Our students don\u2019t lack for opportunities to obtain an excellent veterinary education, and the state doesn\u2019t lack for excellent veterinarians. Some of the other functions of a state\u2019s veterinary school, however, are served in creative ways.<\/p>\n

For instance, often practitioners refer back to their veterinary school for diagnostic support. When some aspects of practice can\u2019t be met in an economical manner by the practitioner (as in the case of large animal necropsy), the need may be met by the veterinary school\u2019s facilities and personnel. In Maine, alumnae may call on their own vet school\u2019s faculty for advice and help, or may have a \u201cfavorite\u201d lab to which they submit samples. However, getting samples processed quickly and locally is vital in many cases. As well, shipping large animal cadavers — especially when they may be affected with easily transmissible disease — is inadvisable. For these reasons, having a regionally available, biosecure veterinary diagnostic laboratory is an important aid to livestock health<\/strong>. In Maine, the University of Maine Animal Health Laboratory (a service of Cooperative Extension) has served these purposes, but is hampered by size and location.<\/p>\n

There are growing needs for livestock and plant disease surveillance in Maine. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service statistics for 2013 state that Maine has 8,200 farms, totaling 1.5 million acres. There are over 120,000 head of livestock; about 85,000 of those are cattle. Poultry — small and large farms included — total over 3.5 million.<\/p>\n

While the diagnostic needs of Maine\u2019s poultry, dairy, small ruminant, and companion animal owners can be met by a combination of resources, there is no site for contained, biosecure necropsy and disposal of large animal mortalities, so dairy and beef cattle producers are under-served in this respect. The UMaine Animal Heath Lab facility is a small necropsy room located on a busy hallway, and while containment is adequate for low pathogenicity diseases, it\u2019s inadequate for higher level pathogens.<\/strong> Costs of biosecure disposal are high, as well; at $0.70 per pound, disposal costs far exceed the cost of a large animal necropsy.<\/p>\n

Currently, the\u00a0UMaine Animal Heath Lab has an estimated impact of $18 million yearly on Maine agriculture.<\/strong> The lab performs frequent poultry salmonella testing for large and medium-sized farms, as mandated by the FDA; performs mastitis testing for many Maine dairies, allowing early detection and cure of a disease that can cost up to 20% of dairy production; and offers diagnostic support for sheep and goat farmers.<\/p>\n

Adding to the diagnostic and service capacity at the\u00a0UMaine Animal Heath Lab would expand support for Maine\u2019s livestock veterinarians, and allow containment and safe disposal of diseased animals.<\/strong> Plans for the facility, which would be shared by both animal and plant Extension diagnostic labs, include a large alkaline digester, which can effectively, safely and cheaply decontaminate and dispose of cadavers onsite. For large animal vets, the logistics of cadaver disposal (when large-scale composting is not a possibility) can be problematic. An improved lab facility could solve this problem.<\/p>\n

In summary, the current animal diagnostic facility is too small, and too outdated, to safely necropsy cattle, horses or large wildlife. The proposed\u00a0Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory would share resources, serving all<\/em> of Maine\u2019s agricultural communities.<\/p>\n

On November\u2019s ballot, a bond referendum to build a new lab would allow for safe necropsy of cattle, horses, and large wildlife. Visit the following site to explore the ways a new Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory will benefit Maine:\u00a0 extension.umaine.edu\/newlab\/<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine is one of the US states without a veterinary school. We are surrounded by some excellent schools, such as Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts, and Atlantic Veterinary College on Prince Edward Island. Our students don\u2019t lack for opportunities to obtain an excellent veterinary education, and the state doesn\u2019t lack for excellent veterinarians. Some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nProposed Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory would share resources, serve all of Maine\u2019s agricultural communities - Cooperative Extension Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/veterinarylab\/2014\/09\/18\/proposed-animal-plant-disease-and-insect-control-lab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proposed Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory would share resources, serve all of Maine\u2019s agricultural communities - Cooperative Extension Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maine is one of the US states without a veterinary school. 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