Summer 2005 Issue
Case Study: Washington Dairy Farmers Take Steps in an Antibiotic-Free Direction
CDC’s Get Smart on the Farm team has identified a program led by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in Washington state as a national model for effective grassroots action The program is building partnerships to help reduce inappropriate antibiotic use on Washington’s 600 dairy farms.
Monica Raymond M.P.H., M.S., a registered nurse and epidemiologist, and Ron Wohrle, D.V.M., a veterinarian – both of the health department – lead a taskforce of public health professionals and veterinarians. The Washington State Dairy Federation has helped the taskforce gain access to and credibility with the state’s dairy farmers, a group that has traditionally been hard to reach.
“Resistance is not a foreign concept to farmers. We’ve seen resistance to herbicides and insecticides in our fields for years,” says Jay Gordon, executive director of the federation. “As the state dairy federation, we know that our producers have a fairly small toolbox of good drugs left, and we need to make sure that those tools stay sharp and effective.”
The federation helped the taskforce distribute a statewide survey to ask farmers what kind of help they needed to improve the overall immunity and health of their cattle. Wohrle then used the survey data to develop education tools to meet the farmers’ needs, such as A Dairyman’s Reference Guide to Disease Management and Antibiotic Use on the Farm and a series of newsletters.
The taskforce also connected the dairy federation with researchers at Washington State University, who shared research showing that the use of medicated milk replacer (a product given to newborn calves that contains antibiotics) contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. After reviewing the research, the federation issued a strong position paper against the product’s use.
The campaign’s primary obstacle is funding. “Agricultural funding sources don’t want to talk about human health, and human medicine funding sources don’t want to target animals,” explains Raymond. “We need more research on how the two can be effectively treated together and more sources of funding that address antibiotic resistance comprehensively.”
CDC’s Get Smart on the Farm team hopes that, by developing similar partnerships at the national level, this type of research and funding will be more readily available and that lessons learned from programs like the one in Washington state can be applied to other states and other agricultural industries.
To learn more about becoming a Get Smart on the Farm partner, please contact Julie Rodgers at (404) 653-0790.
Photo caption: Veterinarian Ron Wohrle talks to Gloria Edwards, a dairy farmer in Elma, Washington, about farm management techniques that could help prevent antibiotic resistance among dairy cattle.