December 15, 2022

Finish the Fight Against Scrapie: Brains Needed!

Finish the Fight Against Scrapie: Brains Needed!

For more information, please call: 609-241-2236.

The United States is nearing the goal line after a 70 year battle against SCRAPIE, a fatal disease that affects the brain of sheep and goats. Sheep and goat producers can help the USDA achieve this goal. The current program has been very successful to drastically reduce the amount of scrapie in the US. One of the most difficult aspects of an eradication program is making sure that the last few cases of the disease are found.

The most recent two cases of scrapie found in the US were sampled at slaughter but could not be traced back to a farm origin. One of these cases was a sheep in Wisconsin in 2021 and another was a goat tested in Indiana in 2019. Because these animals did not have adequate records and identification to find where they came from, it is likely there are still farms with cases of scrapie. For a country to be declared free of scrapie, international standards require a certain level of testing among all sheep and goat populations within a country. No samples can test positive for classical scrapie. The samples we need to test are brain and a lymph node.

Each year every state is given a minimum number of samples to be collected based on the breeding sheep and goat populations. This assures sampling represents the different populations. In fiscal year 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023), NJ needs to sample 31 mature (>18 months) sheep and 23 mature goats. As of the end of November we only collected 2 sheep samples and 1 goat sample. We continue to ask for help from our New Jersey small ruminant industry to obtain these samples. If a producer has an adult sheep or goat that dies, that must be euthanized, or is being culled please contact USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services at 609-241-2236. There is no charge for the collection or testing of the samples. Producers may be eligible for official plastic tags as long as our supplies last.

Scrapie is in the same family of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) and chronic wasting disease of deer and elk.

Please contact for more information:

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Uncategorized
December 1, 2022

December 8th Webinar with NJ Veterinary Services to Discuss Hipath Avian Influenza

Announcement Date: December 1, 2022

On behalf of the South Jersey Poultry Association and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Salem County, Ag Agent, Melissa Bravo, we invite anyone with poultry in New Jersey to attend a webinar on:

How the Hipath Avian Influenza Outbreak relates to and impacts my poultry flock.

Have questions? Get answers. December 8, 6:00 pm. EST. Virtual

  • Back yard poultry
  • Pastured meat birds going into on farm sales
  • Egg layers selling eggs on home farm sales or to CSA’s
  • Selling birds at livestock auction
  • Selling birds at live bird market
  • Any permits required for importing chickens, manure, selling eggs, birds if applicable when a control zone is in force.

Speakers

Sandy Strilec, DVM, New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Health, Veterinarian

Lisa De lambert, NJ Veterinary Services, Senior Animal Health Technician and NPIP Administrator for National Poultry Improvement Plan Administrator in New Jersey. General information about The Plan can be found at http://www.poultryimprovement.org/

Pre-registration is required. Please send an email to chelsey.fitton@salemcountynj.gov. We will send you the zoom link the day of the meeting. Or call (856) 769-0090 and ask for Chelsey.

Pre-registration closes at 4:00 pm, December 8th.

For additional information, please call Melissa Bravo at 856-340-6582.

Filed Under: Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Uncategorized
November 29, 2022

Nematode Webinar for Soybean Producers

Nematodes in Atlantic Soybean Production Webinar

December 5 from 1:00-3:00 PM. Virtual.

This webinar will include results from Soybean Cyst Nematode seed treatment trials, Root-Knot Nematode on-farm trials, emerging management strategies, and feature a panel discussion on needs to improve nematode management in the region. The webinar is free, but registration is needed for access to the zoom link.

Registration information can be found at https://www.pcsreg.com/2022-nematodes-in-atlantic-soybean-production-webinar.

Please email Alyssa Koehler akoehler@udel.edu with any questions.

Filed Under: Field, Forage & Livestock, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops
November 22, 2022

New Director of NJ State Animal Health Division

Dr. Amar Patil Named Director Of NJDA’s Division Of Animal Health

November 21, 2022
“(TRENTON) – New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher today announced the appointment of Dr. Amar Patil as Director of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Division of Animal Health. The appointment was approved by the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture at its monthly meeting last week.

