mafg.net Follow Us. Watch Us. Vol. 41 No. 3 • January 15, 2021 • $1.50


Missouri 4-H Continues The Fight Against Hunger


souri and the Missouri Farmers Care Drive to Feed Kids. To date, efforts have raised more


M than


400,000 meals to feed Missourians. The third annual food drive runs January through April to allow plenty of time for clubs to plan and carry


COLUMBIA,MO.


issouri 4-H contin- ues its partnership with Feeding Mis-


out their activities, says Anne Reeder, 4-H Feed- ingMissouri coordinator. During the four-month


2021 campaign, more than 1,600 Missouri 4-H clubs and groups, serv- ing youths ages 5-18, will engage in a friendly serv- ice-learning competition to see which county can contribute themost food, cash donations and vol- unteer hours, Reeder says. The goal for 2021 is


4-H member Nicole Benne helps deliver food to the Agape Food Pantry in Warrenton, Mo., during the


2020 4-H Feeding Missouri food drive. The pantry serves about 90 families per month and has seen about a 30 percent increase in clients due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


to raise 500,000 meals. Last year, Webster


County 4-H alone raised more than 60,000 meals. “I am so proud of the hard work of the youth and volunteers in Web- ster County 4-H working towards such outstand- ing outcomes for the 4-H Feeding Missouri pro- gram,” says Janice Wed- dle, county engagement specialist in 4-H youth development. “They are


an awesome group, and Webster County is a bet- ter place for having peo- ple like them. We are excited to get started with this project again and to do our best to help Missourians.” Through local


food


drives, fundraisers and educational events and presentations, 4-H’ers will learn and help raise awareness about hunger


CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 Like Us. Join Us.


See page 15


An Unwanted Scourge – Scours In Calves


a disease of the digestive system characterized by watery feces and in- creased frequency of bowel movements. The high water content in the feces results in water loss from the body (dehy- dration). Diarrhea commonly af-


more commonly referred to as scours. Diarrhea is


A


DR. TERESA L. STECKLER SIMPSON, ILL.


t some point in time cattlemen will treat calves for diarrhea –


fects newborn calves. Young calves likely are more prone to diarrhea because of their liquid diet (milk), the higher water content in their bodies (compared to adult cattle), and their susceptibility to certain


age-specific infectious diseases of the intestinal tract. Calf scours is not a sin-


gle disease entity; it is a clinical syndrome associ- ated with several dis- eases characterized by diarrhea. Regardless of the cause, absorption of fluids from the intestine is altered, and life threat- ening electrolyte imbal- ances


occur;


scouring calves lose flu- ids, rapidly dehydrate, and suffer from elec- trolyte loss and acidosis. Infectious agents may


SW Center Feed Efficiency Project A


ELDON COLE MT. VERNON, MO.


s I write this, we still have vacant slots for heifers to enter the


Residual Feed Intake (RFI) Project at the SW Center’s GrowSafe pens. Our target is 80 heifers


that you plan to breed in the spring. Heifers will be delivered to the Center near Mt. Vernon the week of January 4 and they’ll go home by March 10. This will be an inter- esting project for you to follow whether you have heifers in it or not.


cause initial damage to the intestine, but actual death from scours usu- ally results from dehy- dration, acidosis, and loss of electrolytes. Iden- tification of


infectious


agents which cause scours is essential for implementing effective preventive and treatment measures. Any type of digestive


i.e.,


upset can cause diarrhea in calves.


Infectious


agents (bacteria and viruses) can attack the lining of the gut, causing water loss through the


damaged wall. The known causes of scours are grouped into two cat- egories: (1) noninfectious causes, and (2) infectious causes. The noninfec- tious causes are often re- ferred


to as


“predisposing” or “con- tributing” factors. What- ever they are called, there is a dramatic inter- action between noninfec- tious


causes and


infection. Any effort to prevent infectious causes is usually fruitless un- less serious control of contributing (non-infec-


tious) factors is part of the overall program. Noninfectious causes


are best defined as flaws in management which appear as nutritional shortcomings,


inade-


quate environment, in- sufficient attention to the newborn calf, or a combi- nation of these. The most commonly encountered noninfectious problems include: (a) Inadequate nutrition of the pregnant dam, particularly during the last third of gesta- tion. Both the quality


CONTINUED ON PAGE 14


The main purpose is to


evaluate differences in heifers feed intake and utilization. Wouldn’t you like to own cows, steers and bulls that perform equal to or better than others on the same or less feed? Dr. Justin Sexten wrote


an article recently refer- ring to research at the University of California, Davis. He wrote they studied cattle movement and eating preferences on high and low (RFI) cattle. The low RFI (good) ate 12 percent less feed. He said the theory be-


hind this was the low cattle consumed greater amounts of energy dense grains


relative to


roughage or they exer- cised less. Even though the theory


sounded correct, there were no differences be- tween efficient and ineffi-


cient cattle for diet pref- erence or lying activity. Previous work does sup- port that limit feeding provides for more effi- cient gains. The Califor- nia work then compared the efficiency differences when they limit fed the


CONTINUED ON PAGE 14


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