Dr. Patil has been the Director of the NJDA’s Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (AHDL) since July 2021, and before that was the lab’s Assistant Director from November 2011 to July 2021. He started with the NJDA as a Research Scientist in the Division of Animal Health in October 2007.

“Dr. Patil has been a key part in the success of both the AHDL and the overall operations of the Division of Animal Health, and he is certain to continue and expand his fine work in this new Division Director position,” Secretary Fisher said. “He has all the qualities to be an effective director and will ensure the continuity of the division and laboratory working cohesively.”

During Dr. Patil’s work with the laboratory, the AHDL received ISO 17025:2005 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, making it one of approximately two dozen such labs in the United States and the only one in New Jersey, that offers veterinary diagnostic testing.

With that accreditation, the AHDL is able to conduct more types of tests and significantly reduce the time it takes for results to become official, especially important when responding to disease outbreaks and other emergency situations, such as the recent detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in New Jersey.

Animal Health is one of five primary divisions that make up the Department of Agriculture, along with the in-but-not-of State Agriculture Development Committee. The Division protects and monitors livestock for disease and other threats and administers the Humane Standards for the Care and Keeping of Livestock, which govern the minimum standards of humane care for livestock animals in New Jersey.

Dr. Patil succeeds Dr. Manoel Tamassia as the division director. Dr. Tamassia left the post in August for a position with the World Organization for Animal Health. “- Jeff Wolfe, NJ Dept. Agric.

 

 

Filed Under: Field, Forage & Livestock, Uncategorized
November 15, 2022

NJ Governor Murphy Authorizes 2022 Bear Hunt

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher shared today that Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 310 (attached) concerning the black bear population. EO 310 rescinds EO 34 and states that,

“…in consultation with the [DEP] Commissioner, I have determined that a regulated bear hunt that takes place on both state and private lands is necessary to protect New Jersey residents from harm and reduce the threat of tragic human-bear interactions, and I have concurred with the Council’s Statement of Imminent Peril; and

“WHEREAS, as a result of this emergency rulemaking, a Bear Hunting Season will take place pursuant to the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan and N.J.A.C. 7:25-5.6 from December 5 through December 10, 2022, and will be extended from December 14 through December 17 if necessary to achieve a 20 percent harvest rate;

 

Filed Under: Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , , , , ,
November 13, 2022

Public Input on Draft Environmental Documents for Deregulation of American Chestnut Developed Using Genetic Engineering

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is inviting public comment on two draft documents involving a petition from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY) seeking deregulation of an American chestnut variety modified for tolerance to chestnut blight. The first document is a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that examines the potential environmental impacts, and the second is a draft Plant Pest Risk Assessment (DPPRA) that considers potential plants pest risks.

APHIS published SUNY’s petition on August 19, 2020, and solicited public comments for 60 days to aid the Agency in defining the scope and appropriate environmental documents. Following this, APHIS prepared an environmental impact statement to assess the potential impacts to the environment from deregulating the modified American chestnut variety. APHIS published a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS on August 6, 2021, and solicited comments for 30 days to further define the scope of the alternatives and environmental and interrelated economic issues and impacts for consideration in the DEIS.

APHIS is now seeking public comments on the DEIS and DPPRA for 45 days so the public may review our preliminary evaluation of potential impacts on the environment in consideration of the SUNY petition. You can view the Federal Register notice, DEIS, DPPRA, and supporting documents on the APHIS website. Beginning November 10, 2022, members of the public can submit comments through December 27, 2022, by going to www.regulations.gov and entering “APHIS-2020-0030” into the Search field.”- November, 9. APHIS PPQ Press Release

For more information go to: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa-2022/american-chestnut-ge

 

Filed Under: Christmas Trees, Disease Forecasting, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf